Apple Store Free iBook, Path API, Chase Joins Isis Mobile Wallet

the Apple Store app is now offering iPhone users an iBooks freebie, which appears to be part of a new initiative to get retail store customers to download the app. The free title is Away in My Airplane by Margaret Wise Brown, and the app claims the e-book is "free for a limited time -- exclusively for Apple Store app users." According to one Apple employee briefed on the offer, the freebie expires on August 28 and is limited to the United States and only four other countries, and is the second such Apple Store offer this month.

Path Joins API Hands with Developers

Path announced Monday that the private social network is expanding its connectivity to other apps and services, starting with a group of "hand-selected developers we admire for their innovation and quality." The first 15 developers with access to the Path API include familiar names such as WordPress, Viddy and Over, and a number of lesser-known photography apps such as PicMix, PicFrame and Pic Stitch. The blog post notes that updates to some of the apps are available now, with others arriving in the coming weeks, along with additional developers who can apply for API access for sharing from their own apps to Path.

Chase Commits to Isis Mobile Wallet

Mobile wallet solution Isis announced Monday that Chase has joined the ranks as part of the service's national rollout later this year, which will include such popular credit card products as Chase Freedom, Sapphire and Slate. After extensive pilot programs in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, Isis is expected to go nationwide in the next few months, complete with iPhone support. The joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon is hoping to succeed where Google's own Wallet initiative has thus far floundered, allowing near-field communication (NFC) payments from mobile devices at retail.

iOS App Store Still Reigns Supreme Over Google Play

Distimo released its July 2013 list of the global top apps on Monday, and Apple's iOS App Store again holds a strong defense against the Android-based Google Play, at least where paid apps are concerned. Aggregating data from 18 of the largest countries, Apple's mobile marketplace smoked Google Play almost everywhere except South Korea -- not much of a surprise, considering that's the home base of rival Samsung. Curiously, Russians spent more money on iPad apps than on the iPhone, but the U.S. spent more than any other country overall.

Google Shells Out $2M to Squash Bugs

The Google Online Security Blog announced Monday that it's handed out more than $2 million dollars over the last three years since launching its Chromium and Google Web Vulnerability Reward Programs. The initiative rewards users who find and report bugs on these platforms, with more than 2,000 such issues reported and subsequently fixed. In an effort to step up patches on Chromium, Google is raising its reward level from $1,000 to $5,000 per bug, so it certainly looks like it pays to get out there and dig 'em up.

Nokia partners Airtel, launches mobile phones for youths •Denies importing sub-standard phones into Nigeria

THE new Nokia Asha 210 and 501 provide a cloud compress of about 85 per cent smarter and affordable internet fit for the Nigerian market.

This was the submission made when Nokia, maker of the mobile phones partnered with Airtel, one of the Global Systems for Mobile communication(GSM) operators in Nigeria to launch the two products at the Airtel office on Tuesday in Lagos.

Describing the products as the latest stunning devices by Nokia, Operations, Accounts Manager, Airtel, Beatrice Olumhense said the Asha 210 and Asha 501 are what the youths really need in Nigeria.

Vice president, data and digital services, Airtel, Nitin Anand, said Nigeria is one of most important countries in the world in terms of technology, “there is no company that will not look at Nigeria whenever it wants to launch it’s devices.”

Olumhense said the Asha 501 has a bright and deep body with scratch-proof colours, it can swipe through and has a multi window browsing ability.

“The Nokia Asha 501 has an ecosystem that supports and brings new applications and old ones like the Facebook, Whatsapp, Games Apps and other important chat Apps for the youths. It has smarter internet and is affordable too” Olumhense explained.

According to her, the Nokia Asha 210 with about 64MB on-board memory space and 4GB memory card provides relevant social networks, has two smart buttons for social networks and camera, “it has top Apps that are ready to use. The phone is available in the market and youths will like it.”

Also, the managing director, Nokia Nigeria, Chris Brown has debunked allegations that the company was bringing substandard phones into Africa, especially Nigeria.

He said the company had no reason whatsoever to produce a type of quality of product for some continents and then go ahead to produce a lesser quality for other continents.

Responding to the accusations of having the company produce Nokia products that are more durable for continents such as Europe and America, Brown said “it will be illogical and a total waste of resources to have our manufacturers in China produce a particular quality for some countries and demand for the production of inferior quality which would be supplied to Africa.”