First observed iOS app in the wild: Shazam Encore

Hi, intrepid Starbucks [SBUX] iTunes promotion fans:

It’s been a loooong time since we discussed the favorably fun Starbucks iTunes weekly offerings, that have morphed from a simple joint experimental item between Starbucks and Apple [AAPL] into a lucrative people-attracting feature in so many Starbucks outlets worldwide.

So, here’s a new, welcome twist on the campaign: offering iOS applications! So, it beefs up the possible weekly options, from single iTunes music tracks, to individual videos, to entire digital albums and compilations, to now… applications!

And it looks like, to kick it off, there’s the big brother to the popular free Shazam, known as Shazam Encore.

Not to be outdone by other e-tailers and even brick-and-mortar retailers, Amazon.com [AMZN] has furthered its reach, since the “online” Black Friday deals and yesterday’s Cyber Monday sale… by adding yet more deals as the winter holiday sales season rages onward, toward the inevitable Christmas splurginess (yeah, not really a universally recognized term yet, but since it’s coined here: it means the act of generating excess or overwhelming abundance) of sales attempts.

Cyber Monday’s momentum is being carried forward by Cyber Week, which is Amazon’s extension of their Lightning sales offers until the end of this week.

And for the video gaming crowd, there are the Seventeen Days of Deals in Video Games, leading up to that unofficial shipping cutoff deadline date of December 16, 2010, when it will be ostensibly very difficult to guarantee a decent delivery on Christmas Day.

And these are in addition to the other promotions that Amazon regularly runs, like the Gold Box deals, for instance.

Good times, folks, good times… Just make sure your credit card is ready to roll!

By this time, you’ve talked about the rumors… you’ve heard the radio spots… you’ve seen the TV commercials… McDonald’s [MCD] McRib sandwich is back!

But this time, unlike in the past, this is a nationwide rollout, and it is expected to last about six weeks.

However, you may be wondering about where to find your McRib treasure… Fortunately, there’s the McRib Locator, the creation of Alan Klein, a meteorologist who grew up on a hog farm and still enjoys the McRib when it reappears. While the McRib is not everybody’s proverbial cup o’ tea, having a way to monitor and track its availability, especially during this more recent occurrence, is very helpful.

Enjoy!

N.B.

Read more about the McRib fascination and the McRib Locator’s backstory.

Yep, it's a video game sales ad... touting Amazon.com's limited time offer...

In case you haven’t noticed the sidebar ad for it on some of the other DevPal/Javamancy sites, you may have spotted it here, on Javamancy itself.

It’s a text ad for Amazon.com’s limited-time offer on video games (well, it actually includes PC and Mac games, as well).

We’re experimenting with some of our real estate, and why not allow you, our gentle readers, an opportunity to maximize your gaming potential and thrills at the same time?

While there have been rumors circulating of the re-emergence of McDonald’s [MCD] McRib in a few isolated pockets of the world, there is now the major rollout of the fan favorite foodstuff, starting later today.

Yes, that’s right! McDonald’s is poised to unleash the drippy, BBQ-y, succulent-y terror of their popular McRib sandwich onto an unsuspecting (partially) population.

Check out the official promotion site for the McRib.

Apple’s [AAPL] lockstep dance with AT&T [T] as its exclusive 3G service provider may be ending, with Verizon [VZ] showing up to the dance hall seemingly first.

So what’s a mobile data services consumer going to do?

Rumors, Lies, and Damn Lies

Like many of you, we’re certainly curious about the outcome next year for the still-as-of-yet-not-finalized-and-publicized Verizon version of Apple’s  iPhone product, which has been heavily rumored to be shipping early 2011. Certainly, this indicates that this coming winter holiday season represents the last time that AT&T will be able to fully capitalize on its exclusivity deal with Apple for the iPhone product.

But, there’s another portable IT device that has really captured the hearts and imaginations of the computing public: Apple’s iPad. Initially seen as just a “toy” or a trivial curiosity by many of the so-called industry pundits as well as Apple’s perceived competitors, the iPad is now identified as a serious contender as both a mainstream consumer and business mobile device. Even in certain industry segments, like medical and legal specialties, the iPad has made significant inroads in adoption and acceptance, given its form factor and feature set.

But, like the iPhone before it, the iPad has been locked into a 3G wireless net by AT&T. However, unlike the iPhone, the iPad also has Wi-Fi versions that has proven wildly popular, and given a lot of people’s avoidance of the AT&T network and the increasing ubiquity of Wi-Fi coverage by various vendors and free coverage areas sponsored by various organizations, it is this variant of the iPad that may prove to be the best option for the majority of interested parties.

Verizon: Enter, Stage Left

So, many of you have heard about the recent Verizon offering for the iPad, and that the iPad would be sold starting on October 28, 2010. But you may be wondering why Apple bothered to squeeze CDMA-style 3G into the iPad but not the iPhone, at least not as its first device with Verizon.

Answer: Apple didn’t.

Instead, Verizon is offering one of its MiFi pocket routers with any of the different capacity Wi-Fi iPads (with a service plan to boot, ‘natch).

Of course, this means that if you are interested in adding a “take-it-with-you” Wi-Fi capability to your iPad, you probably can just get a MiFi router and service plan from Verizon. The question is, of course, whether it makes sense for Verizon to bother subsidizing the cost of the iPad in order to sell more plans and MiFi routers… Business-wise, to garner a significant mind- and user-share of current and future iPad users, the solution to be to merely give the iPads away for $0.00, once some sort of multi-year commitment for the MiFi data plan was established, or even bundle it with an existing smartphone plan.

AT&T: Enter, Stage Right

Not to be outdone, AT&T has announced that it will also start selling iPads in their stores on October 28, 2010. But since Apple has already been offering both the Wi-Fi only and the 3G+Wi-Fi versions of the iPad online and via its retail stores, there does not appear to be any significant improvements in service. So, unlike the Verizon offering, the AT&T offering does not offer the consumer any way to share a Wi-Fi connection with other devices, despite the cost of the service plans available.

Conclusion: The Management Perspective

This is one of those developing stories that may have an unexpected twist, in a matter of days or even weeks. Since the iPad is a Wi-Fi capable device, any service provider or alternative offering a compelling mobile Wi-Fi hotspot feature at an outrageously reasonable price point would easily become the darling of mobile digital consumers. Since the market, domestically and worldwide, is in such critical demand for a reasonable data service plan to match the iPad and the upcoming lineup of its potential competitors, this is an area where the service provider that re-scales data transfer pricing down to a realistic, affordable level and initiates the customer conversion to its network will be the winner.

If you have been a frequent Wi-Fi user at Starbucks [SBUX] and also a fan of the Starbucks-iTunes free media (music and videos) card promotion, you may have noticed that some stores have had recent troubles in keeping the physical cards in stock or, even worse, up-to-date.

How are you going to keep abreast of the Starbucks-iTunes free music and videos?

Fortunately, Starbucks’ online operations may be able to help: if you check their Wi-Fi portal (which often comes up whenever you try to sign into a store’s Wi-Fi hotspot), you may notice the following:

Have you seen this featurebox on Starbucks' Wi-Fi portal?

But, of course, this also raises the question: what are the faithful card collectors going to do, once their outlet of these physical collectibles dry up?

Buying games, playing games, doing good– all at the same time? Is it true that gamers can be the Ones to Save the World?

Well, if the Humble Indie Bundle ignites a whole flood of gamer-initiated philanthropy, then maybe so… But for now, there are certainly some impressive statistics gleaned from the Humble Indie Bundle promotion.

And, to add even more fun to the mix, some of the games in the HIN are being open sourced, to some extent, which improves the community outreach even more.

The promotional offer is sooooo over, but even more fun for coders and gamers may be coming...

However, all is not roses and champagne: not all of the products being offered under open source licensing have been made available yet, and the source code versions are not the FCS versions. Rather, they are being provided for mostly demonstration or instructional purposes, so various aspects are missing. Although developers are not obligated to provide operational code, it certainly would be disingenuous to declare that a shipped product is being open sourced when, in fact, the source code belongs to a demo or lobotomized unreleased proof. Some of the arguments presented involve how having access to the source code would encourage others to develop add-ons to the software in question; however, providing the community hackers with an API or configuration editor would accomplish the same goals. At least, in this case, the developers have openly disclosed the nature of the code being open sourced, so interested parties should not be under any illusions.

Looking for a few casual games, and want to be socially responsible at the same time?

Try buying a copy (or more!) of the Humble Indie Bundle and divvy up your self-chosen price for the goods. But hurry! There’s less than twenty-four (24) hours left on this promotion. And to sweeten the deal, there’s an additional game tossed into the mix…

Here are the original games in the bundle:

• Aquaria
• Gish
• Lugaru HD
• Penumbra Overture
• World of Goo

And the bonus game is:

• Samorost 2

In an effort to better publicize their new frappucino mixing technique and product line, Starbucks [SBUX] is launching their Frappucino-oriented Happy Hour later today.

This two-hour period, lasting from 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM daily until May 16, 2010, will offer the new frappucinos at one-half of their listed/retail prices, as a way to encourage patrons to give the new beverages a try.