World’s leading mobile music discovery provider Shazam today announced the availability of its (SHAZAM)^RED Special Edition App on the App Store. Unlike the Shazam app which is free, the new app costs $4.99 like Shazam Encore app. Apart from updated content related to (RED)™, rest of features are mostly similar to that of Shazam Encore. Shazam will donate 20% of the proceeds to (RED). (RED) works towards eradication & awareness of HIV and AIDS in Africa.

“(RED) enables consumers to positively impact the lives of those living with AIDS in Africa through their purchases of products and we are incredibly honored to be the first mobile app company to partner with them,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Given our popularity and that we already have more than 10 million iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, (SHAZAM)^RED is a powerful way for our audience to create real change in the world.”

Shazam has now become the first mobile app developer to link up with (RED). All new and existing Shazam users will have the option to upgrade to (SHAZAM)^RED .

Security firm F-Secure is reporting that a new iPhone worm is targeting jailbroken ipnones in the Netherlands. Unlike the first worm, this one is malicious and steals bank login info. More specifically, customers of ING Direct are targeted in this round. If the jailbroken iPhone is SSH enabled with the default password (“alpine”) unchanged, the worm redirects the bank’s customers to a look-a-like site with a log-in screen. The hacker can then use the collected login data to steal money from the bank accounts at a later time. The new worm also has the ability to infect iPhones sharing the same WiFi hotspot. So it is imperative that jailbroken iPhone users should either disable SSH or change the default password to be secure.

After almost three months, famous multi protocol chat client Trillian has been approved in the iPhone appstore. In the past couple of years Beejive, IM+, fring etc got pretty popular in the appstore with hundreds of downloads everyday. However, Trillian’s strength is its huge desktop install base of loyal users. Trilian is  one of the earliest desktop IM clients that supported multiple protocols like Gtalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ etc.

It should be a bittersweet day for Trillian makers Cerulean Studios. The app has already been cracked/pirated and is distributed in leading pirate forums for download. The number of downloads prove that the pirated app is getting very popular among the jailbroken iphone community. iPhone appstore piracy is worse when compared to Windows desktop app piracy. Atleast in the case of Windows, pirates have the hassle of finding the right keygen or crack. In the case of jailbroken iPhones, it’s just download and run the app. So very sad for the developers of Trillian, they do not have the option to blacklist or kick the pirates from their servers thanks to the limitations imposed by Apple.

And I thought the Governator is the one who has got the balls and style. Boy oh Boy! Was I so fricking wrong!

Coming back to the case in point, Google is promoting Verizon/Motorola Droid in its homepage. So how does a mobile phone ad on the world’s most trafficked page justify such an outrageous title?  The fact that this happens to be only the fourth time an ad has appeared there escaping the clutches of an Internet giant so crazy about the stingy <28 word limit.

Prior to this occasion, Google promoted Firefox at it’s infancy, then Chrome and Andorid both got the same privilege at their respective launches. Firefox has gone through three versions and has reached 330 million people with a Google Search box built right within browser. But they did not get a second chance. Google’s own scrawny assed baby, Chrome, has gone through four versions. Sadly, no more sweet lovin’ for it too.

The fact that Google has chosen to add a blotch to its Sistine Chapel for an above average phone running an above average version 2.0 of Android(more on that in a later post) is real diabolical. Droid, called the iphone killer by fanboys, by itself would not have even killed the Palm Pre. Now with Google’s heartfelt  endorsement, things are definitely looking up for the Motorola built handset. Droid is gonna witness one hell of a spike in sales, thanks to a non descript TEXT link.

Google is running the ad just for the fun of it. Its there because they can put it there. Now, what is gonna happen happen when the real iPhone killer mobile launches? Lets assume that Android 2.5 is capable of powering such a Jesus phone. With Google’ s homepage promotion, it will sell tens of millions of handsets. Now they will tweak the OS and will launch the polished Jesus phone with Android 2.6. The history will repeat itself with a Google homepage push. Where is Apple gonna promote iPhone 3GX? Yahoo, may be? Nah. Microsoft pwns it. Youtube? Microsoft.com? Facebook? Live.com? All sites are behind enemy lines. I don’t see any single outlet that could favor Apple in the top twenty sites. Apple has to understand that Google is no Microsoft. There are no blue screens of death when it comes to Google.

Apple just added social networking features to iTunes. A social network, friends and family, is our real strength. So who is in Apple’s social network? Do they have any friends? They love to step on everyone’s feet. They have scorned all old media giants (Warner, Paramount, Fox and the like) thanks to the arm twisting iTunes deals. Apple is the modern day equivalent of a high school bully in the consumer electronics market. They have alienated a lot of customers too. iPhone launches in two of the world’s largest & fastest growing telecom markets, China and India, sank like the Titanic. If Google chooses to promote an Android phone in India and China today, it will sell atleast a million handsets within a month. Apple has managed to sell 20,000 iphones in India. Yep. Twenty thousand phones by unofficial estimates. It was so bad an experience that both the Indian telecom partners chose not to launch iPhone 3GS. Inspite of the ad blitzkrieg, Apple has sold 5000 handsets since launch in China. There has been no real competitor for the past three years and still such nightmares are happening. How many phones can they sell in USA and Japan?

If Google endorses every single Android mobile or version, Apple can kiss that fat ass 40% margin good bye. Apple will be Apple as long as it has that fat ass margin. The day that starts to dip, it will just be another NASDAQ listed company. Transcending cultures, borders and time, history has taught the human race one important lesson: No one is invincible. Apple, if you are still arrogant with all the success and glory of the iPhone, just ask Sony what happened to the first consumer electronic device that sold 100 million units. Poof. It’s no more.

It’s time to kiss and make up with Google. An app store with 100,000 apps is no match to the billions of clicks at Google. When it comes to the power of reaching every single person in this world Google  is just one notch below the market leader. You can’t buy that kind of  marketing muscle even with all the 34 billion USD in the bank.

There is an alternate solution if Apple still does not want to make nice with Google. All Apple has to do is to suck it up and turn to the one who is above Google.  And the fastest way to reach him is by dusting off the good old Bible and saying a few million Hail Mary’s.

P.S.: BTW am sorry for the family friendly title. This blog serves as a showcase to promote my freelance copy writing business. So am trying hard to keep it expletives free, which a very tough task given my foul mouth. For the clueless 2year olds’, please replace “Intercourse” with the magnetic “F” Word (No. Not frick. The word I have in mind has four letters).