Category: Apps

The Justice Department has now filed charges, to which the two accused men have pled guilty.

In a historical case in technology news, two men who have been accused of owning a mobile app piracy site for Android devices have now pled guilty to the charges that had been filed against them by the Department of Justice.

This is the first time that the Department of Justice has landed counterfeit application distribution convictions.

This week, Nicholas Anthony Narbone gave his plea of “guilty” to a single count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. The second man, Thomas Allen Dye, the “co-conspirator” to Narbone, according to the Department of Justice, also entered his guilty plea, though his was made for the same charge earlier on in March.

Both Narbone and Dye were both overseeing a pirate mobile app distribution site.

Through Appbucket.net, which was labeled an “alternative online market”, authorities have alleged that the two men managed to illegally distribute over 1 million copies of the apps that were each copyrighted. Those illegal downloads would have totaled over $700,000 in value, according to federal prosecutors. Moreover, they were distributed without having received any consent from the developers of those applications.

In 2012, American law enforcement agencies seized two different android piracy websites, one of which was Appbucket. Similar charges have been laid with regards to the SnappzMarket.com website. In that caise Kody Peterson, a 22 year old, is suspected of being the individual behind that market and has had government charges filed against him. That site, which was targeted by federal authorities, is believed to have robbed mobile app development companies of an even larger sum of money.

According to prosecutors, the pirated app distribution that ran from May 2011 to August 2012 led to approximately 1 million downloads which would have been worth an estimated $1.7 million. As Peterson did not receive any mention in the press release that was issued on the subject by the Department of Justice, it can be assumed that the case is likely ongoing.

In the mobile app piracy case involving Narbone (who is 26 years old) and Dye (who is 21 years old), the sentencing will occur on July 8th and June 12th, respectively. Both of those individuals could spend up to 5 years in jail.

The second largest fast food hamburger chain the United States is headed to your local smartphone.

When measured by volume, Burger King is the second largest hamburger fast food chain in the U.S. and it is now expanding even further by moving into the mobile commerce sphere with a new smartphone app.

The mobile app will be rolled out to allow food to be purchased in advance on a customer’s smartphone.

The goal of this foray into mobile commerce is to try to boost its appeal to younger customers. This mcommerce strategy will be introduced in April and should be rolled out into all of the over 7,000 American Burger King locations within “a few months”, says a company spokesperson, Bryson Thornton. They will likely be adding the option for customers to be able to order their drinks and food ahead of time so that they can pick it up in store.

To start, the mobile commerce app will provide customers with coupons that they can redeem for deals.

Mobile coupons have become a very successful part of smartphone based marketing and it looks as though the burger chain will be using its app to appeal to consumers from the very start through these discount and deal opportunities. The app will also provide customers with nutrition facts about the various foods that are sold by the chain quick service restaurant.

Burger King has also been working its way into the mobile payments arena, as this option has also become increasingly popular among customers in the age group that they are targeting with this mcommerce effort. The app will allow a “virtual card” to be loaded on a customer’s smartphone, within the app. This card can be filled with funds that can then be used for purchasing food and drinks in the same way that a gift card would be utilized.

The primary competition of Burger King in the fast food environment, McDonalds, has also been testing a mobile commerce app that would provide its own customers with similar types of options over their smartphones, including information and payments, among other features.