You come up with an idea for a game, spend time and money developing it, and put it on the App Store with some success only to find that someone has ripped off your hard work and made a copycat. Fortunately, Apple has responded to this problem by removing the copycats from the App Store to the delight of the original developers.

All of the copycat games Apple removed were made by just one person, Anton Sinelnikov, who went from 68 games on the App Store to only 9 after Apple was done. They included Plant vs. Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds, and Temple Jump, which were rip-offs of Plants vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, and Temple Run, respectively.

This isn’t the only instance of games being copied, as Zynga has been accused of copying Nimblebits’s Tiny Tower when it released Dream Heights, as well as from Buffalo Studios’ Facebook game Bingo Blitz when it came out with Zynga Bingo. Spry Fox sued 6Waves Lolapps over copyright infringement, claiming Yeti Tower is a “blatant copy of Triple Town.”

Despite Apple stepping in and removing the offending games, Imangi (maker of Temple Run) co-founder Natalia Luckyanova told Gameasutra that it shouldn’t be up to Apple to stop app scams, as that would make the app review process too complex. ”I don’t think there’s a perfect solution, because you need human judgement involved in the system. The platform holder can’t realistically police copyright violations, or just misleading apps. As developers, we sign an agreement saying we have obtained all the IP permissions necessary for our work, so that responsibility is on the developer,” she said.

Considering Apple just revealed its app developers made $4 billion so far—$700 million just from the last quarter—there will likely be more copycat games made in order to cash in on this market.

Via [Gameasutra]

A notice sent from Apple to the staff at MacRumors indicating the discontinuation of the program read as follows:

Printer Rebates Ending on January 17

Effective Tuesday, January 17, the printer rebate will no longer be offered.

Monday, January 16 will be the last day customers can get a rebate on a qualifying printer when purchased with a Mac. Customers will have 90 days from the date of purchase to submit rebate claims. An additional 30 days will be given to correct invalid claims.

The Apple Retail Store and the Apple Online Store will continue to sell printers, albeit without a rebate offer.

U.S. and CA only: Wednesday, May 16 is the last day the online Apple Rebate Tool will be available to submit rebates. Customers should submit their claims according to the terms of the promotion.

It appears that through this discontinuation, Apple has now put an end to all of its former rebate offers, including ones involving iWork, MobileMe, OS X and iLife combination purchases, and OS X and Microsoft Office combination purchases. Apple’s Back to School promotion, which the company still supports, used to also offer rebates that usually amounted to a free iPod for the customer. That rebate offer was recently replaced with a $100 iTunes/Mac App Store gift card instead. In regards to the printer rebate promotion which is now officially over, the printers in question are still available as add-ons when setting up your desired Mac for purchase, but at full price.

Via [MacRumors]

Target recently unveiled The Shops at Target which will feature collections to be sold exclusively through Target, both in stores and on their website, starting in early May. Collections will initially include items from Polka Dog Bakery, The Webster, The Candy Store, Cos Bar, and Privet House. After approximately six weeks there will be new collections for the Fall, and the previous collections will become unavailable for purchase.

While Target confirmed that Apple will have special displays, there was no other information made available. Will there be limited-time items that you can only buy at Target similar to the other collections? Will you be able to get your Apple products repaired or ask an Apple employee for assistance? Or will these special displays just have a way to use Apple products before purchasing them?

We’ll likely have to wait until early May to learn all of the details.

Via [Reuters]

Not everyone is fortunate to live in areas that have a large enough population to warrant an Apple store being built. You can always buy online, but what if you want to see the product before you make your purchasing decision? If there’s a Target nearby, you may be in luck; Apple is rumored to be opening a store-within-a-store inside Target at certain locations later this year.

AppleInsider received this information from a “source familiar with Apple’s plans” who said Apple will start by opening 25 stores inside larger Target stores in areas that can’t support an Apple store. If this goes well, perhaps Apple will open more stores at some of Target’s other 1,752 locations in the United States. No information was provided as to where the initial 25 stores would be located.

Target already sells many Apple products, including the iPod and iPad, as well as the iPhone in stores with Target Mobile sales centers. With the Apple store-within-a-store, they would also be able to sell other Apple products such as the iMac, MacBook, and Cinema Display. Unfortunately, the source didn’t share any knowledge as to what the stores would be like.

Currently, Apple has stores within over 600 Best Buy locations, which could make one wonder why Apple would expand to Target as well. Perhaps Apple wants to add some competition, or maybe it’s because of the rumors that Best Buy is going out of business. It could also be that Best Buy doesn’t have stores in locations Apple wo which Apple wants to expand.

Regardless, it’s always good to see Apple products in more stores because being able to see the products in person is the best way to sell them to someone who may be considering moving over from Windows or Android.

Via [AppleInsider]

iTunes Match has generated a bit of confusion since its initial release, as some users aren’t sure about what exactly happens to their music library after the service has been enabled. To better explain iTunes Match, Apple posted a walkthrough video showing viewers how to activate their account and load songs.

The new $25/year service offers users the ability to match their existing iTunes library with high quality versions in Apple’s iCloud. In order to use the service, users needs to download iTunes 10.5.1 on a PC or a Mac and/or iOS 5.0.1 on an iPhone 3GS or later,a third-or fourth-generation iPod touch or an iPad.

The video comes with a FAQ about the services being offered by Apple’s iTunes Match, which aims to addresses several questions about whether users can stream music to iOS devices and if songs needs to be uploaded to iCloud. According to Apple, computers will be able to stream music stored in the iCloud. All iOS devices will have the ability to play tracks while its still downloading to your device. Apple TV only seems to stream songs.

Apple’s FAQ also answers what would happen if users let their subscription of iTunes Match comes to a closure after a year, “Any songs you’ve upgraded or downloaded again are completely safe. The only thing you lose is the central storage — iCloud will no longer stream or download matched or uploaded songs to your devices.”

Apple’s iTunes Match became available for US customers back in November, while other countries just recently have gained access.

See [iTunes Match]

Last week, Apple began offering free 2-3 shipping on all products ordered from their online store. Today, it just got upgraded to free next day delivery for Apple’s in-stock merchandise to accommodate many people doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. Items purchased online by Thursday, December 22nd that are not engraved will be delivered by December 24th.

There are a few exceptions to the offer; including engraved iPods and iPads, as well as customized Macintosh computers. And, of course, the iPhone 4S won’t be shipping via any method for one to two weeks.

With the help from Apple, this free next-day shipping special will definitely help shoppers receive their gifts before the holiday weekend.

Apple ran a deal last month that those with a minimum purchase order will qualify for free standard shipping when placed through the U.S. online Apple store. The company has now extended that special, but now with faster 2-3 business day free shipping. With this new shipping promotion from Apple, it will provide a faster delivery service and piece of mind to those wanting to complete their shopping before Christmas day.

Apple posted a list of shipping deadlines for customers who want last minute gifts with guaranteed delivery by the December 24th. All purchases made before Dec. 19th will automatically qualify for the free shipping (2 to 3 days) promotion with an expected pre-Christmas delivery. Some selected apple products—Mac, iPhone, iPods, and others—have different deadlines. For an engraved iPod or iPad, customers will have until the 19th. For those wanting to buy an iPhone 4S as a Christmas holiday gift, it’s unfortunately a little too late; December 5th was the last day to place those orders.

Apple also gives customers the option for next-day delivery at an additional charge on almost all of their products in their online store.

Apple issued a statement today that more than 100 million app downloads were generated from the Mac App Store since its debut on January 6th, 2011. Mac owners can easily access the Mac App Store via OS X Snow Leopard and OS X Lion, and all that’s required is an iTunes account in order to download or purchase software. Apple’s promise was mainly to make it an easier way to browse, install and maintain apps for OS X, and that seems to have been a success.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, celebrated the significant Mac App Store milestone by saying, “In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry. With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

“In less than one year we’ve shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. “With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels.”

In that respect, the Mac App Store technically has allowed Apple to push forward the replacement of boxed software with digital copies of their mac software lineup. The Logic Pro and MainStage, boxed versions exclusively for retail stores were discontinued in favor of the Mac App store download. Even the company’s retail stores are instructing customers to their online Mac App Store for most of Apple’s software distribution.

The ESRB has long rated computer and video games, and, in cooperation with CTIA – The Wireless Association, will now rate mobile games as well.

When developers submit their applications to a participating storefront, they will be able to complete a multiple choice questionnaire that is designed to assess an application’s content and context with respect to its age-appropriateness. Once completed, the rating is generated within seconds and each application is given a unique code that can be reused which means this process has to be done just once for each application.

While AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless have all agreed to incorporate the ratings into their stores, both Apple and Google have decided not to. A Google spokesman said they have already worked hard on their own rating system and see no need to switch. Apple has not responded to why they won’t participate, but their reasoning is likely to be similar.

Via [Tom's Guide]

Apple has announced that throughout the Christmas season it will offer free shipping on all products ordered from their online store. The company has been pushing hard during the winter holidays via their Black Friday sale and new commercials, and now with their free shipping offer.

Until December 22nd, all purchases will have the opportunity to get free shipping, allowing the consumers to save a few dollars on low cost purchases that are below the normal requirement of $50 dollars or more.

Along with the free delivery, Apple also began its gift wrapping service (which it happens every year), allowing customers to order gifts for family or friends in Apple’s red ribbon, pre-wrapped style.

The free delivery is only available to those living in the U.S., with Canadian and U.K. Apple stores showing free delivery for “today only.” If you have any Apple gifts on your shopping list for your loved ones this Christmas, make sure you take advantage of this offer on all items in the Apple online store.