app store – ɔimoɈɒ

Since when are geeks the only creative folk?

[I wrote this as a comment on Jeff Jarvis’s blog but decided to keep the text and expand upon it.] Jeff’s major bone of contention with the iPad is that the newspaper apps which are appearing on the device are not permitting the full gamut of conversation, of consumer input that he would like. The … Continue reading “Since when are geeks the only creative folk?”

[I wrote this as a comment on Jeff Jarvis’s blog but decided to keep the text and expand upon it.]

Jeff’s major bone of contention with the iPad is that the newspaper apps which are appearing on the device are not permitting the full gamut of conversation, of consumer input that he would like.

The iPad is retrograde. It tries to turn us back into an audience again. That is why media companies and advertisers are embracing it so fervently, because they think it returns us all to their good old days when we just consumed, we didn’t create, when they controlled our media experience and business models and we came to them. The most absurd, extreme illustration is Time Magazine’s app, which is essentially a PDF of the magazine (with the odd video snippet). It’s worse than the web: we can’t comment; we can’t remix; we can’t click out; we can’t link in, and they think this is worth $4.99 a week. But the pictures are pretty.

The iPad is not built on apps and was not primarily advertised as such.

“The best way to experience the web, email and photos.”

Don’t believe me, check the title.

That’s HMTL, IMAP and JPG/PNG.

On one hand we have web developers telling us that you can create great apps with web technologies. On the other hand we have folk railing against the strictures of the app store. So where are the amazing HTML-based apps that should have been released on the iPhone in 2007 (when everyone was clamouring for a native SDK). Where are the web apps?

This is the same argument that Cory used – you can’t do on tiny fragment of the whole creativity spectrum on it and suddenly it’s a consumer trap. You can’t edit movies with “Final Cut Touch” so it’s useless. There’s no “LightRoom Touch” so it’s useless. You can’t self-host (as someone put it) so it’s useless. It doesn’t come with a web server, a print server and routing software so it’s useless.

On the other hand I spent an hour on the phone working with my 65 year old, 70% blind father as he navigated his way around his Mac mini using the built-in magnification. He can’t get used to the idea that windows in the OS can overlap. He thinks the OS is hiding things from him. for him, multitasking is a challenge that he finds difficult to fathom. He finds the spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination required to operate a mouse to be a huge obstacle. Can you think of a better option than an iPad for him?

But ignore this. This isn’t about the people for whom it would be a great enabler, this is about the micro-percentages of alpha geeks who really wanted something else and aren’t happy to just go out and buy something else. Just buy

So we have Jeff shouting that he wants USB? For a USB stick and what else? A printer? In 2010 we have someone shouting for sneakernet and dead tree + ink? this would be laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculous.

So, the argument is bullshit. Of course it allows us to create. We can load our photos in there, we can load our videos in there, we can write, we can record sound, we can create blogs, write missives, comment anywhere. It’s a better web client than most people are used to.

An idea has no value until it is realised.

Gareth at Hunky Doray writes about ‘ideas and implementation‘: There was an article a while ago about the value of ideas. And when I say value, the article basically said that ideas are worthless. An idea has no value until it is realised. This is no Platonic ideal weâ€™re living in. Only the concrete has … Continue reading “An idea has no value until it is realised.”

Gareth at Hunky Doray writes about ‘ideas and implementation‘:

There was an article a while ago about the value of ideas. And when I say value, the article basically said that ideas are worthless. An idea has no value until it is realised. This is no Platonic ideal weâ€™re living in. Only the concrete has value. There is no need for me to reiterate, but this is a blog, what else is it for? If you have an idea, get your head down and realise it. If you canâ€™t do it, find someone who can. Just get the idea from you head and into a code editor window. Then get it out there. Donâ€™t write about it. Donâ€™t spend time thinking too much about it. Donâ€™t ever think youâ€™re the only person who has thought of it.

Gareth, just write your app and get it out there. If there’s already an app that does the same it proves two things.

There’s a market there.
You can do it better.

I say the first thing because if there’s no product in that space then there’s usually a reason. Granted, we’re in the early days of the App Store so there will be some first timers but if someone else has done the product it shows there’s a recognised need.

I say the latter because you have the advantage of seeing what’s wrong and what’s right with their implementation. Take the plunge.

A more sober view on iPhone application development

Steven Frank of Panic software writes about the iTunes App Store. I’ve been trying to reconcile the App Store with my beliefs on “how things should be” ever since the SDK was announced. After all this time, I still can’t make it all line up. I can’t question that it’s probably the best mobile application … Continue reading “A more sober view on iPhone application development”

Steven Frank of Panic software writes about the iTunes App Store.

I’ve been trying to reconcile the App Store with my beliefs on “how things should be” ever since the SDK was announced. After all this time, I still can’t make it all line up. I can’t question that it’s probably the best mobile application distribution method yet created, but every time I use it, a little piece of my soul dies. And we don’t even have anything for sale on there yet.

I can’t disagree with anything Steven says.

Panic are one of the companies out there producing insanely great software and being remarkably transparent about the ins and outs of being in Apple’s ecosystem.

Go and read Steven’s post again. No, really. Don’t just read it, digest it.

Now read this from iPhone app developers, TapTapTap.

Weâ€™ve finally received our financial reports for the month. At this time, weâ€™re still missing some territories, such as Canada, but overall the US overwhelmingly makes up the bulk of the sales (>90%) so the final-final numbers wonâ€™t vary by much.
…
The sales are reported for the period of June 29th to August 2nd. But because the App Store opened July 10th, the period is actually 24 days. So over the course of those days we took in an average of around $2,200 per day.
…
We went from selling around 450/day when we were ranked around 50 to around 250/day when falling below. And we dropped like a rockâ€¦ in just two days we fell to around the 75th rank.

TapTapTap made $52,815 in the month of July and though they admit the numbers are dropping fast in August, it’s still not a bad thing at all and makes you think what might be achievable. Their premier application hovered around #50 on the App Store so imagine the numbers for applications which score much higher on the list.

On one hand you have the tenets by which Steven Frank designs software and on the other hand you have the potential to spend six months building an application and then making $52 000 in a month. It’s no wonder that some people see iPhone as a quick way to make a name, earn some money and set themselves up as an independent software vendor. Working as a code-slave for some mindless $BIG_COMPANY? Hack for a while and maybe make enough dough to enable you to spend a few more months hacking away. Sounds like fun to me.

I think that now the furor has died down, it represents a very personal decision on whether you want to develop for iPhone. There are obviously advantages but there are also disadvantages. The winner of course is Apple. They’re selling shedloads of everything (including the alleged 200 000 iPhones to HSBC).

And if Apple uses the App Store for Evil?

Ian Betteridge wonders if the iTunes App Store will create a monopoly But what happens if Apple’s market share grows to the point where it has a monopoly – 70-, 80- or even 90% market share? That might take ten years, but it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, and it’s certainly something that … Continue reading “And if Apple uses the App Store for Evil?”

Ian Betteridge wonders if the iTunes App Store will create a monopoly

But what happens if Apple’s market share grows to the point where it has a monopoly – 70-, 80- or even 90% market share? That might take ten years, but it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, and it’s certainly something that Apple would like to have.
At that point, does Apple’s control over third-party applications become an abuse of a monopoly – something that is, of course, illegal in both Europe and the US?

There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in that prediction of doom.

We have to face facts – we had a large and aggressive abuse of monopoly in the US and the EU and the governments did sod all to stop it and, were it not for consumers and the general downturn of the market, the monopoly abuse would be worse today.

Apple can decide to do this but they’re unlikely to start in ten years. We need to see what applications have been denied before we start worrying about whether Apple’s vetting team (which they refer to as a QA team) is going to do things that are bad for the ecosystem.

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