AppStore – Page 4

Why the hell not?

Jeff LaMarche writes: This really needs to stop, Apple. There is nothing in the SDK agreement or documentation that you can point to that would reasonably justify this rejection. It’s your store. If you want to set up concrete rules and enforce them, that’s fine. I think you’d be better off letting the market decide, … Continue reading “Why the hell not?”

Jeff LaMarche writes:

This really needs to stop, Apple. There is nothing in the SDK agreement or documentation that you can point to that would reasonably justify this rejection. It’s your store. If you want to set up concrete rules and enforce them, that’s fine. I think you’d be better off letting the market decide, but it’s your house, I’m okay with you making rules about what goes on there. But… make real rules and enforce them fairly. This arbitrary, capricious shit has got to stop. Applications shouldn’t get rejected because some reviewer got in a fight with their spouse, got a speeding ticket on the way into work, or just hasn’t gotten laid recently.

The capricious and some might say haphazard way that some apps are permitted and others rejected and some are removed after a time, tells me that it’s not one person making the decisions, it’s a team. And some of them don’t like fun.

I’m unlikely to buy apps like iFart, Sound Grenade or Nails on Chalkboard but I’m inclined to think that if people want to buy that sort of shit and if it’s only a couple of dollars, why the hell not?

I’m not suggesting they open the doors but I’d appreciate some sort of consistency in the screening process and more description of why in the rejection process. At the moment it’s a lot of chickenshit posturing and vague pointing to things that are ‘inappropriate’ or in their heads ‘don’t offer sufficient value’.

Nokia to launch Ovi Store. Bored Now.

Robin Wauters of Techcrunch writes: At the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, Nokia has unveiled its initiative to try and repeat the runaway succes of Appleâ€™s App Store with its own mobile storefront dubbed Ovi Store. This was an expected move… …because we can’t expect Nokia to innovate, only copy. Developers of the apps will … Continue reading “Nokia to launch Ovi Store. Bored Now.”

Robin Wauters of Techcrunch writes:

At the Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona, Nokia has unveiled its initiative to try and repeat the runaway succes of Appleâ€™s App Store with its own mobile storefront dubbed Ovi Store. This was an expected move…

…because we can’t expect Nokia to innovate, only copy. Developers of the apps will retain 70% of revenues (which might be enough to help people put up with developing on Symbian S40 and S60

The Ovi Store does include this feature:

Ovi Store is unique in its ability to target content based on where you are, when youâ€™re there, why you are where you are and who else has downloaded similar content.

Nokia estimates that this will reach 300 million users by 2012 which essentially means that we’ll be inundated with tat because everyone around us will be downloading it. Depending on where you live it’s going to be classical music or something tremendously chavtastic. It’s a bit like the Welcome to the Social feature of the Zune. I frankly don’t care what my neighbours are downloading, I want to know what’s good and I feel this feature will not build upon the wisdom of crowds but mob stupidity. I won’t even go into the privacy concerns of an online store front having your location and using that information to inform your neighbours what to buy.

Of course this will be a success. The model has already been proved (though whether the UI sucks will be another thing)

Android release today. TIME fairy tales.

Proving that TIME Magazine subscribes to the same dose of “stupid and misinformed” that so many other online publications have a direct tap into, Anita Hamilton exposes her ignorance with regards to the iPhone and Google’s Android offerings in a hilariously titled piece “Google’s Dream, Apple’s Nightmare?” – a play on the news that the … Continue reading “Android release today. TIME fairy tales.”

Proving that TIME Magazine subscribes to the same dose of “stupid and misinformed” that so many other online publications have a direct tap into, Anita Hamilton exposes her ignorance with regards to the iPhone and Google’s Android offerings in a hilariously titled piece “Google’s Dream, Apple’s Nightmare?” – a play on the news that the first phone offering Android as an operating system is going to be the HTC Dream.

The sweetest part of the Dream is the Android Market â€” Google’s answer to the Apple App Store. Whereas many Apple apps cost money (typically anywhere from $0.99 to $9.99), at launch all Android Market apps will be free.

Sorry, Anita, but that’s completely wrong. The Market will be a “market” – there will be some apps that are free but some that will cost money. It’s not about free as in price, but freedom as in the ability to put any app you want on there – which has good points and bad points but I’m sure the more astute of you can guess what they are. Helpfully, Anita fleshes this out.

While Apple takes a top-down approach to app development â€” the company must approve every program that makes it into its App Store â€” Google will allow creators to upload any application to the Android Market without its review. Sure that means some duds will make it in…

Oh my god. When you see the crap that Apple has permitted into the store (never mind their in explicable removal of some applications which have some real utility or merit), then thinking that the App Store won’t be quickly filled with poorly audited, untested crap which will infest your phone is the wet dream of a naive would-be technology writer. This democratising approach will mean the Android Market will look more like Sourceforge than the App Store – filled with half-baked approaches to applications.

The big announcement is officially today. Won’t it be exciting?

What we need is an honest broker…

If anything has been shown by the last month, Apple needs to be an honest broker in the App Store. I can understand the tenuous but poorly explained reasons to reject cartoon violence in Murderdrome but their recent rejection of Podcaster has me flummoxed. This is an application which does not duplicate the podcasts download … Continue reading “What we need is an honest broker…”

If anything has been shown by the last month, Apple needs to be an honest broker in the App Store.

I can understand the tenuous but poorly explained reasons to reject cartoon violence in Murderdrome but their recent rejection of Podcaster has me flummoxed. This is an application which does not duplicate the podcasts download section of iTunes because, unlike iTunes, it permits downloading over the air rather than requiring a re-sync (and with the recent re-appearance of the age long backup this is doubly frustrating).

John Gruber writes about developer concerns:

If you only find out at the end of the development process that your app has been rejected â€” not for a technical problem that you can address but because Apple deems the entire concept to be out of bounds â€” then who is going to put serious time and talent into an iPhone app?

Meanwhile, Apple let this shit through:

According to Apple, the staff who deal with developers day to day have no contact with the developers. And there is no appeal process.

Apple, can’t you see how this is wrong?

In three days…

Apple sold over 1 Million iPhones in 3 days. “iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” reads a PR statement from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.” and the AppStore … Continue reading “In three days…”

Apple sold over 1 Million iPhones in 3 days.

“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” reads a PR statement from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”

and the AppStore did okay as well:

Over 10 million downloads have been made from the newly-launched iTunes App Store, according to Apple.

Are we still wondering if the iPhone 3G is doing well?

The First Five

Today I installed 5 iPhone apps on top of iPhone OS 2.0 which was made available early through an Apple ‘phobos’ link. There’s a good chance it’s final but it’s refreshing to have something new to play with. Alas, it actually makes me want an iPhone 3G even more. Remote: Use your iPhone as a … Continue reading “The First Five”

Remote: Use your iPhone as a remote for your iTunes. You need to be on the same WiFi network as your iTunes-bearing Mac or PC but it allows you to select song or playlist, select multiple speakers (on AirTunes) and play or pause or whatever. It’s free. So why the hell not (and it means that during a party you can leave your precious Mac hidden away so you can control what plays from your phone and prevent guests from futzing with it. Perfick!)

AIM: it’s AOL Instant Messenger. On your iPhone. And I’m uninstalling it. It’s buggy as hell. Please. Someone. Make. A. Good. Instant. Messenger. Application.

Exposure: if you use Flickr, it’s going to be hard to justify not using Flickr Premium, the Â£5.99 version of this free app. But for me this is going to be uninstalled. I don’t use Flickr. And the ‘photos near me’ thing is, frankly, creeping me out. Brrr. It’s amazing what ConnectedFlow has done and again, Fraser Speirs proves that he’s a master of providing what’s interesting to photographers. He’s now a master of social photography. But this ain’t for me.

Super Monkey Ball: More than anything else, this is the best technology demo I’ve seen for the iPhone. I’m not fussed on Super Monkey Ball as a game in itself but this is a thing of beauty. I think the kids will love it. The thing that surprised me more than the amazing visuals was the speed of it. The graphics scroll really smoothly and when it gets up to speed, it’s simply breathtaking. It’s a steal at Â£5.99.

Twitterific: It’s beautiful. The scrolling is slow and jerky but other than that, this is even better than the desktop version in my opinion. Craig, if you read this, I love it. Now, fix the scrolling.

So, those were my first five. I was expecting some other apps to be up there and it’s a shame they’re missing. I reckon as the weeks go by we’re probably going to see heaps more.

Ones I’m considering?

South Park ImaginationLand?

EverNote?

Any you think are fabulous?

This month is going to be bumper….

June was pretty busy with me racking up 99 posts in 30 days. Currently this is the 41st post in July, in 8 days which means around 5 per day which means, if I keep this up, there could be nearly 150 posts on the blog this month. I think people would get sick of … Continue reading “This month is going to be bumper….”

I think people would get sick of reading very quickly so this is just a warning. In fact it could be worse…

iPhone 2.0 software is being released this week. There’s going to be a lot of playing with this while I figure things out.
AppStore is being opened this week. Just browsing the App Store is going to be an adventure in itself and looking at apps which have, til now, been under NDA.
MobileMe is coming Half a dozen web apps which should change completely the way…uh…okay, I’ve been doing this all along…
Applications will become VIRAL. Trust me. There’s going to be apps on my iPhone, apps on HerIndoors iPhone and apps on friends iPhones. It’s going to be messy. And cool. And some people will be able to afford pimp cars.
iPhone 3G will be about this week and there will be endless comparisons to the old one and against other models. Nokia N95 users will still tell us they have it better.
No less than 5 apps will be downloaded to my iPhone. No less than this. Maybe more. And games. And grainy photos of same.
This weekend is the 12th July and I’m in Northern Ireland. This guarantees roads will be closed and I will be annoyed. And lots of pollution-spewing tyres will be burned.
OpenCoffeeClub BBQ is on next Wednesday and I’m going. I’m going to be speaking to some interesting people and eating lots of half-cooked meat.
I have a job interview tomorrow. Big step.
I’ve been getting in contact with lots of ex-pats who have been successful in technology, digital content, software and media. Should be heaps to talk about.
I have a stag do to attend sometime between now and month end. Mine…
I’m getting married on 1st August.
HerIndoors is considering switching to a HTC Touch Diamond
My honeymoon is a two week cruise around the Baltic. Stopping off at Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Wernemunde and Copenhagen. On the way over we’re stopping for a night in London to see Wicked.

My…the next month is just packed!

Why the App Store makes things different

Ewan from SMSTextNews about the problems enterpreneurs face when approaching the mobile market …don’t bother… …your concept is good but the market is shite. … Pick any one person of the street and theyâ€™ll tell you they phone people and they text people. If youâ€™re really lucky, youâ€™ll pick someone whoâ€™s actually â€˜used Googleâ€™ on … Continue reading “Why the App Store makes things different”

Ewan from SMSTextNews about the problems enterpreneurs face when approaching the mobile market

…don’t bother… …your concept is good but the market is shite.
…
Pick any one person of the street and theyâ€™ll tell you they phone people and they text people. If youâ€™re really lucky, youâ€™ll pick someone whoâ€™s actually â€˜used Googleâ€™ on their mobile. Or, if youâ€™re exceptionally lucky, youâ€™ll find a teenager whoâ€™s used Facebook Mobile.
…
There are some shining lights. Appleâ€™s iPhone Application Store is leading the way there. Finally thereâ€™s an outlet for Graham and his Gardening idea. He can easily develop, deploy and monetise his offerings. Whatâ€™s more, his audience can, thanks to Appleâ€™s end-to-end deep thought, probably learn to use Grahamâ€™s service in a few moments.
…
But what of the LG users? The Samsung users? The Orange usersâ€¦

I want to buy this man a drink.

This is why I’m excited about the iPhone and the App Store. It’s not about whether the N95 has better features, the experience is still shite. It’s not about whether you’ve got the latest HTC Touch Diamond, it’s about whether you can do anything other than what is provided. Sure – the feature phones can view Youtube and live TV and get you the weather and WinMo phones can get a huge range of software (and all with individually crap UIs) but how many people buying the HTC Touch Diamond are going to get them. It’s part smartphone and part fashion accessory.

The iPhone did well because it was the first time I’d ever seen a browsing experience which acuurately reflected browsing. My previous phones were rubbish at this because they pushed their mobile-optimised and totally standardised mobile portals at me. I didn’t want to see Sport, News or Flirt online so their portals were pretty much useless to me. And getting off their portal was an absolute pain.

I see a goodly amount of traffic on blogs and twitter from people with N95s asking their friends whether they’re going to ‘upgrade’ to an iPhone and then backslapping each other when they agree not to. Well done, guys, you’ve just placed yourself as the Windows-using Beige Box owners.

It’s fine for the techno-literate to struggle their way through Symbian but it’s just not right for other people who end up thinking that their phone can’t do more. I consider myself to be pretty geeky but only ever downloaded one app to my SonyEricsson K800i and then, once downloaded, I never ran it properly or paid for it because the UI was so awful I just deleted it minutes later. My SO has never downloaded anything to her phone (but if she goes ahead with the Touch Diamond, then she’ll expect it to be as easy as her iPhone).

Consider the experience. Looking for an application? Let’s say two apps. One being a game and the other a personal accounts manager. Where does the novice user go? Let’s look at this as a novice.

On the iPhone, you just click the AppStore button and look.

Nice and easy…

On my SonyEricsson, I have to know to go to somewhere like Handango. I have to know what OS I have. I have to know what device I have, which brings a click-through to see all devices if it’s not recent. And the K800i isn’t listed on Handango. Turns out it’s not Symbian. But it has games and email…gahhhhh

The experience for ‘more modern’ phones is not much different. You have to know too much!

What does a deadline look like…

This, apparently There’s been a lot of chatter on Twitter regarding the 7th July deadline for app submissions to the opening day of the App Store for iPhone. Based on what I could see, I’ve seen twenty or so applications just within my Twitter streams. Looking forward to Friday. Related posts: iPhone vs Android: software … Continue reading “What does a deadline look like…”

This, apparently

There’s been a lot of chatter on Twitter regarding the 7th July deadline for app submissions to the opening day of the App Store for iPhone.

Based on what I could see, I’ve seen twenty or so applications just within my Twitter streams. Looking forward to Friday.

Is your app going to be a money spinner on the AppStore?

From waffle.wootest.net I seriously hope Gruber did not mean what he said, or that I am reading meaning into it where there is none. My app ThisService, which I wrote principally for him by request, has to date made less than $100 through donations. Is John suggesting that it is junk, or that junk that … Continue reading “Is your app going to be a money spinner on the AppStore?”

From waffle.wootest.net

I seriously hope Gruber did not mean what he said, or that I am reading meaning into it where there is none. My app ThisService, which I wrote principally for him by request, has to date made less than $100 through donations. Is John suggesting that it is junk, or that junk that is free should be accepted?

I think the point here is being missed by all and sundry. If you’re seeing your app as a money making venture as opposed to free, then you’re going to need to use the App Store and that means accepting terms and conditions. It’s not just Apple who has a limit on the size of cheque they will send – Google does it too with AdWords.

The point is – if you’re looking to make a couple of hundred dollars out of the App Store then you are approaching it wrong. The App Store will have a few very specialist applications that may sell a couple of hundred copies but that’s because they’re in a very specific niche. And if they price them at a dollar then yeah, it’s going to take that number of sales before a cheque is printed.

Did anyone seriously think that Apple would send you a cheque for $0.70 every month because some user decided to buy it that month?

That’s not Apple being mean or giving indie developers a raw deal – it’s just the combination of ‘rules’ plus stupid pricing. And this storm in a teacup is typical of Mac user hysteria.

And the DRM rant?

Well, some people want to protect their wares from being copied. Go figure. You’ll get fights on both sides of that issue. If you don’t like it, release for the JailBreak community.