Burnsy writes "During all the hype of Apple celebrating its 1.5 billion iPhone App Store downloads, some good advice on how to be successful and stand out in the App Store came out. One story describes how developers are increasingly coming up with various strategies to make a splash, employing everything from temporary discounts to guerilla marketing tactics. On the other hand, some successful developers, such as the creator of the Flight Control app, which has been the number one selling app in 20 countries, talk about the pitfalls of Apple's approval process for the App Store. They say it can take a developer up to three months to get an application approved and distributed on the App Store and that maybe the iPhone bubble is soon to burst."
A related story at Wired points out that the games category — already crowded with over 13,000 entries — is getting even more competitive as the major game publishers push into the market.
The App Store has a tremendous number of small apps that are minimally useful.
But it also has a small number off apps with deeper functionality that are really useful - and that subset of apps is growing, and will provide real value. Those apps are much harder to build. Those apps generally require infrastructure and marketing and all the things we traditionally think of with applications - this article hints at that as developers have discovered to sell a product they need, of all things, advertising!
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply. If nothing else, the soon to be flood of augmented reality apps and apps based around custom hardware will ensure that.
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply.
Quoted for truth.
One could have the exact same argument about the x86 Windows-based market in the 90's. So many applications popped up that the market was flooded; take CD burning applications, for example. Roxio, Nero, Sonic, CloneCD, Power ISO, Ulead... all applications vying for consumer attention that do the exact same thing. In the end, the competition just widens the field, increases choice, and spurs innovation, both in the software and advertising fields.
In the end I expect iPhone apps will be sold primarily by word of mouth.
Yeah, no kidding. After all those years of "There are no applications for Macs! Buy a PC!" in the press, now we get "There are too many applications for the iPhone, IS IT DOOMED?????"
Think about how complex the PC and console gaming industry is... game developers rely heavily on reviews published on popular websites and in magazines, along with all of the advertising revenue they spend, and the money they spend to secure shelf space in retail stores, and even TV and radio advertising.
The App Store is just coming out of its infancy, where an app can shoot up in popularity simply by virtue of being the first of its type on the market, and almost all of the marketing was done by Apple. Sma
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply
How is the phenomenon you're describing different from the internet bubble?
You're right, but sadly (as with today's Android/Blackberry Google Voice announcement), almost all of those apps with deeper functionality will come out last for the iPhone until Apple starts to treat app vendors like partners, rather than serfs.
What is involved in developing an application for the iPhone? Even just a simple Hello World app. What OS, programming language, IDE, emulator etc must you use to do the actual development?
Also, any overall comments on unexpected difficulties and/or surprisingly nice aspects are welcome as well. Thanks!
To develop iPhone apps, you must have the following.
1. Intel based Mac or hackintosh. (there are ways around it but it's easier to stick with x86 macs)
2. Download the free iPhone SDK. This SDK includes Xcode which is the IDE that most mac devs use the iPhone cocoa touch libs and an iPhone simulator app to test certain kinds of apps.
3. Learn Objective-C and Cocoa Touch libraries (plenty of books for this)
4. Pay Apple $99/year to test your apps on an actual device and sell your completed app on the App Store.
5. Profit!
What is involved in developing an application for the iPhone? Even just a simple Hello World app. What OS, programming language, IDE, emulator etc must you use to do the actual development?
I develop iPhone apps full time.
You need a Mac (any Intel mac will do, 2GB of memory), you use objective-C, the emulator and SDK are free to download when you sign up at . [apple.com]
For a Hello World app, you would literally create a project from a template and user Interface Builder (comes with XCode) to add a "Hello World" label.
Of course, real world programming gets more complex but anyone who has programmed for a bit can get used to Objective-C.
Also, any overall comments on unexpected difficulties and/or surprisingly nice aspects are welcome as well. Thanks!
When you want to actually build for a phone or touch, the main thing that can be confusing is the certificates - if you read the docs carefully though you'll be fine, they do a very good job explaining exactly what to do.
The nice aspect (for me) is that unlike any other GUI builder tool I've ever used in an IDE, I actually prefer to use the tool over just coding up the UI directly (though you can still do that too and sometimes that approach is useful). Also the ease with which you can add informative animation to an app (as opposed to just animating something because you can) is pretty nice.
On iTunes U, there's a free iPhone development course from Stanford. You could watch some of those classes to get a feel for what development is like.
iFitness is a perfect example. That took a ton of work and research to build and provides good information, which is valuable and useful. 4.5 * apps are very rare and that's how it's done. There are roughly one bazillion apps that simply repackage google maps.
and very nearly 100% of the market can find your app and acquire it in seconds.
Yes they can acquire it in seconds, a powerful force. That makes the job of advertising easier because you are that much closer to being able to obtain an app quickly when you hear about it.
But I very much disagree that they can *find* your app in seconds, because there are so many apps - they must generally know about your app or be searching on a keyword (which have been heavily salted by other apps trying to dry eyeballs) to
or J2ME or even Symbian. At least, there is free market I would say. There is no "app store" to say "duplicates functionality". It is USER who says "bleh, this sux" and presses C button on its icon to uninstall application. No harm done...
Apps like Profimail and Opera Mini proves that if you code a really good application, you stay on guys device and in case of Profimail, guy even pays for it. I picked these 2 because they are coded in J2ME instead of "native" Symbian C. You can`t believe how hard it is to
It's both incredibly awesome and incredibly frustrating at the same time. I love that I can think of something and sure enough, there's an app for it. But at the same time, sometimes there's 50 apps doing basically the same thing and it's hard to weed the chaff from the grain.
I don't think the bubble will burst, but it will level off some.
There's only so many people world wide willing to plunk down money on an iphone, but the people that have, it's not like they're gonna stop buying/downloading apps.
It's both incredibly awesome and incredibly frustrating at the same time. I love that I can think of something and sure enough, there's an app for it. But at the same time, sometimes there's 50 apps doing basically the same thing and it's hard to weed the chaff from the grain.
I think it means that Apple is going to have to develop a more sophisticated interface for browsing the App Store. With 65,000 apps available, you just know that most of that has to be shovelware.
as an iphone developer (http://www.mobile1up.com/) - one who has been there from quite early on, i have started to notice how long it takes to get approved. in the early days, it was 3-4 days for a new version or update; now, i have two applications waiting in the approval process, it has been over two weeks! is apple employing enough people? i think so. the issue is that you get morons who think they need to release a "special" version of their application 100 times; take, for example, there was a weather application posted recently - one for each city in the united states.. come on; how much wasted time is there for apple to approve all 100 of these apps - when they could have approved one. with the introduction of "nude or raunchy" content; submissions have increased exponentially; now you dont get a fart app - you get a fart app with a hot girl in it.
Can you watch progress or know who actually approves your app? I mean, what if some MS certified idiot who somehow got the job at Apple doesn`t approve your application for no reason rather than not understanding what the heck it is or misunderstand?
For example, is there an interface saying "APP-291 rejected, reason 10023" or you just upload it and pray?
Trust me, if I was a Developer, I would always keep a Nokia 5800 (touch based Symbian) release maintained just in case. I understand there is no reason to s
I would love to pick your brain about developing an app, as a developer myself, I am looking to be able to do a few different things with my treo, if not my iphone, and I am wondering about finding someone like yourself, where I could ask very specific questions which only mobile developers would be able to answer!
Have any links or websites, I could send you emails to? Thnk of it as free advertising as well!
: )
For example, look at Nintendo during the NES/SNES eras. Apple should build an automatic scanner for malware and approve apps that are malware free in a matter of hours.
As a counter example, consider Atari before the crash of '83. There's a balance to be had between allowing everything and keeping out crap.
There's a balance to be had between allowing everything and keeping out crap.
Unfortunately Apple's approval process is nowhere near that balance, and is moving further away from it. It doesn't keep out the crap, and cannot, as that's a very subjective judgement call, and not one that Apple tries to make - they ban apps for all sorts of silly reasons, but not because they are rubbish or useless (or we wouldn't have 100 flashlight apps).
Any non-automated approval process just isn't feasible when you have a worldwide store serving millions of people and 100,000 developers. This problem
Are you telling there is no heuristics, code analytics, power analysis going on while application gets to the app store?
Apple also analyses the application in Sony way. Does it compete or would dare to compete with their iTMS? Would it take away people from iPhone services? Did Developer bitch about Apple or harmed Apple somehow in the past? iPhone developer scene publicly is just 5-10 heroic guys telling their mind and the rest are anonymous cowards for a good reason. Of course, those 5-10 guys are so adva
Apple should build an automatic scanner for malware and approve apps that are malware free in a matter of hours.
How do you plan to scan an app for malware without either A. solving the halting problem [wikipedia.org] or B. wasting battery power on a more robust sandbox?
I've released a few apps on the app store, and have met with some success with them. However, the single most frustrating thing is the approval process for getting an app released in the first place, and publishing updates on a continuing basis.
I recently updated one of my apps, and it took Apple 16 days to review the executable and publish it. I then updated my other app, and it took 14 days.
Seriously? 2 weeks? There is nothing more frustrating than to have users contacting me saying "when will feature xyz arrive?" and my response have to be along the lines of "I've submitted it to apple 2 weeks ago. They'll approve it when they approve it. There is nothing I can do to speed it up.
[Shameless Plug]:
For any who are interested, here are the apps I've written:
Velocity [apple.com]
Points [apple.com]
I've released a few apps on the app store, and have met with some success with them. However, the single most frustrating thing is the approval process for getting an app released in the first place, and publishing updates on a continuing basis.
I recently updated one of my apps, and it took Apple 16 days to review the executable and publish it. I then updated my other app, and it took 14 days.
Seriously? 2 weeks? There is nothing more frustrating than to have users contacting me saying "when will feature xyz
Velocity [apple.com] is a speedometer calibration application that relies upon you tapping the screen as you pass markers to determine your speed. It does not use the accelerometer, gps, etc. Just you tapping and math.
Points [apple.com] is an acupuncture reference library, intended for students studying for boards, and for the experienced practitioner wishing for a quick review.
Might I recommend that if you wish to provide a link to an iPhone app, don't link directly to iTunes. Not everyone has iTunes installed on every machine? (Last I checked there was no Linux version.) Instead provide a link to your app via AppBeacon [appbeacon.com].
They mirror the info iTunes provides, also providing a iTunes link. But that way I can review your app on my linux box and buy it directly, or buy it later on my mac laptop. (No, I don't work for AppBeacon, just a satisfied netizen.)
Are you comfortable with public posting like that? It is not like you spread FUD or Spam of course but if you think about it, you don`t see or know who that "Apple guy" doing the approval is. What if he reads slashdot and say "Oh are you bitching? You will see what approval process is." and make you wait 5 weeks instead of 2?
I always admired the patience of developers, especially open source/freeware ones but app store really carries to some amazing degree.
Yeah, it's too bad that it's harder to find good apps in the App Store when there are 50,000 than when there were 5,000.
But that only means you now have to work for your supper, like any one else who publishes anything from books to music to movies to software.
The same goes for those who complain that if they charge $50 for their app no one buys it.
Wow, welcome to the world of microeconomics and price theory. And, again, promotion.
Here's a clue: you don't have to use the app store as the only or even primary venue for promotion and discovery of your app. Yes, it's harder now than it was, but that's life in a competitive market place. The barriers to entry are lower than they've ever been for such an awesome platform, but that doesn't mean that becoming a success is any easier (nor should it be, if economic theory even kind of works as we understand it to) than it ever has been.
Frakin' cry babies. Suck it up, wipe off your crocodile tears, and make something awesome.
If you have anything legitimate to cry about it is Apple's dystopian app approval process.
Yeah, it's too bad that it's harder to find good apps in the App Store when there are 50,000 than when there were 5,000. But that only means you now have to work for your supper, like any one else who publishes anything from books to music to movies to software.
Still, I think Apple could do better organizing the apps. For one thing, their categories are too vague. For example, the IM clients are all in "social networking" along with tons of other crap.
Since Apple is keeping tight control of distribution, I think they're somewhat obligated to make it easier for people to find what they're looking for, for the sake of both developers and customers.
My advice, jailbreak your phone. Apple touts the sheer number of apps as something wonderful but I don't need 5 different apps that can make my iPhone into a flashlight.
Jailbreaking my iPhone in the first hour yielded me apps from Cydia that allow me to record video, tether my iPhone and most importantly blacklist callers and SMS. Just this morning I successfully got Perl 5.10 running on it.
Point is, just don't look to the App Store if you want something useful.
Consider me old fashioned or some sort of militant person. I still keep staying away from iPhone since a device requires to be hacked to gather full functionality doesn`t make sense to me.
I keep my love-hate relationship with Nokia and Symbian instead while using some really good J2ME apps. Being an OS X user myself and knowing what can it actually do really bugs me more about iPhone. I was also heart broken when Apple decided to make some FUD about J2ME instead of simply saying "No, we don`t include it.".
Make your app run on Symbian and possibly J2ME too, and gain up to 5000% from the approx. 2% global market share of the iPhone.:)
(No, iPhone fans, I am not playing this down. I respect the iPhone for what it is. It's just that its global market share is really tiny. I wish your hopes all the best. But with statements like "Java is dead", and being the only phone to not have it, Jobs is not making many friends. ^^)
Sure it may be outside of the box of what you expected as an answer. But it's not a bad idea i
Java is alive and well on phones. The AmazeGPS app I started 3 hours ago should be coming up any time now on my LG phone... hopefully the bluetooth (for the GPS Puck) isn't bugging out necessitating me to restart it...
Increasingly the App Store will become more like Amazon, with it's billions of items for sale. It will contain references from one product to another, it will contain suggestions based on the user's preferences and purchase history, but overall the App Store will cease to be the only way people market their apps.
Remember all the other ways there are to make sure people are aware of your iphone app. The larger developers, and the larger clients (like Barnes and Noble and State Farm) already know this and mar
Craig Hockenberry: Year 2 [furbo.org] is possibly the most thoughtful piece about what Apple needs to improve, why, and how. You may want to pay him a visit.
The root of the problem: software is not music. Songs sell without iTunes, songs don't harm the device, songs don't bug. But songs are also not essential to sell the device...
That's the Apple business model. They're not about letting others play as a means to control user experience. If M$ built a winPhone many companies could sell apps through several channels. The trade off would be that M$ couldn't guarantee/control what happened on those sites. If you want a gimped system that "just works", go with Apple. It you're feeling lucky there's everyone else.
Personally, i like the M$ model of letting others play. Windows created shit tons of jobs despite the quirkiness of thei
If you jailbreak, you can access the Cydia app store [saurik.com], which is awesome, and has stuff that Apple would never approve. You can install things like tethering apps directly from your iPhone, it's as functional as the official app store.
I'm pretty sure the FLOSS community will continue to develop what is worth, and for free
I highly doubt that, apart from jailbroken iPhones. Windows CE has approximately zero free software after more than 10 years. I use zero free software applications from the App Store. I use a couple of gratis applications, but those are add-supported and the source is neither available nor open.
No burst - phase change (Score:5, Insightful)
The App Store has a tremendous number of small apps that are minimally useful.
But it also has a small number off apps with deeper functionality that are really useful - and that subset of apps is growing, and will provide real value. Those apps are much harder to build. Those apps generally require infrastructure and marketing and all the things we traditionally think of with applications - this article hints at that as developers have discovered to sell a product they need, of all things, advertising!
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply. If nothing else, the soon to be flood of augmented reality apps and apps based around custom hardware will ensure that.
Re:No burst - phase change (Score:5, Interesting)
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply.
Quoted for truth.
One could have the exact same argument about the x86 Windows-based market in the 90's. So many applications popped up that the market was flooded; take CD burning applications, for example. Roxio, Nero, Sonic, CloneCD, Power ISO, Ulead... all applications vying for consumer attention that do the exact same thing. In the end, the competition just widens the field, increases choice, and spurs innovation, both in the software and advertising fields.
In the end I expect iPhone apps will be sold primarily by word of mouth.
Parent
Re:No burst - phase change (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, no kidding. After all those years of "There are no applications for Macs! Buy a PC!" in the press, now we get "There are too many applications for the iPhone, IS IT DOOMED?????"
Morons.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Think about how complex the PC and console gaming industry is... game developers rely heavily on reviews published on popular websites and in magazines, along with all of the advertising revenue they spend, and the money they spend to secure shelf space in retail stores, and even TV and radio advertising.
The App Store is just coming out of its infancy, where an app can shoot up in popularity simply by virtue of being the first of its type on the market, and almost all of the marketing was done by Apple. Sma
Re: (Score:2)
Far from being an app bubble, we are simply seeing a transition into a more mature market with richer products. Because it's so easy and cheap to create apps I'm sure we'll always see a ton of simple apps, but the market will grow on from that base instead of contracting as the term "bubble" would imply
How is the phenomenon you're describing different from the internet bubble?
Re: (Score:2)
You're right, but sadly (as with today's Android/Blackberry Google Voice announcement), almost all of those apps with deeper functionality will come out last for the iPhone until Apple starts to treat app vendors like partners, rather than serfs.
Actual iPhone Developer Response only please (Score:2)
Also, any overall comments on unexpected difficulties and/or surprisingly nice aspects are welcome as well. Thanks!
Re:Actual iPhone Developer Response only please (Score:4, Interesting)
2. Download the free iPhone SDK. This SDK includes Xcode which is the IDE that most mac devs use the iPhone cocoa touch libs and an iPhone simulator app to test certain kinds of apps.
3. Learn Objective-C and Cocoa Touch libraries (plenty of books for this)
4. Pay Apple $99/year to test your apps on an actual device and sell your completed app on the App Store. 5. Profit!
Parent
Re:Actual iPhone Developer Response only please (Score:4, Informative)
What is involved in developing an application for the iPhone? Even just a simple Hello World app. What OS, programming language, IDE, emulator etc must you use to do the actual development?
I develop iPhone apps full time.
You need a Mac (any Intel mac will do, 2GB of memory), you use objective-C, the emulator and SDK are free to download when you sign up at . [apple.com]
For a Hello World app, you would literally create a project from a template and user Interface Builder (comes with XCode) to add a "Hello World" label.
Of course, real world programming gets more complex but anyone who has programmed for a bit can get used to Objective-C.
Also, any overall comments on unexpected difficulties and/or surprisingly nice aspects are welcome as well. Thanks!
When you want to actually build for a phone or touch, the main thing that can be confusing is the certificates - if you read the docs carefully though you'll be fine, they do a very good job explaining exactly what to do.
The nice aspect (for me) is that unlike any other GUI builder tool I've ever used in an IDE, I actually prefer to use the tool over just coding up the UI directly (though you can still do that too and sometimes that approach is useful). Also the ease with which you can add informative animation to an app (as opposed to just animating something because you can) is pretty nice.
On iTunes U, there's a free iPhone development course from Stanford. You could watch some of those classes to get a feel for what development is like.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
iFitness is a perfect example. That took a ton of work and research to build and provides good information, which is valuable and useful. 4.5 * apps are very rare and that's how it's done. There are roughly one bazillion apps that simply repackage google maps.
Word of mouth only goes so far (Score:3, Interesting)
and very nearly 100% of the market can find your app and acquire it in seconds.
Yes they can acquire it in seconds, a powerful force. That makes the job of advertising easier because you are that much closer to being able to obtain an app quickly when you hear about it.
But I very much disagree that they can *find* your app in seconds, because there are so many apps - they must generally know about your app or be searching on a keyword (which have been heavily salted by other apps trying to dry eyeballs) to
So.... how many of them are worth using? (Score:4, Interesting)
300 notepad applications, only a couple are going to be worth installing, never mind paying for. The same will be true of any category.
Re:So.... how many of them are worth using? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
or J2ME or even Symbian. At least, there is free market I would say. There is no "app store" to say "duplicates functionality". It is USER who says "bleh, this sux" and presses C button on its icon to uninstall application. No harm done...
Apps like Profimail and Opera Mini proves that if you code a really good application, you stay on guys device and in case of Profimail, guy even pays for it. I picked these 2 because they are coded in J2ME instead of "native" Symbian C. You can`t believe how hard it is to
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't he be talking about VI and Emacs then?
Staying Afloat ? (Score:5, Funny)
There's an app for that !
as an end user.... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's both incredibly awesome and incredibly frustrating at the same time. I love that I can think of something and sure enough, there's an app for it. But at the same time, sometimes there's 50 apps doing basically the same thing and it's hard to weed the chaff from the grain.
I don't think the bubble will burst, but it will level off some.
There's only so many people world wide willing to plunk down money on an iphone, but the people that have, it's not like they're gonna stop buying/downloading apps.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Sort of like Windows?
Re: (Score:2)
I think it means that Apple is going to have to develop a more sophisticated interface for browsing the App Store. With 65,000 apps available, you just know that most of that has to be shovelware.
approval process blues - developers causing it! (Score:5, Insightful)
as an iphone developer (http://www.mobile1up.com/) - one who has been there from quite early on, i have started to notice how long it takes to get approved. in the early days, it was 3-4 days for a new version or update; now, i have two applications waiting in the approval process, it has been over two weeks! is apple employing enough people? i think so. the issue is that you get morons who think they need to release a "special" version of their application 100 times; take, for example, there was a weather application posted recently - one for each city in the united states.. come on; how much wasted time is there for apple to approve all 100 of these apps - when they could have approved one. with the introduction of "nude or raunchy" content; submissions have increased exponentially; now you dont get a fart app - you get a fart app with a hot girl in it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Something must be done! Now what's this hot girl farting app you speak of? I'll pay $50 for one!
Re: (Score:2)
Two Girls, One Cup of Refried Bean Dip
Re: (Score:2)
Can you watch progress or know who actually approves your app? I mean, what if some MS certified idiot who somehow got the job at Apple doesn`t approve your application for no reason rather than not understanding what the heck it is or misunderstand?
For example, is there an interface saying "APP-291 rejected, reason 10023" or you just upload it and pray?
Trust me, if I was a Developer, I would always keep a Nokia 5800 (touch based Symbian) release maintained just in case. I understand there is no reason to s
Re: (Score:2)
I would love to pick your brain about developing an app, as a developer myself, I am looking to be able to do a few different things with my treo, if not my iphone, and I am wondering about finding someone like yourself, where I could ask very specific questions which only mobile developers would be able to answer!
Have any links or websites, I could send you emails to?
Thnk of it as free advertising as well!
: )
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
For example, look at Nintendo during the NES/SNES eras. Apple should build an automatic scanner for malware and approve apps that are malware free in a matter of hours.
As a counter example, consider Atari before the crash of '83. There's a balance to be had between allowing everything and keeping out crap.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a balance to be had between allowing everything and keeping out crap.
Unfortunately Apple's approval process is nowhere near that balance, and is moving further away from it. It doesn't keep out the crap, and cannot, as that's a very subjective judgement call, and not one that Apple tries to make - they ban apps for all sorts of silly reasons, but not because they are rubbish or useless (or we wouldn't have 100 flashlight apps).
Any non-automated approval process just isn't feasible when you have a worldwide store serving millions of people and 100,000 developers. This problem
Re: (Score:2)
Are you telling there is no heuristics, code analytics, power analysis going on while application gets to the app store?
Apple also analyses the application in Sony way. Does it compete or would dare to compete with their iTMS? Would it take away people from iPhone services? Did Developer bitch about Apple or harmed Apple somehow in the past? iPhone developer scene publicly is just 5-10 heroic guys telling their mind and the rest are anonymous cowards for a good reason. Of course, those 5-10 guys are so adva
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple should build an automatic scanner for malware and approve apps that are malware free in a matter of hours.
How do you plan to scan an app for malware without either A. solving the halting problem [wikipedia.org] or B. wasting battery power on a more robust sandbox?
Frustrating For Developers (Score:4, Informative)
I recently updated one of my apps, and it took Apple 16 days to review the executable and publish it. I then updated my other app, and it took 14 days.
Seriously? 2 weeks? There is nothing more frustrating than to have users contacting me saying "when will feature xyz arrive?" and my response have to be along the lines of "I've submitted it to apple 2 weeks ago. They'll approve it when they approve it. There is nothing I can do to speed it up.
[Shameless Plug]:
For any who are interested, here are the apps I've written:
Velocity [apple.com]
Points [apple.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You might want to put at least a short description of what those apps are and what they do. This is slashdot, where people don't even RTFA.
Re: (Score:2)
Points [apple.com] is an acupuncture reference library, intended for students studying for boards, and for the experienced practitioner wishing for a quick review.
Re:Frustrating For Developers (Score:5, Informative)
Might I recommend that if you wish to provide a link to an iPhone app, don't link directly to iTunes. Not everyone has iTunes installed on every machine? (Last I checked there was no Linux version.) Instead provide a link to your app via AppBeacon [appbeacon.com].
For instance: Velocity [appbeacon.com]
They mirror the info iTunes provides, also providing a iTunes link. But that way I can review your app on my linux box and buy it directly, or buy it later on my mac laptop. (No, I don't work for AppBeacon, just a satisfied netizen.)
Parent
Re:Frustrating For Developers (Score:5, Funny)
But then... how would you live?
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
But then... how would you live?
Quietly.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you comfortable with public posting like that? It is not like you spread FUD or Spam of course but if you think about it, you don`t see or know who that "Apple guy" doing the approval is. What if he reads slashdot and say "Oh are you bitching? You will see what approval process is." and make you wait 5 weeks instead of 2?
I always admired the patience of developers, especially open source/freeware ones but app store really carries to some amazing degree.
So many little, crying babies... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, it's too bad that it's harder to find good apps in the App Store when there are 50,000 than when there were 5,000.
But that only means you now have to work for your supper, like any one else who publishes anything from books to music to movies to software.
The same goes for those who complain that if they charge $50 for their app no one buys it.
Wow, welcome to the world of microeconomics and price theory. And, again, promotion.
Here's a clue: you don't have to use the app store as the only or even primary venue for promotion and discovery of your app. Yes, it's harder now than it was, but that's life in a competitive market place. The barriers to entry are lower than they've ever been for such an awesome platform, but that doesn't mean that becoming a success is any easier (nor should it be, if economic theory even kind of works as we understand it to) than it ever has been.
Frakin' cry babies. Suck it up, wipe off your crocodile tears, and make something awesome.
If you have anything legitimate to cry about it is Apple's dystopian app approval process.
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Yeah, it's too bad that it's harder to find good apps in the App Store when there are 50,000 than when there were 5,000. But that only means you now have to work for your supper, like any one else who publishes anything from books to music to movies to software.
Still, I think Apple could do better organizing the apps. For one thing, their categories are too vague. For example, the IM clients are all in "social networking" along with tons of other crap.
Since Apple is keeping tight control of distribution, I think they're somewhat obligated to make it easier for people to find what they're looking for, for the sake of both developers and customers.
There's a fair number of useless apps (Score:5, Informative)
Jailbreaking my iPhone in the first hour yielded me apps from Cydia that allow me to record video, tether my iPhone and most importantly blacklist callers and SMS. Just this morning I successfully got Perl 5.10 running on it.
Point is, just don't look to the App Store if you want something useful.
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Consider me old fashioned or some sort of militant person. I still keep staying away from iPhone since a device requires to be hacked to gather full functionality doesn`t make sense to me.
I keep my love-hate relationship with Nokia and Symbian instead while using some really good J2ME apps. Being an OS X user myself and knowing what can it actually do really bugs me more about iPhone. I was also heart broken when Apple decided to make some FUD about J2ME instead of simply saying "No, we don`t include it.".
Simplest solution: Market expansion! (Score:2)
Make your app run on Symbian and possibly J2ME too, and gain up to 5000% from the approx. 2% global market share of the iPhone. :)
(No, iPhone fans, I am not playing this down. I respect the iPhone for what it is. It's just that its global market share is really tiny. I wish your hopes all the best. But with statements like "Java is dead", and being the only phone to not have it, Jobs is not making many friends. ^^)
Sure it may be outside of the box of what you expected as an answer. But it's not a bad idea i
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Java is alive and well on phones. The AmazeGPS app I started 3 hours ago should be coming up any time now on my LG phone... hopefully the bluetooth (for the GPS Puck) isn't bugging out necessitating me to restart it ...
App Store promotion isn't the solution (Score:2)
Increasingly the App Store will become more like Amazon, with it's billions of items for sale. It will contain references from one product to another, it will contain suggestions based on the user's preferences and purchase history, but overall the App Store will cease to be the only way people market their apps.
Remember all the other ways there are to make sure people are aware of your iphone app. The larger developers, and the larger clients (like Barnes and Noble and State Farm) already know this and mar
Craig Hockenberry: Year 2 (Score:2, Informative)
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Others can and do run similar stores... See the nokia store, RIM's store and the Android store.
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But RIM BlackBerry developers are not required to use RIM's store to distribute their apps. They can (and do) distribute them directly.
And 3rd parties (i.e. Mobihand/Crackberry) have created their own app stores too, which are probably more usable than RIM's implementation.
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That's the Apple business model. They're not about letting others play as a means to control user experience. If M$ built a winPhone many companies could sell apps through several channels. The trade off would be that M$ couldn't guarantee/control what happened on those sites. If you want a gimped system that "just works", go with Apple. It you're feeling lucky there's everyone else.
Personally, i like the M$ model of letting others play. Windows created shit tons of jobs despite the quirkiness of thei
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I'm pretty sure the FLOSS community will continue to develop what is worth, and for free
I highly doubt that, apart from jailbroken iPhones. Windows CE has approximately zero free software after more than 10 years. I use zero free software applications from the App Store. I use a couple of gratis applications, but those are add-supported and the source is neither available nor open.
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You are part of the problem, this is shit, and your deceptive marketing practice is annoying as well.
You won't go far, because you app is complete rubbish.