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How To Distance Yourself From The Shovel-Ware!
On November 4th 2009, Apple Computer announced that the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch App Store, which it calls “the largest applications store in the world” has exceeded a library of more than 100,000 pieces of applications including games content. While this is a significant milestone to Apple and an endorsement to the interest and support of the platforms, it is also a huge challenge to independent game developers trying to be successful in terms of actual sales in a highly competitive market. A quick visit to the App Store through the iTunes application reveals that among the impressive numbers you will find a combined list of more than 6,000 games!
As a game developer, it’s important to consider the following factors:
“I have a great product, but how do I stand out from crowd”?
“How do I get exposure and how do I promote my product”?
“What will it take to create awareness and drive consumers to my website and to the App Store to generate increased sales”?
Undeniable the above questions overlap. At Indie Developer Consulting we are approached (daily) by numerous frustrated game developers trying to succeed in an oversaturated market flooded with shovel-ware. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that it all begins with a quality game or product. Like any other market, if what you have created is not unique, innovative, interesting and fun, the chances of success decreases dramatically. Assuming the product or game you have developed meets those standards, the most important factor is public relations, good product description and viral marketing!
To some consumers a visit to the Apple App Store is an appalling and disappointing experience; the product descriptions for a huge number of games are inaccurate, the links to the developer website is either dead or broken, and the layout, style and design of the App page is unbearable to read because of mixed fonts, styles, color inconsistencies and uninspiring or outright boring screenshots (some game descriptions don’t have any screenshots!)
To Apple game developers – this is your wakeup call! Take responsibility for your product! Don’t expect your last holiday pictures turned into a jigsaw puzzle will make you rich! Contrary to popular belief, creating something on the Apple platform, self-publishing, and waiting for the bank account to finance your next multimillion game company is not going to happen! Use your talent to create innovate and fun games, and let the self-proclaimed suits at Indie Developer Consulting assist you with the product page, the public relations, the marketing and ultimately, help increase your sales.
The Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch is an excellent opportunity for independent developers to make money – and good money too – but having a good, solid, and fun game is only the start. Too many games are available on the App Store with terrible sales purely because of the inexperience in knowing “what to do” once a submission to Apple has been approved.
Contact Indie Developer Consulting to help you out! Our terms and pricing are fair, and if you truly wish to be among the top 20 or even top 100 in the App Store, asking for help and advice is the least of your concerns. After all, as Apple confirms – you are competing against more than 6,000 other games!
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Here's an article written by Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus. He is leading authority on Mac OS X, the author of more than 50 books including iPhone For Dummies 3d Edition, and a Mac consultant, troubleshooter, and trainer. Visit his Web site at www.boblevitus.com; e-mail comments to doc@boblevitus.com. Read his article below.
With more than 85,000 applications available for the iPhone and iPod touch, there is almost certainly an app for whatever it is you love. I've been working on a new book that will feature descriptions of the best apps in more than a dozen categories and have been spending a lot of quality time testing various ones. Here are a few that really impressed me:
I love to read, so a couple of my very favorite apps are Comics and Stanza, which are both free. Comics gives you access to a huge comic book library-store, plus a great interface for reading them. It comes with over 50 free comics, with thousands more available for a buck or two.
Stanza is an award-winning app for eBooks. The Stanza store lets you choose from more than 50,000 contemporary books at prices well below the printed versions, plus access to another 50,000 free classics and recent original works.
You'll never run out of reading material with one or both of these on your iPhone or iPod touch.
I also like to shoot digital photos and movies with my iPhone 3GS, so I am enthralled with ReelDirector ($7.99) and Photogene ($2.99). ReelDirector is a way-cool video-editing app for your iPhone 3GS. You can rearrange clips on a timeline, choose from 27 beautiful transitions, add fade-in and fade-out effects, and create great-looking titles and credits. Photogene ($2.99) helps you improve digital photos with a terrific array of useful tools such as cropping, sharpening, color and gamma correction, exposure and contrast controls, straightening, rotating, cartoon text bubbles, special effects like pencil, sepia-tone, and heat-map, plus a sweet selection of frames in a variety of shapes and sizes. And both apps feature thoughtfully designed user interfaces that make using them easy and fun.
I love music and played The Beatles: Rock Band on my son's Xbox until my fingers bled. So it's no surprise that I'm totally hooked on the RockBand iPhone app ($9.99). If you've ever played the Beatles or any of the other Rock Band games for Xbox, PS3, or Wii, the iPhone rendition is just like them but on a smaller screen.
There are lots of knock-offs of Rock Band in the App store but none of them is as polished and fun as the real thing.
Finally, though the 2009 baseball season is drawing to a close, the MLB.com At Bat app ($9.99) rocks. With streaming video over WiFi or 3G, multiple camera angles, live audio feeds, condensed games, and more, it's a must-have for baseball fans.
The move will signal the end of O2's exclusive deal with Apple to carry the iPhone in the UK. Orange says that more than 250,000 people have pre-registered their interest in the device so far.
But consumers hoping that the end of the exclusivity agreement will spark a price war between network operators will be left disappointed, with tariff pricing, contract periods and handset costs similar between the two operators.
For example, a 32GB iPhone 3GS handset will cost £96.50 on Orange's £44.04 per month, two-year contract; on O2, the same handset costs £96.89 on a £44.05 per month, two-year contract. That means Orange customers will pay just 39p less for the device than O2 customers, and will save a penny per month on the cost of their contracts.
However, Orange said it offered a "cheaper point of entry", with the 8GB iPhone 3G, the predecessor to the iPhone 3GS, available for free on a two-year, £29.36 per month contract; on O2, the cheapest tariff for this device on a two-year contract is £34.26 per month. It means that users signing up with Orange will save £117.60 over the life of the contract.
Vodafone is also due to start selling the iPhone from next year, and some customers say they will wait until then to see if Vodafone offers more competitive pricing.
"Uninspired with Orange's iPhone tariffs," wrote one person on Twitter. "I'll be wrapping the 3G in cotton wool and waiting for the best deal on the new iPhone in June."
"It's not the price war we were expecting so we hope Vodafone shakes things up," said Andrew Lim, an analyst with mobile phone comparison site Recombu.
All Orange contracts come with "unlimited" data use, which is designed to allow people to take advantage of the high-speed internet connections and full web browser available on the iPhone. However, there is a fair usage cap of 750MB of data use per month, although most users are unlikely to reach that figure.
Orange says that existing customers who want an iPhone will be prioritised, although the company says it is "confident" in its stock levels and that "there won't be a supply issue".
“Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website," said Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange. "We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans.”
O2 has been criticised in recent months for outages in its data networks that have left iPhone users unable to make or receive calls. Some iPhone users have been so disgruntled with the quality of their network connection that they say they will switch to Orange in the hope of more consistent data connectivity.
Orange will be selling the iPhone in a number of stores, including Carphone Warehouse, Orange shops, and Phones4U. Carphone Warehouse said that by the end of the year, they expect to have sold more than one million iPhones since the device first went on sale in the UK in November 2007.
The iPhone 3GS is the latest device in the range, and has a touch-screen, three-megapixel camera with video-recording functions, a digital compass and voice control. Users can choose from more than 85,000 applications available through the iTunes App Store and download them on to their device.
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Fans can now interact with Disney.com via a new iPhone app launched this week, with a focus on photos. A "Click2Life" feature allows users to "follow clues to take cell-phone pictures of characters from movies such as Up, G-Force, Ratatouille, and Wall-E on the Web site," the Associated Press reported. Other content in the app includes music, videos, and games. "Future photo keys could also include movie posters to drive interest in the company's upcoming releases."
"While this app provides seamless access to all things Disney, delivering unmatched entertainment and information directly to mobile devices, we're not simply recreating Disney.com on your iPhone or iPod touch," said Jason Davis, VP of Disney.com, in a statement. "Features like 'Click2Life' utilize iPhone's revolutionary functionality to create exciting new ways to interact with Disney characters and content."
Disney.com declined to comment to PRWeek about the campaign around the new application.
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Can an iPhone App drive a car? Possibly yes possibly no. Here's a post from Mike Brookbank's blog of free press digital host.
Even if you are like me and don't have an iPhone, chances are you have heard this popular saying: "There's an app for that."
Well, now we can add controlling a car to the list of things Apple's hugely popular phone can do.
Yes, you heard me right, some very tech-savvy Germans have come up with a way to remotely drive a minivan using their phone, according to Engadget.
The iDriver app allows you to accelerate and brake with just the push of a button. The phone's motion sensors allow you to steer by swaying it back and forth from side to side as you would a steering wheel.
The app basically converts the iPhone into a video game controller.
Now this concept isn't new. Apparently, a real video game controller from a PSP has been used in the past to control a Honda Civic.
However, according to techies out there, this is a major improvement from anything seen in the past.
The question you have to ask yourself though is why would we need something like this?
We already know the problems cell phones pose when we are behind the wheel. What happens when we're using them to control it?
Thankfully, this is not yet available commercially. But will this soon be one of the $.99 apps you can download? I'm no expert, but I am going to say no.
Bottom line, it shows anything is possible thanks to technology. It also is a great conversation piece and makes for some great video.
We talked about it this morning on "First Forecast Mornings," even showing the amazing video which demonstrates how it works.
In the video, researchers from the artificial intelligence team at the Free University of Berlin test-drive the minivan on a deserted runway at a city airport.
You can see the "Spirit of Berlin" doing tight turns as a researcher, standing several feet away, uses an iPhone to navigate the vehicle.
This conversation piece app was created by the Appirion firm, which specializes in software for mobile phones.
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Jamie Oliver is out with his new iPhone application, and is yet another application that is said to harness the capabilities of the iPhone. The application is said to take care of common cooking pitfalls that most face in the kitchen. With an excellent interface, instructions, helpful images and videos all at your fingertips, there is hardly any possibility for you to go wrong. The application now has almost 50 new recipes that promise to be flavorful, which is very Jamie like. Most of these recipes were the reasons why Jamie is so famous, since he aims at targeting the beginners, and those who have absolutely no time to cook. The content of the applications as well as its designs is wonderful and eye-catching.
The first launch itself is impressive where Jamie introduces the features of the app and its usefulness. Well other reasons are that the rest of the videos also carry the usual Jamie charm and his attempts to make use of techniques that are different and interesting. This is a guaranteed winner when it comes to a cooking app, with its step-by-step instructions and pictures that speak well of its spellbinding tools that are image-driven.
All of the recipes featured here come along with the list of ingredients which is linked to an interactive. It also has a sharable shopping list and what items can be found in an aisle. The app also has Jaime giving off important kitchen details and essentials along with recipe notes and tips giving you the experience that you have a friendly coach at close hand.
For just $8, this app can be downloaded from iTunes and is worth every penny and more.
SourceJamie Oliver is out with his new iPhone application, and is yet another application that is said to harness the capabilities of the iPhone. The application is said to take care of common cooking pitfalls that most face in the kitchen. With an excellent interface, instructions, helpful images and videos all at your fingertips, there is hardly any possibility for you to go wrong. The application now has almost 50 new recipes that promise to be flavorful, which is very Jamie like. Most of these recipes were the reasons why Jamie is so famous, since he aims at targeting the beginners, and those who have absolutely no time to cook. The content of the applications as well as its designs is wonderful and eye-catching.
The first launch itself is impressive where Jamie introduces the features of the app and its usefulness. Well other reasons are that the rest of the videos also carry the usual Jamie charm and his attempts to make use of techniques that are different and interesting. This is a guaranteed winner when it comes to a cooking app, with its step-by-step instructions and pictures that speak well of its spellbinding tools that are image-driven.
All of the recipes featured here come along with the list of ingredients which is linked to an interactive. It also has a sharable shopping list and what items can be found in an aisle. The app also has Jaime giving off important kitchen details and essentials along with recipe notes and tips giving you the experience that you have a friendly coach at close hand.
For just $8, this app can be downloaded from iTunes and is worth every penny and more.
Source
This selection of iPhone applications will help you get the most out of your iPhone-motoring partnership. From starting your car's engine with a touch of the screen to measuring the speed of your vehicle, these applications will make your iPhone a valued motoring accessory.
The top five car applications on your iPhone:
Dynolicious
If you've ever wanted to see how fast your car can accelerate or to measure if your vehicle has more horse power than your mate's, Dynolicious can provide you with the tools to record and measure your car's performance metrics. Using the iPhone's accelerometer the application can record and track your vehicle's 0-60 acceleration, lateral G's and horsepower. Dynolicious costs $12.99 in the US App store.
Viper SmartStart
This newly released application allows you to remotely start your engine, set and disable your car's alarm, open the boot, and lock and unlock your car with a press of a button on your iPhone from anywhere in the US. The Viper SmartStart application requires you to have a Viper SmartStart system installed in your car (prices range from $300 to $500 including installation) as well as a yearly $29.99 service plan. Viper SmartStart is free in the US App store.
Trapster
Trapster is a location-based radar program that alerts you to the location of police, radars and red light cameras. The application provides you with (almost) real-time updates about hazards on the road and reminds you to slow down so you can avoid having to pay expensive speeding tickets. Live police positions and mobile radar locations are submitted by other users. Trapster is free in the US App store.
iGasUp
iGasUp helps you find the cheapest petrol, gas or diesel available in your area. The application provides users with the names of the 10 cheapest stations (and their current fuel prices) within their area or alternatively can list ten petrol stations located in the nearest vicinity. Once a station has been chosen, the application provides directions to the location using Google Maps. iGasUp is priced at $2.99 in the US app store.
Carticipate
While the community of users is still small, Carticipate could one day become a very helpful, eco-friendly and cost saving application for those wanting to share their car travelling costs and cut down the environmental impact of driving. The application lets both drivers and passengers organise and plan their shared car travel - from short, every day journeys to long road trips across country. Carticipate is free in the US app store.
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Apple has introduced an in-app purchase feature for free iPhone apps that allow you to fulfill transactions within the iPhone applications themselves -- no Apple App Store required. The feature was previously available for paid applications.
By enabling in-application transactions, Apple makes life easier for developers who no longer have to make "lite" or teaser versions of applications along with ones that cost iPhone owners money. If you like the free version of Ragdoll Blaster Lite and want to upgrade to the $1.99 full version, now you may have the option to upgrade within the application itself -- no App Store needed.
Apple's decision to allow in-app purchases was unexpected, as the company's stance on this matter was that free apps should remain free, and users shouldn't pay for anything from within a free application. As with paid apps, Apple will still facilitate the backend billing and take a cut out of the sale price of the in-app purchase.
In-app purchases from within free applications, though, could have a widely beneficial effect in the iPhone app store economy. Using the example of a magazine application, a developer wouldn't have to charge for its application, but could charge for the actual content. This could make more customers download their app.
There is a lot of potential from in-app purchases from within free applications for games developers, who could offer for free a limited-functionality version of their game and then charge users for further gameplay levels. The App Store will also be relieved from the thousands of "Lite" apps and could eliminate customer confusion.
But this trend of in-app purchases from free apps might not be picking up very quickly. As developer Marco Arment notes in his blog, for existing apps with a free/paid version split, "there's no practical way to transition the existing paid customers to a new "free+" version without making them pay again like a new customer."
And as an interesting note, Apple also said in its letter to developers that using in-app purchase "can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases." -- which would be the first time Apple acknowledged iPhone app piracy as a problem, considering there are now over 4 million jailbroken iPhones in the wild and that Apple is trying to solve this problem by shipping jailbreak-proof 3GS models.
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LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.
Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.
In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the iPhone. These limitations exist because the Adobe Flash player is not supported on the iPhone.
Murarka clarified that Monday's announcement was not a joint announcement with Apple. "This is an Adobe announcement. This is just something that's related to our tools and what they output, which is a native iPhone app," he said.
"So, we're not running Flash directly on the device. We're actually allowing our tools to output for native iPhone apps," Murarka explained.
He then described some limitations. "Let's take it from the developer's point of view. They have a very rich environment and language. That's in Flash today," he said. "You're not going to get all of the Flash feature set that would normally be there in the run-time."
Murarka continued: "For example, high-quality video, H.264, is not available with this product because Apple does not make available the decoders. They make you use their own UI (user interface) to play back high-quality video." Apple describes the H.264 video codec as delivering "stunning quality at...low data rates."
He also cited synchronization. "Being able to do synchronization between data and video. Those can be built as Flash applications. In sporting events (for example) using flash for data overlay. Those types of things are not going to possible because we don't have access to the APIs (Application Programming Intefaces) that would give us the video decode along with all of the individual frames so we can do synchronization," he said.
And he spoke about graphics effects. "Some of the filter effects. Some of the capabilities that as a programmer you would easily do within Flash are not available as they are not natural APIs that iPhone platform makes available to us."
Murarka concluded by saying that Adobe continues to work with Apple towards getting Flash on the iPhone. "We're not there as quickly as we would like. We're not able to put Flash in the browser. We're not able to put a Flash run-time on the device directly. But this is a good step," he said.
SOURCE : news.CNET.com
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I wonder if this is true? What do you think?
As many of you will be aware, Apple is hosting a music themed event in San Francisco on September 9th. The tagline on the invitations reads “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” which certainly suggests music will play an important role in the keynote. While there are certainly rumors surrounding an update to the iPod line, there are also many other rumors that have been circulating the Internet, so here’s a round-up of all the possibilities we could see from Apple tomorrow.
iTunes 9
The last major update to iTunes included the App Store, along with updates to iTunes DJ. This upcoming event is rumored to see the release of iTunes 9 which could include the option to incorporate your library and listening styles with your favorite social networks, such as Facebook and Last.FM.
A screenshot of what could be iTunes 9 featuring social network integration
A long-awaited feature from many customers has been to have the ability to re-organize your iPhone/iPod touch applications from within iTunes, which would then synchronize across to your device. According to the Boy Genius Report, this could also be making an appearance in iTunes 9, something I personally am certainly looking forward to.
It doesn’t stop there, however. The third major update that could feature in iTunes 9 is support for Blu-ray movies. This was rumored for the previous upgrade to iTunes, but with HD DVD out of the race, it’s more possible that Apple hase decided to jump on the band-wagon with Blu-ray support.
iTunes 9 could also see an iTunes Unlimited service come to life. Similar to what’s available with the Microsoft Zune, customers would have full access to the entire iTunes Store, with the option to buy the tracks to keep, if you’d prefer. A similar service to this has been launched in the UK, called Spotify, and has been incredibly successful.
iPod and Nike+ Refreshes
Previous to the iPod shuffle, the last iPod to receive an update was the iPod nano—a year ago on September 9th 2008. Sources believe that the iPod nano could see a slight update in its design, making it more convenient to hold and use, especially during sporting activities. It is also expected that Apple will add a camera to both the iPod nano and iPod touch, making them more useful and more media-based rather than simply music players. Apple Premium Resellers are reporting they are not replenishing their stock of the iPod nano, iPod touch or iPod classic, which leads to believe that updates will be appearing for all three models.
This could also include a refresh for Nike+ to include support for the iPod range, and also the iPhone 3G and 3GS. With the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, the Nike+ software could provide a lot more information that could synchronize back to your computer for you to review.
Apple iTablet
While rumors have been coming in about this for quite some time, it’s quite unlikely we’ll see such a device on Wednesday. If only because of the music theme for the event. It’s also plausible such a device would warrant its own event, possibly closer to the Christmas holiday season, if not in February 2010 at another event. It would be great for an iTablet, or iPad to be unveiled tomorrow, but, as I said, we’re clutching at straws for that one. It’s unknown at this point whether such a device would use a modified version of the iPhone OS or of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Findings within the accessibility settings within Snow Leopard that reveal full-size keyboards lead us to believe Snow Leopard could be the basis for a tablet device upon its launch.
Apple TV
We mentioned this last week on Appletell that an Apple TV update could be the “outsider” of the event. Wall Street analyst Gene Munster believes Apple could be phasing out the smaller 40GB model to leave space for an update to the device. If an iTunes Unlimited option also included TV shows and movies, the Apple TV could become quite popular. Even if you were required to pay a monthly subscription to access the iTunes store via the Apple TV, it would still be a hit. It’s certainly an outsider at this point, but there’s always hope for the “One More Thing…” section of the media press conference on September 9th.
Tomorrow, all will be revealed
So there you have it; the most likely (and not so likely) updates that could be emerging from Apple HQ tomorrow. Is there anything in particular you’ve been waiting to see, or something else you wish would get a little love from Apple this September? Personally, I feel we’ll see a refresh for the iPod classic, iPod nano and iPod touch, along with iTunes 9. An update for Nike+ could also be likely, while I feel an Apple Tablet and a new Apple TV are less likely to appear at this particular event. Feeling the same? Let us know below in the comments.
SOURCE : APPLE'S SEPT 9 EVENT
