Posts tagged with “iPhone Development”.
Jun
11
2009
Second day of filtering sessions based on prioritizing stuff for my app. Hope it goes even half as well as yesterday!
Sessions Today:
9:00
- Processing Multi-Touch Events on iPhone
- I don’t currently, but might in the future, support multi-touch
- Update: Some good info. Sample code would be worth looking at when available.
10:30
- Managing the iPhone Development Process
- The process guy in me wants to go. And it will cover Beta, which I’m in (or want to be in!)
- Optimizing Performance on iPhone
- I really need to get my app’s performance maxed out. I’ve done a bunch so far, but more would be good.
- Update: Awesome information. Wow. More stuff to do!
- Embedding Maps in iPhone Applications
- Maybe next version of the app
3:30
- Understanding Memory Management on iPhone
- Still so much for me to learn!
- Update: Great info, and I actually understood it this year.
5:00
- iPhone Performance Optimization with Instruments
- I really need to learn how to run the various instruments
- Update: I went to the TableView lab first, where I got some awesome hints for improving my tableview performance. I went late to the session, but ended up mostly implementing the hints!
After the last session, I did some more optimization, then it was off to the Bash, for beer, food and “Cake”.
Jun
10
2009
On the way into Moscone West this morning, I finally saw the “Apple Confidential” sign, making it clear what I could post on my blog and what I couldn’t. So I’ve removed my session posts from the first two days. Sorry about that. I’ll try to make some “non-Apple Confidential” observations during the remaining three days.
I have come up with a new scheme for selecting sessions. Thanks to Peter Jackson, who gave me the idea (it’s similar to how he chose what to film for “Lord of the Rings”, although on a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH smaller scale). I’ve decided that when there are multiple, concurrent sessions I want to attend, I choose the one that will help me get my app done, even if another one seems more interesting or fun. It worked well yesterday, so let’s see how it works today.
Sessions Today:
9:00
- Peer-to-peer Networking with Game Kit
- Needed for one of my game ideas
- Might be useful in sharing content in my current app, but later
- Displaying Web Content in iPhone Applications
- Might be useful for displaying web pages in my current app
- Update: Good choice - lots of good info not just for viewable content, but also for downloading content, which I will need to do.
- Getting Started with Interface Builder
- Very good for my NEXT app
- iPhone View Controllers Lab
- Minimize memory consumption - very useful for my current app
10:30
- iPhone Application Design Using Interface Builder
- Very good for my NEXT app
- In-App Purchase on iPhone
- Interesting, but not useful
- Prototyping iPhone User Interfaces
- Very good for my NEXT app
- What’s New in Core Data
- Might be good for my current app, but later
- Very good for my NEXT app
- Zero Configuration Networking Using Bonjour
- Interesting
- Maybe good for a future app
- iPhone View Controllers Lab
- Minimize memory consumption - very useful for my current app
- Update: Very good choice - I was able to get help in fixing a bunch of ugly rotation stuff. I’ll definitely need to use more of the labs as the conference goes on!
2:00
- Mastering iPhone Scroll Views
- No brainer. The heart of my app is a scroll view
- Update: Super - not only learned a lot, but got some good ideas for better UI for my app!
Interesting note: Evangelist believes 3.0 will be adopted very quickly. Move your apps to 3.0 is his recommendation.
3:30
- iPhone Table Views and Scroll Views Lab
- Work on table views and scroll views - oh, yeah, I use those!
- Update: Didn’t end up talking with anyone, but I made some improvements none-the-less.
- Cut, Copy, and Paste on iPhone
- Just checked my app, and it appears to already work. I think I’ll stick with that!
5:00
- Customizing Xcode for Your Development Workflow
- May get some tips I can apply
- Update: Didn’t get much out of it, and I was late, and I had to leave earlier. Oh, well.
Summary of the day: AWESOME!
My development experience over the last year is making this WWDC a way different time. I’m learning tons in the sessions, and getting great help in the labs, both of which are enabling me to make major improvements to my app!
Jun
8
2009
Finally made it in to the Keynote. Cover your ears. I’m PISSED! Get here at 8:00am and miss the first 25 minutes of the Keynote! That sucks!
Anyway, CNET is live-blogging at: Live blog: WWDC 2009 keynote so I was able to follow the Mac H/W announcements.
They are now talking about Snow Leopard, the upgrade to Leopard. It was supposed to be just about bug fixes, but all they are showing is new features!
- Expose and Spaces now have better integration. Click and hold on dock icon, and see all open windows for that app.
- Very cool new features in safari - cover view browsing through history, with each page shown graphically.
- Quicktime now allows you to trim and share videos while viewing.
- All major system applications are running in 64-bit mode. Description of how Grand Central Dispatch takes advantage of multicore.
- Exchange support will now be included in Mail, Address Book and iCal.
Observation: Just like last year, the applause is only in the Keynote room. The overflow room is silent. I wonder if the applause is from plants?
- Available for all Intel Macintoshes, past and present. Leopard is $129. Snow Leopard is a $29 upgrade for Leopard users. OK, that one got applause. $49 for family pack.
- Available in September. Developer preview today.
OK, now on to the iPhone!
- SDK - 1 million downloads
- 50K apps on the AppStore
- 40M iPhones/iPod Touches sold
- Video of iPhone developers - games, medical, sports - OK, applause for that, too.
- OS 3.0 - Apps
- Cut, copy and paste
- Undo support (shake the phone)
- Developer APIs
- Landscape
- ITunes
- Rent and purchase movies from phone
- MMS
- Lots of laughter since no AT&T
- Tethering
- More laughter since no AT&T
- Safari
- Find My iPhone
- MobileMe will show location on map
- Send message to phone “iPhone come home”
- Alert sound even if in silent mode
- OS 3.0 - SDK
- inApp purchasing
- Peer-to-peer networking
- Accessory APIs
- Via dock connector or Bluetooth
- Embedded Maps
- Developers are now allowed to provide turn by turn
- Push Notification
- Push text alerts, badges, alert sounds
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- OS 3.0 Developer Demos
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- 27 cars, 5 motorcycles
- “car stereo” can access iTunes library from within game!
- Also using inApp purchase and inGame Voice
- Airstrip Technologies
- Medical
- Sends “strips” to doctor’s iPhone.
- Push notification of patient alerts.
- Live streaming of vital signs.
- Waiting for FDA clearance for new app
- ScrollMotion
- Icebook eReader
- InApp purchase of books, magazines and newspapers
- 1 Million books will be available, including textbooks
- TomTom
- Navigation in the iPhone
- Turn-by-turn with Voice
- Tom-tom car kit
- Docks iPhone
- Attaches to windshield or dashboard
- Handsfree calling
- Plays music over car stereo
- GPS extensions
- Available this summer
- ngmoco
- iPhone games
- Star Defense
- inApp purchase
- head-to-head play
- Pasco
- Science Education - Experiments
- Spark for iPhone
- Sensors feed right into iPhone through docking connector
- Demo demons - no pressure in the air hose trying to blow up the balloon
- Zipcar
- Zipcar iPhone app
- 25% of Zipcar members live on the iPhone
- Embedded maps
- Tap horn icon on iPhone beeps car’s horn!
- Tap unlock on iPhone unlocks car
- Line 6 and Planet Waves
- Control guitar and Amp from iPhone
- Make guitar sound like completely different guitar
- OS 3.0
- Free for iPhones
- $9.95 for iPod Touch
- Available worldwide June 17
- GM Seed available to developers today
- New iPhone? We still have a few minutes…
- 2/3 of all mobile browsing is on iPhone
- 50K apps
- iPhone 3GS
- S is for speed
- 2 x faster to load apps
- 3 x faster to load web pages and view attachments
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- Javascript on 3Gs is 8 x faster than 3G OS 2.2.1
- Faster 3G support (7.2Mbps HSDPA)
- New Camera
- 3MPixel
- Autofocus
- Tap to focus - tap on what you want in focus
- Automacro - 10cm
- Video
- 30 fps
- VGA
- Auto focus
- Auto white balance
- Auto exposure
- Videos live in Picture application
- Timeline
- Share
- E-mail
- MMS
- MobileMe
- YouTube
- Voice Control
- Voice dialing
- Hold home button
- Also interfaces with iPod
- Digital Compass
- Nike+ Integrated
- Better battery life - 3G +0-50%
- Price
- $299 - 3Gs 32GB
- $199 - 3Gs 16GB
- $99 - 3G 8GB
- Available June 19
Apr
27
2009
Building an iPhone Business: A Look Back to Look Ahead
Elia Freedman, Infinity Softworks
Numbers
- $222M net to developers in first 9 months of app store
- .4% of apps are generating 15% of the income
- Average app makes $3000 (~$300/month)
- Numbers derived by Elia
- Pinch Media has a lot of data
- Mean price = $0.99, Average = $2.65
Infinity Softworks
App Store
- Great user experience
- Margins are excellent (70%)
- Minimizes tech support
- Play by Apple’s rules
- Prices are depressed artificially
- Eliminates many promotion options
Prices
- 6K @ Free
- 11K @ 0.99
- 3.2K @ 1.99
- 1.7K @ 2.99
- Impulse -or- buy cheapest?
Promotion
- Top paid apps
- appstore search terms
- Word of mouth
- Vertical marketing
- Bloggers
Product Pricing
- Free, Lite or LE version
- But free people are not the same as buying people
- Multiple programs
- Good way to leverage users across multiple buys
- Cross platform
- Add-ons
- Real money is on the web and desktop
Summary
- No easy money in AppStore
- Highly vertical products can get highest prices
- Highly horizontal products can sell lots
- Don’t watch the sales every day
- Numbers come out at 1:45am!
Discussion
- Advertising
- AdMob - click through (when advertising yourself, try to limit click through)
- Exclusivitiy - all ads are for one company
- AirSharing
- 1 million downloads when free
- $5.99 then $4.99
- Moving to Pro ($10) / Lite ($?) model
- Future
- People who aren’t making a living will move on.
Mar
23
2009
Just about to Alpha with my first app. One bug and one enhancement to go…
