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November 12, 2009

AppStore claims another developer

Joe Hewitt, developer of Facebook application for iPhone announced via Twitter that he's handed off the development of the app because he was frustrated with how the App Store review process works (or doesn't work, depends how you see it). Hewitt has sworn off iPhone apps.

Yes, Apple has 200 thousand iPhone developers and 100 thousand apps on the App Store and counting, but there's been a steady stream of news of developers quitting app development for iPhone OS and going back to Mac work or switching away to other mobile platforms because they see them as having a more open process.

Mike Rose of TUAW has some sound suggestions regarding the App Store approvals:

Once a developer has had an app pass the traditional review, any further releases by the same developer would be pushed but not made public until a proper review is completed. People would still be able to search and find the updated versions but it won't make it on to the lists or the front page of the App Store. Said app will also carry a warning on its App Store page that it's not completely approved yet, so buyer beware.

This does however mean that people are expected to not irrationally complain if the app goes awry, because they knowingly download an untested app.

via TUAW

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Filed under  //   app store   apple   developer   facebook   iphone   joehewitt  

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October 21, 2009

App Store Expense Monitor

Evan alerted me to this nifty app earlier which I should have noticed even earlier since Macworld US wrote about it a couple of weeks ago. It's a menu item called App Store Expense Monitor. What it does is it gives you a list of all the iPhone apps you've ever purchased based on the iTunes Media folder in your computer and it also tells you how much you've spent.

If you have purchased apps using different iTunes Store accounts, it will display them separately although it can only display in one currency. It uses the currency setting inside the System Preferences under Language & Text in Mac OS X Snow Leopard or under International in Leopard. This means if you use accounts with multiple countries that use different currency symbols, it will only show your primary currency.

It's handy because it lets you keep track of what you've bought and how much you've spent. You can also export the list into one text file that can be imported into a spreadsheet.

It's not without several issues though:

1. It looks up current app prices on the App Store to determine how much you've spent. 
It doesn't help if you got the apps at different prices or even for free during promo periods. If you did, you'll have to manually enter the actual price you paid. If you've spent money by purchasing for items directly from inside an application, this app won't know anything about it.

2. It's a menu item app
It could have been a proper application that sits on the Dock but the developer decided to make it a menu item. I can see why it's useful up there but it should have been an option like with Skitch. There is precious little real estate on the menu bar when you're not using a 2000 pixel wide monitor.

3. The app stays on top
Even dialog boxes would step back when you switch to a different app. This thing stays on top even when it's not the active window, obscuring whatever windows you have open underneath.

4. No secondary click option
It would have been more useful had it had a contextual menu when you control+click on each of the app listed

Regardless of those shortcomings, this app is undoubtedly useful. Arguably, buying apps using iTunes Gift Cards would be a better way to control your spending if that option available in your country. At the moment, there is no iTunes Cards for the App Stores in South East Asia.

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Filed under  //   app store   apple   apps   budget   iphone   mac os x   money  

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June 21, 2009

Free iPhone apps may be on the way out


The economics of In-App Purchase
Tumblr lead developer Marco Arment on the new App Store policies on in-app purchases within 3.0.

"Lite" apps may become $0.99 apps that get additional features over time, and more expensive apps may very well get a drop in price and features to take advantage of this new App Store policy.

I can see how this would lead to nightmares as far as consumer satisfaction and expectations are concerned.

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Filed under  //   app store   apps   free   iphone  

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March 10, 2009

Tweetie 1.3 rejected for a stupid reason


I know that Apple have a very clean image that they want to maintain (fart apps excepted) and have been rejecting apps that may offend certain groups but rejecting a Twitter app because of THIS???

I wonder if that particular reviewer at Apple has ever used or even heard of Twitter. Trends is a list of top 10 most popular word or string of words mentioned on Twitter, a trending topic if you will. There are roughly 8 million Twitter users around the world and at any one point certain words will become popular. For example, during a Macworld expo, the top ten most popular words would arguably include Apple, Jobs, MacBook, iPod, Macworld, Stevenote, Keynote, etc. You can see the list of words that become Trends on http://search.twitter.com

Any combination of words will make it to the top ten list of most popular words if enough people mention them on Twitter. Trends is a highly dynamic list that changes quite frequently because it contains entirely user generated content!

For Apple to reject Tweetie 1.3 because it just so happens that #fuckitlist made it to the top 10 at that particular moment is, to say the least, moronic, idiotic, uninformed, foolish, unbelievably ignorant, and amateur.

#fuckitigiveup

 

*update*

Earlier this morning (WIB) Apple approved Tweetie 1.3 without any changes. Yay @atebits!

 

 

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Filed under  //   App Store   application   iPhone   moron   socialnetworking   stupid   Tweetie   Twitter  

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