Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: iPhone (Page 2 of 5)

Mobile App Developers Talk iPad and OS 4

April 10, 2010 / / 3 Comments

IPad Been havin' a lot of fun with my iPad this this week, so much so that I almost forgot to post
this.  I started asking my local developer friends (some of them clients) what their thoughts were on the new device almost as
soon as I got mine last Saturday. So I’ve had this post brewing for several days
now.  Then, I’m finally about ready to post it, and Apple goes and
holds its “sneak-peek” media event Thursday.  So, natch, I had to ask
some of them for their reaction to that, too.

Here we go, then — five experienced Minnesota mobile app developers
tell me, straight up, what’s up with iPad as relates to them.  And,
after that,  I include some great insights from a couple of them about
iPhone OS 4 — coming this summer for the iPhone, and soon after for the
iPad. (Bring it on, Uncle Stevie!)

Joe Sriver, Founder, DoApp Inc. Joe, will your company be
developing iPad apps? DoApp-logo

“Yes, we do have plans for the iPad,
first for our real estate product, then our other products. No ‘made for
iPad’ apps are in the store from DoApp on day one, though.  But I did
preorder an iPad for the team.”  In a story our friend Julio
Ojeda-Zapata wrote in the PioneerPress on April 2, we learned that DoApp
was frantically at work on the iPad version of it’s “Home Kenex” app,
which is for home buyers and real estate agents.  Maps can be positioned
alongside lists or photos of homes to make navigation easier and more
intuitive than the cramped iPhone screen allows, said the story,
facilitating better house comparisons.  iPad becomes “a coffee
table-type of thing, with people in their agents’ offices cruising for
properties on the device,” said the story, quoting DoApp’s Wade
Beavers.  GPS capability will be added in an upcoming version of the
iPad, so home buyers or agents will be able to pull up listings in their
vicinity and “drive effortlessly towards them using satellite
navigation.”

Bill Heyman, Founder and Lead Developer, CodeMorphic.
Bill, what apps are you doing for iPad?  Redoing any of your
existing ones?

CodeMorphic-logo “No existing apps.  What we’re doing are new ones for various
clients.  Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say what they are.  I’m
also working on a new game app I’m publishing myself, but I’m not ready
to submit it yet. I’ll let you know when it’s getting close.” 

I assume you now have an iPad in your possession? “Yes, I
had one delivered to me while on vacation in Arizona this week.”

What are you finding in regard to how well your iPhone apps work
on iPad? “They seem to work fine.
”

What about landscape mode?  Are you concerned that apps should
work either way on iPad? “Apple has basically told developers that
they MUST support rotation in their iPad apps.  Unfortunately, it can
be a major PITA to support it well, but developers are going to have to
bite the bullet now.
”

Any other comment? “I think iBooks is the killer feature of
the iPad.  There’s been talk about the iPad developer gold
rush, but no discussion about the author and independent content
provider gold rush.  It’s going to happen — and I think it could be
every bit as exciting as some of the apps.”

Matt Bauer, Founder, PedalBrain.
Does the iPad fit in at all regarding your app? “Yes, it does —
from a coaching or team director standpoint, to track athletes.” PedalBrain-logo

I guess iPad isn’t too “mobile” as relates cycling, huh?
“It will be a new application than what we have.  Likely a different app
that we will charge for — probably like $20 or so.  I really see iPad
apps being sold for quite a bit more than for the iPhone.  It won’t be
till late summer we will think of doing an app.”

Your current app, of course, would work on the iPad, right?
“App, yes — but hardware, no.  Apple hasn’t given the okay for iPad
accessories from third parties yet.  Once they do, our hardware
accessory will work.”

Terry Anderson, Founder, Handcast Media Labs.
What’s up with you and iPad? “We also got our first iPad on
Saturday.  We’re within a few days of having our next release of the
SparkRadio app, which will HandcastMediaLabs-logo work on either iPhone or iPad.  In the
future, we will optimize a version for iPad that takes advantage of the
increased screen real estate in a cool way, but that’s further out
(maybe 45-60 days).  The visualizer screens on the iPad are stunning in
full screen mode.”

Did I hear you dropped your price
for SparkRadio on the iPhone from $5.99 to $1.99? “The price drop
is temporary and is part of our experimenting with promotional tactics
and pricing to see the effect on demand.

“Ultimately, we’re likely to end up with this scenario:  A free
version called Spark Radio Lite that will be full featured, but will
only stream 200 selected stations (maybe two weeks away)
…  A full
version that will sell for between $5 and $6 (ultimately 30,000
stations) – so the price drop is temporary…  And note that both versions
will support iPhone and iPad equally –  the software will detect the
device and will load the appropriate interface… And we may come up with
an enhanced iPad version, which could be sold as a separate product, but
that’s down the road and still undecided.  Now that I see SparkRadio on
the iPad, I can imagine a scenario where the iPad is docked in a stereo
(many companies make them for iPhone and I assume we’ll see them
shortly for iPad), and Spark is streaming audio and providing a pretty
cool lightshow.  We think this will be a great way to expose the product
and the graphics to a larger audience.  Very excited.”

Bekki Freeman, Developer, TinyMission.
Please tell us about your firm’s experience, what kinds of apps you
do, and what types of clients you work with. TinyMission-logo

“Tiny Mission started as an iPhone
app development company.  Because of the high demand for applications,
and especially integration between web apps and mobile apps, we’ve
expanded to other mobile platforms, including iPad, and are eager to
integrate these with enterprise systems.  Two of our clients are On Impact
Productions and Fraser. 
We work with both small and medium-sized companies, writing apps to
enable their corporate and customer visions.”

How many apps have you published, and in what categories, for
iPhone and other platforms? “Tiny Mission has published one iPhone
application for On Impact Productions, and is preparing to submit a
second for them this month, in addition to a BlackBerry and Android
application.  We are submitting two iPhone applications for Fraser this
spring, and are part way through development on an enterprise
application that will be centered around the iPad.”

What are your plans for iPad apps, and what do you see as being
different or challenging compared to iPhone? “We are very excited
for the iPad because of the endless possibilities for very feature-rich
applications.  The iPhone has been great for enterprise, but it is just
too small to do complex business tasks.  We plan to bring web apps,
smart phones, and the iPad together to fully integrate our clients’
business applications.  Our vision is for our clients to answer all of
their customers’ questions and needs without ever going to a desk.”

——-

So, enter the Apple sneak-peek media event on Thursday.
CEO Steve Jobs outlined what’s coming in the next version of the iPhone
operating system, called OS 4.  He highlighted seven new features:
IPhoneOS4 •    Multitasking
•    Folders to organize apps
•    A unified inbox
•    iBooks is coming to the iPhone
•    More features for the enterprise
•    A social network for gaming
•    Mobile advertising with iAds

I asked Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic, What’s your reaction to the
iPhone OS 4 sneak-peek announcement yesterday? “Multitasking is a
great feature, of course, but still keeps the iPhone OS in control — to
prevent bad apps from monopolizing the feature. It’s probably not enough
for real-time, time-critical apps for the iPhone, but it’s a step in
the right direction. Apple’s drawn a line in the sand for how apps are
developed — Adobe Flash, Corona, and other platforms appear to be
screwed, as they’re currently architected.  Basically, Apple wants
native apps to use native code (Objective-C, C++, C, JavaScript).  So,
for these other development platforms to survive, they’re going to have
to ultimately be code generators for code types that Apple approves. I
suspect Apple is following up the release of the iPad with the new
iPhone OS to maintain momentum and to blunt criticisms of the iPad (and
iPhone) as new Android-based tablets and phones start to appear in the
next few months.”

I also asked Bekki of TinyMission, What are your impressions of
iPhone OS 4? “Obviously, multitasking is huge.  We’ll be able to
offer our clients’ users so many more options for delivering
functionality, such as location-based notifications. Local notifications
will give many of our small business clients the ability to offer
reminders and user-specific content without having to manage external
servers and user databases.  We believe our clients will really benefit
from the new enterprise features.  The agility and flexibility of
wireless enterprise app distribution and the improved data encryption
are very exciting.  By breaking down barriers to enterprise deployment,
Apple is opening up a whole new market segment with opportunities for
companies like Tiny Mission to expand into.”

Finally, I wanted to ask Joe Sriver
of DoApp about the *other* announcement that came out at Apple’s media
event yesterday — that being their “iAd” platform — in light of DoApp
having its own such IAd-SteveJobs platform, called “Adagogo.”  Joe, what’s your
reaction to Apple’s “iAd” announcement?

“iAd sounds like a good product.  I haven’t delved too deeply into
it.  It’s another network that we will look at adding to our Mobile
Local News platform.   I guess I don’t see it as a big competitor to
Adagogo, since Adagogo is built into our products by default.   It will
become more of a competitor if we release an Adagogo API for developers
to add Adagogo ads into their apps.  Obviously, it’s a potentially big
threat for Google and Admob — or both together if that deal ever goes
through.  Google has the resources to compete, so I’m not going too
worried about them!”  Nice touch, Joe — spoken as a loyal former
employee of Google…

I’m Liking This ‘Spark Radio’ App – and It’s from a MN Startup

February 27, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Is it possible to design a radio app that delivers the ultimate radio experience, complete with visually stunning graphics and social media capabilities, too?  SparkRadio-200w Minneapolis’ own Handcast Media Labs LLC thought so, set out to prove it, and just launched the result on the iTunes App Store a couple of days ago.  It’s called Spark Radio (press release), and works on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s available for $5.99 at this link at the App Store.

I grabbed it the day it came out and have used it multiple times since, in a variety of situations — at home, on a road trip, even in a foreign country (Iowa) — and I must say I’m impressed.  Right now, I’m listening to a great station that’s all Grateful Dead all the time, which I discovered via the app. It’s called RadioIO Dead, and “Big Boss Man” has been my favorite track so far.  I’m on wifi in my motel room at the moment, and the sound is perfect — and I’m not even using an external speaker.  On the way down here to Des Moines, I used the app via my iPhone on AT&T’s 3G network (note: I was in the passenger seat!) to tune in multiple stations, including WSL in Chicago, and the sound was way better than any station I could tune in on the car radio.

Spark Radio not only gives you tons of station choices and social media features designed to make radio listening more interactive, but it also features visually stunning animations. Far out, huh?  Its robust, visual radio tuner uses the guide from a company called RadioTime.com to give you access to more than 10,000 terrestrial and Internet-only radio stations worldwide.  Handcast says it’s adding new stations to Spark Radio daily, and will support more than 30,000 stations by April.  You can listen to precisely what you want to at any given time — music, talk radio, sports events, public radio, or special programming from around the world.  Its elegant interface lets you search for stations or programs by keyword, location, or the station URL, and you can browse programming by genre or location. (I’m still looking for two of my fav genres: rockabilly and surf.)  A GPS component lets you find local stations in any given city based on current GPS coordinates.

I took the opportunity to dial up the founder of Handcast Media Labs, Terry Anderson, whom I’d met in 2008, to ask if he’d be up for an interview. That follows.

Graeme:  Terry, I know you’re no newcomer to interactive and Internet marketing here in Minnesota. Give us a synopsis of your background.

Terry Anderson:  Well, I’ve been involved in technology for almost 30 years now.  I founded e.Media group in 1995 and we were one of the early interactive agencies in the Twin Cities, with a lineup of really great national clients.  That was incredibly fun.  I sold that agency in 2004 (it's now known as Idea Park) and have been involved in entrepreneurial ventures since.  I got energized by the iPhone platform in 2008 and have been working in that sphere since then.

Graeme:  How did you come to start Tiny Wonder Studios, and then Handcast?  And tell us about the rest of your team.

Terry Anderson:  Tiny Wonder is a division of Popular Front, an incredible interactive agency here in the Twin Cities.  I’m involved as a consultant and helped form the new entity and create Pixi, their first iPhone app.  I’ve been close friends with Laurence Bricker of Popular Front since we were young. Laurence is a true visionary in the interactive world and it was great to collaborate with him once again.  HandCast Media Labs is my own startup, specializing in iPhone applications.  I needed a place to pursue my own ideas, so started HandCast in the spring of 2009. We’re trying to push the limits of technology and creativity.  There are a number of people involved, but the nucleus includes Greg Sharp, a visionary and longtime partner of mine, and Jesse Hemmingway, who is simply the best developer I’ve ever worked with.  It’s an incredible group and we’ve been collectively pushing the boundaries for a long time now.

Graeme:  I grabbed that first app from Tiny Wonder, the Pixi drawing app (see screenshot), right when it came out.  Refresh my memory — when did that hit the App Store?  And how has it done since then? PixiApp-200w

Terry Anderson:  Pixi was developed as an experiment and hit the iTunes store about a year ago. (It’s available for $1.99 at this link on the App Store.)  We wanted to learn the intricacies of iPhone development and start figuring out what it would take to successfully market an app on iTunes.  It’s a beautiful and highly creative application.  It continues to sell moderate amounts on the store, but we never really put enough marketing energy behind Pixi.  We get comments all the time that Pixi is the best app on the store and we know we have a significant audience if we can reach them.  Look for a Pixi re-launch in the upcoming months.  We have some very exciting things planned.  One thing we’ve learned is that iPhone apps need a formal marketing plan, just like any other consumer product.  There are simply so many applications available on iTunes that you need to find a way to become visisble.  We’re excited about the future of Pixi.

Graeme:  Did you develop any other apps after Pixi, either for the iPhone or other mobile platforms?

Terry Anderson:  Before we began work on Spark Radio, we began a prototype of what I’ll describe as a geo-spatial game.  That project has been put on a back-burner for now.  I believe if we can make it work, it could be a mega-hit.  But the scope is very substantial and we decided to focus on titles we could get completed in a reasonable period of time.  Stay tuned.

Graeme:  So, let’s talk now about the Spark Radio app. What made you decide to do a radio app? What did you think you could bring to this category that others weren’t doing already?  Aren’t there tons of streaming radio apps?

Terry Anderson:  When we launched Pixi, we were overwhelmed with the number of people who asked if the Pixi animations could possibly interact with music from the iPhone or iPod.  It turns out that Apple has made that impossible.  We began looking at other ways to make that happen and came up with the idea of streaming radio, where we have control over the audio stream.  We knew that including graphic visualizers would give us a point of difference from the competition.  We also got very excited about the idea of global radio, and decided to include some social features to support that idea.  I think it’s fascinating that someone in South Korea is listening to a hip-hop station out of Paris.  We’re in love with that idea.  The decision to do a radio app was fairly pragmatic.  My research showed that this was a very lively niche within iTunes and that people were looking for quality.  While there were a number of products out there already, we felt that nobody had really developed a robust product with an elegant user interface.  We knew that if we made the experience more fun for listeners, we could succeed.  We launched two days ago and are already #32 on the iTunes list of best sellers, so I think we called that one correctly.  We’re very proud of the product and have some great enhancements coming.

Graeme:  How long did take you to develop Spark?  And do you have plans to do versions of it for any other platforms?

Terry Anderson:  It took us eight months to develop Spark Radio.  That was complicated by the fact that our lead developer broke his collarbone somewhere in the middle of the project!  He took a bad fall on his bike one night and it was impossible to have someone take over his part of the project.  So, say seven months if you eliminate the injury.  That was a tense time, but it all turned out well.  We have always planned to do an Android version of Spark Radio.  We’re very excited about Android and hope to support it in parallel with iPhone.  We have some concerns about the graphics performance on Android, but we’ll figure that out as we go.

Graeme:  Being a longtime promotion guy, you have a pretty cool giveaway going on now for the Spark Radio app.  Tell us about that.

Terry Anderson:  I hate to call it a promotion.  We’re simply giving away 500 iTunes gift certificates ($10) to friends as a celebration of our launch, so they can download Spark Radio for free.  If your readers want to participate, they can email us their name & email address and we’ll send them the gift certificate.  It’s a way for us to show appreciation for all the great friends who have supported us over the years.  They can send their info to sparkgift (at) handcastmedia (dot) com.

[Blogger's note to the FTC: no freebie coupon here — I bought my own app!]

Graeme:  So, Terry, what’s next for Tiny Wonder and Handcast?  What growth plans do you have for your ventures?

Terry Anderson:  As I mentioned, we have great plans for Pixi, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it on the bestseller list by summer.  The success of Spark Radio has been overwhelming, but we’ll keep working until we get to the top of our category.  HandCast will be developing a new title soon and we’re also pitching some ideas that are too large for us to execute on our own.  Given the success of Spark Radio, we’re being contacted for some very interesting contract work as well.  It’s all good.

———–

Thanks, Terry.  A company that develops apps “designed to entertain the senses” can’t be all bad.  And I like how Handcast further describes its vision as “empowering users to explore their own creativity by meeting their entertainment-on-the go needs.”

You can learn more at the Handcast Media Labs web site, and you can follow Spark Radio on Twitter and on Facebook.

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MInt.com Launches a Free iPhone App That’s (are you ready?) Actually Useful

December 22, 2008 / / 2 Comments

Tired of iPhone apps that are a mindless waste of time?  Ready to try doing something with that expensive little pocket communicator of yours that's actually productive and useful?  Better yet, an app that might even improve your financial life in these times, when so many of the faithful must be staring at their AT&T wireless bills and thinking "WTF? What was I thinking?" 

Well, bunky, do I have an app for you: the Mint.com personal finance app. The news of its launch hits the wire today, but the company posted about it on Friday, and at the same time alerted us bloggers… many of whom I suspect were looking for something — anything! — positive to write about. That was sure the case with me, so the announcement struck a chord. Mint.com-iphoneapp

The Mint.com app does seem to stand out as something that could change people's lives for the better. I mean, I like identifying a tune on the radio with Shazam just as much as the next guy. But does it really move me forward in my life in any real way?

With the Mint app, we're talking real, live JINGLE, baby!  Money, scratch, dinero, green, benjamins, clams, smackers, wonger, moolah, cabbage, lettuce, loot, dough, bread. 

That's right, Mint.com is promising us this app will actually…pay us, not cost us. For more on that, you need to get into their blog post linked above, which is entitled: "Putting Money in Your Pocket in Time for the Holidays." 

Talk about a blog post for the season! Yes, they're talking to all you masses of iPhone-toting, last-minute Christmas shoppers out there…

What Can You Do With It?

Here's how Mint describes their new tool:

"Our iPhone app delivers the same simple yet powerful experience you get from our web service — right to your phone, and updated automatically. Discover the comfort and joy of having access to your financial information anywhere, anytime… "

Specifically, the company gives these examples of what the app lets you do:

• Check your credit card balances from that seemingly endless checkout line.
• Monitor your gifts budget in real time, in case your loved ones are burning up the plastic at another mall.
• Stay on top of your finances while traveling. You’ll know if your paycheck cleared without navigating your relative’s dial-up service.
• Watch your investment performance, distributions, and dividends. Helpful in deciding when it’s okay to sell and realize those capital losses, sadly.

And, yes, I know what you're all thinking…but they say they have that covered, too:

• Security Feature: Rest assured that you can disconnect iPhone access from your Mint.com Profile should your iPhone ever be lost or stolen.

How They Did It and Why

I asked Mint's crackerjack PR firm, AtomicPR, some questions about how the firm developed the app — because, at first, I was actually more interested in that aspect of the story, having been so close to iPhone app development throughout 2008 with our local startup DoApp Inc.  I hear all the time about companies, big and small, wanting to do iPhone apps, and I know full well the time and expense that can be involved in developing a really good app. So, I fired off some questions to them. Lo and behold, the founder and CEO, Aaron Patzer, was right back at me with some answers.

Q (me): Who Developed it?  A: "The Mint.com iPhone application was developed internally by Mint developers."

Q (me): How long did it take?  A: "The entire project took a little less than two months from concept to App Store, with really 4-5 weeks of core development by two engineers — one front end, one back end."

Q (me): What's been Mint's story with mobile up to now?  A: "We delivered our first mobile feature –  outbound SMS bill reminders, low balance alerts, budget alerts — 15 months ago.  Our second was inbound SMS.  Any Mint user — even those without an iPhone — can text 'bal' to shortcode MYMINT (696468) for their real-time balances. That came out in October. The iPhone app was scheduled right behind that."

Q (me): Why iPhone?  A: "About 40% of Mint users have iPhones (from a survey we did), with half of the remaining 60% planning to buy an iPhone within the next 6-12 months. The overlap between Mint.com and Apple usage is ridiculous."

Q (me): What about an Android version — any plans?  A: "As a general rule, we will support any mobile platform that more than 20% of our users are using.  First, SMS (almost 100% of people have that), second iPhone (40%) of users, and then we'll take it from there."

Thanks, Aaron.  So now, I'm curious: how many of you iPhone users out there would seriously not use a free app like this?  Of course, you must sign up for Mint's service first, which is a bit of a commitment. But they say that only takes five minutes, to link the service to all your accounts. 

What do you think, are you gonna do it?  Or have you already?  In my case, I downloaded the app, and that will now incent me to sign up for Mint…  :-)  Amazing, the power, the pull of the iPhone.

Rejected iPhone Developers: Read the Agreement

September 14, 2008 / / 1 Comment

We were just talking about this yesterday on the latest Minnov8 Gang podcast — the whining we’re starting to hear from some developers whose iPhone apps are being rejected by Apple.  Now today we’re seeing stories pop up on the topic: Of Course You’ll Keep Developing For The iPhone (TechCrunch) and Blockage on iPhone Apps Begins to Properly Annoy Developers (The Guardian), to name two. Appstoreicon

I would only say what I said yesterday: read Apple’s iPhone Developer Agreement. How many developer’s really do, I wonder? I’ve read it, and it’s not that hard to get through — though it is long (around 30 pages, as I recall). It’s written in very clear, simple English — not so much in "legalese," as you might expect. I can’t imagine there isn’t something in there that says Apple can reject apps that could be deemed competitive to them or damaging in some other way to their business. There is language in the agreement, as I recall, that Apple can reject apps for certain stated reasons — and, I suspect they also say somewhere it can reject them for no reason at all, at its sole discretion. That’s the kind of agreements lawyers write, and Apple has a very good legal department.

So, to all those who aspire to develop for this platform, and don’t wish to have their apps rejected — read the agreement and, if you don’t understand it, get legal help.  Knowing what you’re getting into up front is always a good idea. If you don’t like what you read, then don’t do it.  It could save you a lot of whining later.

 

 

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