Category: Apple

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Apple iOS

IT MUST BE FREE FOREVER!

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.Developing software is time consuming and challenging no matter how big or small the application. When the iPhone SDK arrived developers rejoiced. Not only did we get a great SDK, we also got the App Store. Sure, the rules were a bit arcane, but as an Indie developer you didn’t have to create and manage your own store and Apple guaranteed a safe distribution mechanism. It’s still a great thing to this day, but it could use some improvement.

Upgrade Pricing

I’m going to focus this post on upgrade pricing because it may be the single biggest improvement we could get from Apple.

There are a lot of things to like about the Apple App Store as a user. Once you find an application it’s easy to install and keep updated. Most of the time applications updates are free. It just works. As a developer, however, there have been a couple horrible expectations set during the early years. In a race to the bottom apps became extremely cheap and updates were expected to be free for the lifetime of the application. Free forever. Think about that for a minute.

A lot of applications in the App Store are native clients to a service. It’s clear services are the best way to create a viable, long term, product, but there are a lot of applications that run native and don’t use a service, don’t understand the value of their own service, or are clients to a third-party service.

One such client is Tweetbot, from the fine folks at Tapbots. It’s a very popular iOS and Mac client for Twitter. If you visit the Tapbots homepage you’ll discover the company is not operated by robots, it’s operated by three human beings. I know, crazy, right?

The reason I bring up Tapbots is the recent release of Tweetbot 4.0. This is where that whole it has to be free for life expectation comes into play.

Tapbots has managed to create another beautiful and functional version of Tweetbot. This release introduces some new features as well as being a Universal Application. I’ll let MacWorld and MacStories give you the feature lowdown.

AHHHHHH!The flip side is a bit ugly. A lot of Tapbots own customers turned on them, over the price. That’s right, Tapbots is charging $10 for their venerable Twitter client, but for a limited time you can get it for %50 off that price.

I got a lot of laughs out of the outrage over the price. It’s completely ridiculous to believe a company that sells you a quality piece of software will continue to support it for absolutely nothing.

This one is particularly great. How dare the Tapbots crew charge for their software! It’s a plot to generate revenue! The nerve!

How about the awful behavior displayed by Tapbots?

How about a little disgust over paying for an upgrade?

The upside to all of this is Tapbots will weed out an entire set of folks that don’t really care about the survival of the Independent Developer and add customers that do care. That’s a good thing.

A couple things to keep in mind as you, the customers we so desperately need, purchase our products. While Apple has given us all a great App Store it doesn’t provide a great way to offer upgrade pricing to our valued customers. It’s something I hope they change in the future. The App Store is ever evolving so I hope we’ll see this at some point.

As for Tapbots. I think they will be fine, but they do have another noose around their collective necks; Twitter. Believe it or not, Twitter limits third-party developers to 100,000 application tokens (I am aware Iconfactory and Tapbots were given more than 100,000 based on a rule that grandfathered their apps.) That said, there will be an end point in the lifetime of Tweetbot and all other third-part clients driven by that limit. Once their token limits are hit, the app should no longer be sold, and it will stop being a source of revenue for these companies. They will have to adapt.

Some parting tweets for you. The first from John Gruber that shows how customers attempt to hold App Developers hostage with horrible ratings because of certain features they — the customer — believe they’re entitled to.

Don’t hold developers hostage. It’s dumb. Remember, this is a brand new release, developed over the past 8-months. The latest version of iOS has been out for a couple weeks. Give these guys some time. They’ll give you a bunch of 3D touch love, as a free upgrade. The point is, reach out to the developer and request your favorite feature, don’t hold them hostage with a crappy review.

A few Tweets from Mark Jardine, a Tapbots co-founder, and the man that gives Tweetbot Apps their unique look and feel.

How about the classic comparison to a cup of coffee. Yes, their app is only $5.

Oh, and one from Paul Haddad, the other co-founder and the guy that brings Mark’s designs to life. This is a classic. A “celebrity” asking for a free copy of a $5 product. Nice.

You can expect free forever from VC backed companies or companies that offer services for a fee, but don’t expect everything to be free for life. People have to make a living.

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Apple

That’s a big NO for macOS

Cult of Mac: “We don’t believe in having one operating system for both mobile and PCs (like Microsoft),” he said. “We think it detects from both.”

He got a smattering of applause for that.

“We have no intention to blend them.”

I think that kills off the idea I had of seeing an iOS like macOS on the MacBook. I’m OK with that.

Long live OS X.

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Apple

Is the future macOS?

If, like me, you’re an Apple fan you know they announced a bunch of new products on Wednesday. It seems apparent to me the future is based on the iOS codebase, not OS X.

We now have iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. I may be wrong, but I suspect watchOS and tvOS are derivatives of iOS. It makes sense. When Apple created iOS they started at the bottom layer of the OS and worked their way up. They reused the Kernel and Core Foundation. On top of that they added UIKit and a touch layer to give us the unique experience we get with iOS today. The important thing to note is the OS was stripped down and made to fit the device it was built for, by fit I mean the feel as well as the size of the OS.

With iOS Apple took the opportunity to tighten up how applications could interact with the operating system. It’s still a very powerful OS, but Apple removed all the power user features. The ability to peek under the hood is gone. As a developer we’re no longer given access to all parts of the computer. We all get our own little sandbox to play in. This was all done so bad people couldn’t turn your phone into a virus factory. In other words, it was done in the name of securing the device, making sure it would always work. It is Apple’s most secure operating system, and that’s saying a lot given OS X’s reputation.

Yeah, AppleWhy all the talk about iOS? Well, I think it’s the future of the desktop. With the introduction of the iPad Pro Apple is beginning to blur the line between tablet and desktop. It’s the first hybrid device for Apple. We all know Microsoft created the Surface years before. Where Microsoft took the approach of bringing a full desktop operating system to the Surface, Apple decided to begin with iOS and work up. Folks will say this will make iPad Pro less powerful, I don’t think so. How much “power” do you need? It’s not as if people really care about technical specs when they buy computers, right? Well, if you do, iPad Pro is more than capable.

Bringing laptop class power to a tablet has fueled speculation that the Mac could move to ARM processors, or maybe it’s better to say OS X could run on ARM.

Rich Siegel via Twitter:

It’s not a stretch to believe OS X will be completely ported to ARM — remember iOS shares core code with OS X. In fact it may already run on ARM processors.

That brings me to the point of this post. I’m beginning to believe iOS, and Universal Apps, are the future of everything Apple ships. Not only will OS X be ported to ARM at some point, I believe we will see an Apple laptop based on ARM processors running iOS. It will be the familiar clamshell design we’re all familiar with but will have a touch screen, full keyboard, trackpad, and you’ll be able to pull the display part away from the base (keyboard.)

This is how I believe Apple unifies its story. We have iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and in the future macOS. With macOS being the version based on the iOS App ecosystem. OS X will continue to live as the power user option in the Apple lineup.

For many people it would eliminate any confusion over the difference between OS X and iOS based App Stores, as Daniel Jalkut pointed out in a recent Twitter post.

How long before we see the new macOS?

Why, oh why, would I believe that? Well, it seems like a natural evolution of iOS. When iOS first shipped it was a tiny OS, over time it has grown to add more and more rich features, but it remains quite tiny, very secure, and built to serve a new model, an easier model. Couple that with new features of iOS 9, like split views and picture in picture, and you can see the OS moving in a new direction. We’re at the crux of applications cooperating with each other to create unique experiences. This isn’t new, far from it, but it will be reimagined on iOS. It will give us the power we’ve been looking for and maintain all the security we’ve come to love. That’s why iOS is so valuable.

Think about “the average user” of a computer. I’m not talking about super-geeks, like my brother that need those super power user features a lot of developers enjoy, I’m talking about folks like my wife. She is a gamer and uses her home MacBook to play games, surf the web, answer and create email, and play games. On occasion she will compose a document using Pages. This type of use would be fine for an iOS based device.

The iPad can also be used for day-to-day use. Federico Viticci uses an iPad as his daily driver and swears by it. I have to believe the iPad Pro will be a welcome addition to his daily workflow.

We should also keep in mind the partnership Apple formed with IBM to create solutions for the enterprise. This is how Apple rounds out its offerings for businesses. Get a third party to make the iPad attractive to businesses.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing. Tim Cook loves his iPad!

In the end could you imagine how wonderful a Mac laptop would be running a form of iOS built just for the hardware? Something that is essentially an iPad with the addition of a keyboard and possibly a mouse? It feels like the Mac could evolve in that direction.

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Apple

Wall Street is Bizarro World

Me Wall StreetMarket Watch [hat tip: Daring Fireball]: “The expected iPhone 6s so far sounds mostly like an incremental update, which could lead fewer users to upgrade. Jordan Edelson, founder and chief executive of Appetizer Mobile, believes that the new iPhones will have the same chassis as the current iPhone 6 models, with more memory, a better 12-megapixel camera and battery life improvements.”

The idea that Wall Street is Bizarro World holds true for any company, not just Apple. In this case Apple has a track record of releasing an updated design of the iPhone followed the next year by the same design with upgraded specifications that include the letter S following the version number. E.G. 6 followed by 6S. My point is, this should not be new to anyone following Apple. This pattern is not new.

I think it’s only reasonable to expect Apple’s run of year-over-year unit sales to drop off at some point. How can you expect those numbers to continue to climb? So maybe they won’t sell 183 million iPhones in the next fiscal year. They’re definitely not doomed.

The headline of the Market Watch article is click bait, pure and simple. I clicked the link, not because I believe it, but because it’s so ridiculous I had to read what the “experts” were saying.

The title is accurate in a way — “Don’t expect iPhone 6S to save Apple” — because Apple doesn’t need saving.

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Apple

Ranking My Apple Devices

I’ve been meaning to write this, as well as many other things, for some time. 

Back on Father’s Day my wife and our girls gifted me with an Apple Watch [Darth Vader model; black on black]. It was quite a surprise and I must say I’m thrilled to have this little piece of tech. 

First a little about the watch, then I’ll get to my Apple Device rankings by need of importance to me.

The Apple Watch, like everything else Apple, is beautifully designed. I’ve told many people I would not have spent $400 on this device for myself. It’s nice, but it’s something I’d feel guilty about buying for myself. Hey, $400 can be used to solve a lot of other problems. I was thinking id buy a 1.0 Watch when the 2.0 version came out and I could get the old one for $99. Keep that in mind if you want one of these and can handle a year old model — not that it will happen, but you never know.

Now that I’ve had the watch for a while I know I’m definitely not the target audience. It feels like the watch is for people obsessed with notifications. It’s for a younger generation, the millennials. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to own one, but I don’t take full advantage of it. I use it for five things.

  1. The Time – it’s a great looking watch!
  2. Message taps – I no longer miss text messages from my wife. This is actually a big deal.
  3. Phone taps – See #2. Missed phone calls are a thing of the past.
  4. Activity – I didn’t think I’d use this feature. Turns out I like it. It reminds me to get off my butt from time to time. That’s good.
  5. Slack – This is the one work related notification I allow to come through, but only if a message is directed at me, which is quite rare.

I have a bunch of apps on the watch I could probably remove at this point because I just don’t use them. In fact, I think the only other app I’ve used from time to time is blueHula’s Beer Timer.

Get your tools!On to the original intent of this post. Here’s how the four Apple devices I own rank in my life. Most important to least important.

  1. iPhone – To call this a phone is such a misnomer. It’s a computer in your pocket with a phone app. Seriously powerful and darned useful in everyday life. I’m composing this post on it.
  2. MacBook Pro – It’s almost a toss up between the phone and the laptop which should hold the number one spot. I use a MacBook every day to work on iOS Apps and I love the hardware and OS.
  3. iPad Mini – The distance between spot two and three is huge. I still use a first generation iPad Mini and I love it. I believe the Mini is the perfect size for a tablet. I use mine on the weekends to read my RSS feeds(Reeder), stuff I’ve stashed away in Pocket and Readibility, read Medium, and Twitter(Twitterrific). All using native device apps.
  4. Watch – Beautifully designed and a fine watch.

If push came to shove I could easily give up the iPad Mini and the Watch. In fact my Mini is on permanent loan to our youngest daughter so she can experiment with FiftyThree’s awesome Paper and Pencil.

That’s it. Opinions may vary. I’m still an Apple Fanboy and I can’t see that changing.

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Apple

Don Melton on Debug 69

I was hoping we’d hear from Don Melton on the idea that Safari is the new IE and he didn’t disappoint. For those that don’t know Don is the man that started the WebKit and Safari projects at Apple. He’s also a former Netscape developer so he’s been around the web and web browsers for a very long time. If you have some time go listen to Debug 69, it’s a bit explicit, Don like to drop the F-bomb, but it’s also very informative.

Two things stood out about how the Safari team approaches development of new things. They really care about security and battery life, since mobile is now king. It’s apparent they introduce features quite a bit more slowly than Google. That fact goes a long way to explaining why Google forked WebKit to create the Blink project. They wanted to move faster and felt held back by Apple’s WebKit team.

UPDATE: 7/25/2015 – I sent a link to Mr. Melton via Twitter and he graciously took the time to come read this post, which I really appreciate. Afterward he provided some excellent feedback. Here’s a correction to the statement above:

Something I’ve been an advocate for is the implementation of the ECMA CLI in all web browsers. It was interesting to hear Don talk about the idea of Web Assembly, which is the new push to make languages that convert down to JavaScript so you can write in multiple languages on the web (which is why I’m a fan of a CLI implementation, we could have C# on in the browser, nifty.) Don’s take made me reevaluate my position. Why not let websites be websites and let applications be applications? Both need HTTP and the web. I’m a fan of web services and that is definitely the new backbone of any application development today. A lot of applications, be it in the browser, or native, depend on web services to do their job. The application I work on daily is no exception. At Agrian we have a web application and a native iOS App backed by a web service. The native application was created because Agrian wanted to create the best user experience they possibly could, not to mention provide a great offline experience. Our application is used by farmers that are often out in the country side, and often without connectivity. Changes are cached and synchronized when the farmer has a connection. It provides a good experience all thanks to the ability to save while offline and push changes to our web service when the time is right. Wow, sorry, went off the rails there.

The point is, I’m not sure making the web browser do everything you can do on the desktop is the right thing to do. Let the web be the web. If you want to do a native application embrace the platform and do the best possible job you can for your users. This holds true for Android or iOS. Both provide great SDK’s built to take full advantage of the platform.

Go forth and create.

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Apple

Jim Dalrymple on Apple Music

A cute little monkey.The Loop:  “Over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it. Sadly, many of the songs were added from CDs years ago that I no longer have access to. Looking at my old iTunes Match library, before Apple Music, I’m missing about 4,700 songs. At this point, I just don’t care anymore, I just want Apple Music off my devices.”

Ouch. It sounds like Apple Music has some really serious problems to sort out.

Will Apple ever get the “they can’t build web services” monkey off their backs?

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Apple Google

Is Safari the new IE?

Duct Tape, fixer of all things!Nolan Lawson: “It’s tempting to interpret this as a deliberate effort by Apple to sabotage any threats to their App Store business model, but a conspiracy seems unlikely, since that part of the business mostly breaks even. Another possibility is that they’re just responding to the demands of iOS developers, which largely amount to 1) more native APIs and 2) Swift, Swift, Swift. But since Apple is pretty good at keeping a lid on their internal process, it’s anyone’s guess.”

The web is ever changing and evolving as is the mobile development community. Here we have a web developer that’s dying to take advantage of new technologies but is stymied by Apple’s lack of support for a set of open standards. Do I think this is deliberate on Apple’s part? Well, yes and no, but I don’t think it’s malicious. I think it’s a matter of priorities.

Compare and contrast Apple and Google. Apple is about creating and selling hardware with the best user experience it can possibly provide. That means investing in the native experience. On the other hand we have Google who is all about the web and web technologies. They spend their time investing in the web. It makes complete sense for both companies to invest in the thing they believe in. It’s part of their DNA. They can’t help but do what’s right for their respective platforms.

It is interesting to note Google forked WebKit into Blink a couple years back. You gotta wonder if Google believed Apple was moving too slowly when it came to standards adoption. It seems a reasonable conclusion.

I’d love to hear from Don Melton on the subject. Don was the guy that started the Safari and WebKit projects at Apple. He would know better than anyone why Apple is doing what they’re doing. Having worked on some large projects in my past life I feel pretty confident in saying it’s a matter of company priorities. Pretty simple really. You have to put resources where it makes sense for your company.

Apple will come around. They have to. The web will eventually mature to the point that it can compete with native applications. When that happens the browser will have to become the new operating system.

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Apple

Phil Schiller on The Talk Show

The Talk Show: “Recorded in front of a live audience at Mezzanine in San Francisco, John Gruber is joined by Phil Schiller to discuss the news from WWDC: OS X 10.11 El Capitan, iOS 9, the new native app SDK for Apple Watch, Apple Music, and the 2004 American League Championship series.”

This is the bright side of the new Apple. They’re still secretive (which is good) but they’re opening up in many ways.

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Apple

Definitely not Steve’s Apple

AHHHHHH!Ben Thompson: “WWDC went in the other direction. The first 90 minutes were excellent: very tight, with excellent clarity and momentum, well-rehearsed speakers delivering mostly iterative announcements with the occasional surprise. The final 60, on the other hand — the “one more thing” — were the exact opposite: unclear and dragging, with unprepared speakers delivering…well, I’m honestly not sure what most of them were saying. If there was a surprise the lack of a coherent message has to be top of the list.”

Yeah, I know, the title is a bit sensational, I couldn’t help myself. I love Apple as much as the next fanboy, but I do see some flaws in their once highly polished veneer. Apple Keynote’s are important and for developers WWDC is very important. To have Jimmy Iovine stink up the stage like he did was disappointing.

You won’t hear Apple’s biggest fans talk about this disaster, they only focus on the positive, but it’s important to talk about this as well. To see the company you develop software for start to stumble a bit is worrisome. Some recent moves remind me of the Microsoft of the 90’s. Will we hear monopoly talk?

Do I think Apple is doomed? No, of course not. They’re just hitting a gawky teenage stage. They’re tripping over their own feet. I also believe this disastrous showing must have been due to a last minute cancellation. It was rumored we were going to hear about the new Apple TV. That didn’t happen. It would have been so much better if they had just ended the keynote. Painful.

That’s enough ranting. I need to go read about the new API’s and do my day job.