Category: Business

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Business

The App Store Gold Rush?

tap tap tap: “The reality is the gold rush days of the App Store are long over – that’s not to say there isn’t loads of gold still locked up in the hills, it’s just all the easy gold deposits have been scoured and panned for and found. The market has matured, and App Store customers’ tastes and demands have grown more sophisticated. Success stories these days tend to be of hard earned fortunes and corporate bought victories instead of the parade of indie lottery-winner stories we heard again and again during the App Store’s early days.”

Back when Jay and I were working on RxCalc I was hoping to make a few hundred dollars a month. The reality of it was all together something else. A few dollars a month. On a good day we sell five copies. I haven’t given up on the idea of making a living on iOS or OS X, but it’s not going to be easy.

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Business Social

Winer on the Twitter Roadmap

A Tweetie Bird.
Scripting News: “1. If you make a Twitter client, you have a bit of time to get out of that business. If you were thinking about writing one, don’t.”

I haven’t read the entire “consistency and ecosystem” post but there’s a lot of language in there around do’s and don’ts. A lot of it is to help make the service as good as it can possibly be, you don’t want, or need, a bunch of spammers abusing the API’s, right? Me neither, but what about Twitter advertising, or things like the #dickbar that had users of the Twitter iPhone client up in arms? What if your client WAS REQUIRED to show the #dickbar? How would you feel about that? Probably not so good.

Is it time for that distributed “Twitter-like” service without the single authority? Maybe.

If you’re a Twitter Client developer you’d better read the new Twitter API Terms of Service, now.

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Business

Manton Reece on Free Apps

Manton Reece: “Free apps and the problem of exclusive distribution are linked. Get rid of free apps, and the store can support itself naturally. Get rid of exclusive distribution, and Apple can be more creative about charging developers who do want to participate in the App Store. If Amazon isn’t happy with Apple’s terms, users can install the Kindle app outside the store and it doesn’t cost Apple anything to maintain.”

I can’t see this happening, but I’m sure a lot of folks would like to see it. I don’t happen to be one, at least not today.

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Business iOS

Design then Code

Design then Code
Design then Code: “Building iOS Apps From Scratch is an introduction to Objective-C and Cocoa for first-time coders. It explains Obj-C’s unique syntax, the Cocoa frameworks, creating and using objects, Model-View-Controller, and how to build an app’s interface. This is suggested reading before tackling project tutorials.”

This is Mike Rundle’s latest project to help the iOS Design and Development community avoid creating Frankenstein applications. Mike’s a rare breed, he’s a great designer and he gets Cocoa and Objective-C, which makes me a bit green with envy.

If you’re a beginner, and can’t wait to build your first iOS App, you could do a lot worse than purchasing the Design Rookie and Cocoa Rookie packages together. Heck, if you’re not sure, give the free tutorial a spin before purchasing. That should give you some idea of the quality to expect.

Well done Mike!

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Apple Core Labs Business

How can I connect?

Apple Core Labs: “My frustration with the disconnect between us and our customers on the App Store continues to grow. For RxCalc we typically see ratings that have to do more with lack of features, or new features, than the features we actually have. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great! The problem is we have NO way of communicating with these users to find out what they really want. We can make an educated guess and hope we’re correct, but that’s the best we can do.”

I posted this back in early February. If there are any iPhone development shops out there that have resolved this problem I’d love to hear from you.

Oh, and if you’re a Pharmacist using RxCalc we’d appreciate your feedback here and at the App Store.

Thanks.

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Business Social

All you need is… Facebook?

Chris Eh Young: “Three years ago everyone was on the Myspace and Geocities bandwagon. Before that it was AOL. Before that MIRC. Still want to put your entire business on Facebook?”

I’m still a big believer in having your own site for personal use as well as business use. I own the words I publish, not Facebook, or Twitter, or any new service that happens to become the next popular thing.

Use these services as a connector for your website or weblog, not as the source.

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Business

On Android and iOS?

BGR: “BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources, RIM has not yet finalized details surrounding timing or pricing, but we have heard that the company might make the software free to all users. We’re also told strategy is still being developed, however, and RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM service on third-party platforms.”

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Business

Borders on the brink

The New York Times: “The troubles of Borders are rooted in a series of strategic missteps, executive turnover and a failure to understand the digital revolution — problems in many ways of Borders’ own making. But as those in the volatile industry digested the news that most saw coming, they were acutely aware of the bigger picture: that in a fast-evolving bookselling environment there is slim margin for error.”

Sad, but inevitable.

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Business Mobile Technology

There’s always Plan B, right?

A wonderful boquet of flowers.Nokia Plan B: “We are a group of nine young Nokia shareholders. All of us have worked with Nokia in different capacities in the past. We plan to challenge the company’s strategy and partnership with Microsoft in the next Annual General Meeting scheduled for May 3, 2011.”

Based on a preview of MeeGo, Plan B doesn’t look so good.

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Business Mobile

Nokia Burning

Nokia, the Glory Days.gdgt: “It’s amazing to see how many Nokia fanboys are in gaping disbelief over Stephen Elop’s “burning platform” memo. Despite confirmation by the BBC and other outlets that it’s real, guys like Tomi Ahonien are still in complete freaking denial. (He first claimed it was a hoax, now he thinks that the memo could be “taken out of context”. Nice Try.)”

Go read the memo from the CEO. It’s amazing and it’s what a CEO should do. He just kicked each and every one of his employees in the back side and said “Let’s get moving, we’re getting our butts handed to us!”

Nokia had a prime opportunity a couple of years ago. They should have purchased Palm.