Apple

Apple event spotlights iPhone developers

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:13:30 -0500

Apple last week hosted a press briefing in San Francisco to spotlight some of its iPhone developer partners and their upcoming mobile applications for the device. The purpose of the event was to promote the efforts of the development community in expanding the possibilities of the iPhone platform, according to Apple's senior director of iPhone product marketing Bob Borchers. Calling the work done by developers "incredibly engaging," Borchers added their contributions illustrate "what a fun end-to-end experience can look like," Macworld reports.

Mobile game developers grabbed the lion's share of attention at the Apple event: Electronic Arts, which has already introduced seven iPhone titles including Tetris, Scrabble and Spore: Origins, unveiled the forthcoming Need for Speed: Undercover, a racing game due in December. EA also previewed other upcoming games, including Monopoly and SimCity.

Rival game developers Gameloft (demonstrating its new Ferrari GT) and Ngmoco (which said it has no fewer than 14 iPhone games in the pipeline) were also on hand. Ngmoco's platform adventure game Rolando, debuting in December, looks like a hit, exploiting the iPhone accelerometer as well as player gestures and screen taps. "It's the first platform game where you can affect the [game] environment by touch," said Ngmoco head Neil Young.

Also demonstrating at the Apple event: Mobile media developer Handmark Software (touting its Zagat to Go nightlife resource), creative agency AKQA (promoting applications for clients Target and Gap) and social networking firm Loopt (the subject of a new App Store commercial).

For more on the iPhone developer event:
- read this MacWorld article

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Apple revises iPhone NDA, debuts developer forum

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:46:48 -0400

As promised earlier this month, Apple revised its iPhone SDK non-disclosure agreement, in effect enabling iPhone application developers to more openly discuss their plans for the device platform. Previous iterations of the iPhone NDA prevented developers from communicating with each other, much to the dismay of the developer community--Apple argued the NDA was in place to safeguard its intellectual property rights, but acknowledged its security measures placed too much of the burden on developers and "others interested in helping further the iPhone's success." While the updated NDA loosens the shackles, Apple still requires developers to continue to honor confidential information relating to pre-release software as well as "Apple Events or Paid Content."

In addition, Apple responded to another recurring developer complaint by opening new web forums to registered iPhone developers. The forums, hosted on the computing giant's developer website, are described as "a collaborative environment" where iPhone developers can post questions for each other and discuss relevant development topics.

For more on the revised iPhone NDA:
- read this Macworld article

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App Store tops 200 million download milestone

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:34:26 -0400

Apple announced its iPhone App Store reached the 200 million download benchmark last week, just over 100 days after the virtual storefront opened July 11. "The 200 millionth app! We've never seen anything like this in our careers," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the computing giant's fourth-quarter earnings call, adding the rate of applications submitted by developers is "incredible." Apple currently boasts App Store applications in 19 categories including Games, Navigation, and Music.

Apple also reported its fourth-quarter earnings last week, posting revenues of $7.9 billion, up from $6.22 billion in the year-ago period. According to Apple, international sales accounted for 41 percent of Q4 revenues: The firm sold 6,892,000 iPhones during the quarter, compared to 1,119,000 a year ago, and moved 11,052,000 iPods representing 8 percent unit growth and 3 percent revenue growth year-over-year. "We sold more phones than [BlackBerry maker Research In Motion]," said Jobs in a prepared statement.

For more on the App Store milestone:
- read this Macworld article

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Apple misses iPhone push service deadline

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:35:04 -0400

Apple has missed a self-imposed deadline to introduce "push" functionality with its recent iPhone 2.1 update. Senior vice president of iPhone software Scott Forstall promised developers in attendance at June's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference that a unified push notification service--alerting iPhone users running one application when fresh data was available for another application not in use--would be completed by September, but the recent iPhone 2.1 update did not include the promised workaround. The push service became necessary when Apple declined to include background applications in the iPhone SDK--many developers cited their concerns about such a limitation, arguing it could restrict the usefulness of applications like instant messaging.

According to MacRumors.com, Apple pulled the push notification service from the iPhone Firmware 2.1 release as late as August, claiming further development is necessary. The present status of the push service is unknown.

For more on the iPhone push service:
- read this Heise Online article http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/117061

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Apple drops NDA for iPhone application developers

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:11:41 -0400

Apple has dropped the non-disclosure agreement it previously had forced application developers who wrote applications for the iPhone 3G to agree to, citing the burden it placed on developers.

In a statement on its developer website, Apple said it had previously put in place the NDA to protect certain Apple technology it did not want to get out into open, citing the fact it had happened in the past. However, the company said the NDA placed too great a burden on developers, and was dropping it for already released software. It will provide developers with a new agreement without the NDA "within a week or so."

Developers have complained about Apple exercising too much control over developers, most notably in squashing applications that might directly compete with Apple services, such as Alex Sokirynsky's Podcaster application.

For more:
- see this article
- click here to see the statement

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Apple closes App Store loophole

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:39:48 -0400

Apple has blocked an App Store end-around that enabled a rejected iPhone application developer to market his app across a distribution channel intending for beta testing and enterprise use. According to Computerworld, Apple originally rejected developer Alex Sokirynsky's Podcaster on grounds the iPhone application duplicated features present in its own iTunes platform: "Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes," Apple told Sokirynsky. The developer responded by selling Podcaster via Ad Hoc, Apple's name for the distribution channel it established earlier this year to allow developers to trial their iPhone applications--enterprise developers also use Ad Hoc to offer custom iPhone apps to corporate users. Sokirynsky created a website to sell Podcaster directly to customers for $9.99, instructing buyers to submit their iPhone's unique device identifier code (a prerequisite for Ad Hoc access) prior to downloading and installing the application.

Upon learning of the loophole, Apple shut down Sokirynsky's account. "Basically, Apple denied me from provisioning new devices," he wrote in an email to Computerworld. In addition, Sokirynsky criticized Apple in a now-removed post on his blog, writing "All I wanted was for someone from Apple to contact me and tell me how we can work it out so that I get into the App Store. Instead, Apple took the coward's way out by simply disabling features in my developers portal. This seems like a childish move for a company that has been proving [sic] such high-quality service and products in the past." Sokirynsky currently plans to port Podcaster to Google's Android platform: "At least there, I will be welcomed instead of being walked all over," he said in the blog entry.

For more on the Podcaster controversy:
- read this Computerworld article

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Rumor: Apple to launch iPhone nano

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:25:27 -0400

Apple is poised to launch a nano-like edition of the iPhone, according to The Daily Mail. Citing an unnamed source who said the nano device will boast a scroll-wheel on the back and a display screen on the front, the newspaper said the phone will hit retail in advance of the Christmas holidays, with Apple's exclusive U.K. partner O2 targeting pay-as-you-go subscribers unwilling to pony up the iPhone 3G's retail price. But rival British pub The Guardian scoffs at the report, suggesting it is nothing more than a PR stunt engineered by O2. Time will tell.

For more on the iPhone nano rumors:
- read this Daily Mail article

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App Store frustrations bedevil iPhone developers

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:30:07 -0400

Although iPhone 3G activation problems and MobileMe synchronization issues have attracted the lion's share of negative publicity, some mobile developers are also reporting problems with Apple's App Store. According to developers interviewed by Macworld, their frustrations have much to do with the length of time it requires Apple to push their software updates to iPhone users--in addition, some developers cite Apple's failure to communicate information on when their apps will be published live. Moreover, Apple has yet to provide App Store sales data, so developers are unsure how their iPhone applications are faring--Apple has pledged to share monthly sales reports, but some developers are calling for real-time statistics in order to gauge sales and adjust prices accordingly.

Even Apple's internal review process remains a mystery: "They reject apps for superficial things (icon being the wrong size, confusingly worded messages) while sometimes major bugs slip in under the radar," an iPhone developer who requested anonymity told Macworld. "It seems pretty haphazard and human-powered rather than automated." Nor is there any apparent rhyme or reason to the software update process, although another unnamed developer charged Apple with favoring large companies over small, independent firms." We submitted an update a week ago, and it still isn't updated," the developer said. "Some apps seem to get updated quickly, so some type of favoritism is evident. I've seen one day, and then I've seen two weeks--no one knows why the disparity, either... It's either favoritism or just general chaos."

For more on iPhone developer frustrations:
- read this MacWorld article

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iPhone hackers strike again with Pwnage 2.0

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:54:25 -0400

It took about a week, but hackers have unlocked Apple's iPhone 3G. The iPhone Dev Team--a group of programmers previously responsible for AnySIM, a widely distributed and totally unauthorized iPhone unlocking solution--has resurfaced with Pwnage 2.0. The software enables any iPhone or iPod Touch user to install third-party applications on their Apple device. The Pwnage software also promises to unlock the iPhone for use across operator networks beyond Apple's exclusive U.S. carrier partner AT&T.

For more on Pwnage 2.0:
- read this iPhone Dev Team blog entry

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Ten million iPhone App Store downloads in first weekend

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:14:00 -0400

Despite myriad problems with Apple's iTunes activation server, the iPhone 3G's opening weekend looks like a success--the computing giant announced more than a million devices sold within the first three days of release. iPhone and iPod users also downloaded more than 10 million applications from the fledgling App Store, which debuted Thursday.

According to Apple, there are now more than 800 native iPhone applications available via the App Store--just last week, when CEO Steve Jobs sat down for an interview with The New York Times, he said the App Store would feature roughly 500 applications at launch, including educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity tools. Games represented about a third of the first-wave apps.

Jobs said about 25 percent of the first App Store downloads are available free of charge, with roughly 90 percent of the premium applications priced at $9.99 or less. Jobs insists Apple will not rely on the App Store as a source of significant revenue, in much the same way iTunes music sales have contributed little to the firm's bottom line: "We are not trying to be business partners," he said. The goal is to "sell more iPhones." Moreover, Jobs added that developers are right to be wary of possible competition from Apple-developed iPhone apps: "We will compete," he said. "That's a discussion to have."

For more on the App Store's debut weekend:
- read this release

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