Compare our versions of these books with other options; you’ll find that they are much higher quality and easier on the eyes.

Enjoy!

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Now, the iPad has not been out for three months and here comes the iPhone 4, which includes those new iOS 4 features plus double the RAM and Retina Display. According to pundits like MG Siegler, the Retina Display, “completely blows away the screen of the iPad.” In that same piece, he writes:

Here’s why this really matters for Apple: the iPhone 4 likely points to the updates coming to the iPad in the not-too-distant future. Are there any doubts that the Retina Display and twice the RAM will make its way to that device? So why would you buy the iPad now if the device might get these updates in say, January?

As mentioned before, it is the Apple way to push out regular product and software updates but they seem to be adhering to an even more rapid schedule than usual. Clearly they want to be the continued leaders in the wild west of the mobile frontier but it seems they are now doing so at the expense of confusing consumers and frustrating developers.

Think about it, consumers literally will have an inferior operating system (iPhone OS 3.2) and hardware (256 MB RAM) for a device — the iPad — that is less than three months old. While iOS developers are not dealing with the same extent of fragmentation as Google’s Android platform, things are surely getting much more complicated than even just six months ago. For example, read Neven Mrgan’s All the sizes of iOS app icons, which details the up to nine versions of icons that need to be created if you release an app across all iOS devices.

I know that Apple is working fast and furious towards consolidating the iPhone and iPad onto a single operating system (iOS 4.1?), which should happen in the Fall. Generally, Apple’s approach to the market is still more structured than their largest competitor — Google — because they rigorously control the hardware. But they currently seem driven more by innovation and being first than by consistency and a methodical approach to releasing their hardware and software updates.

Personally, I am willing and able to endure these deviations but there are growing rumblings by consumers and developers. Hopefully, the release of the iOS for the iPad will see a partial end to the small amount of fragmentation beginning to show itself. That won’t really happen though until the iPhone and iPad once again share similar hardware specifications and the majority of the older generation devices are retired. See you in 2012.

Google is focusing the bulk of its efforts on the user experience for the upcoming Gingerbread release to counter this. And they want to get the Android experience closer to the iPhone.

While it’s unclear if Gingerbread is going to change that for apps, Google is at least pursuing significant changes to the Android OS itself. Whether it’s Gingerbread or the release after that, hopefully much of this improved user experience will be made available to developers in the SDK.

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It’s a pretty simple concept. You start with your finger on the first letter of the word that you want to type, then you keep your finger on the screen while you trace letter to letter. Once you’re at the last letter, release your finger and your word will appear.

Swype is powerful because it’s natural. At lunch recently, I showed it two loyal iPhone customers. After trying it themselves and seeing them immediately “type” faster, they both said they’d consider moving to Android just because of Swype. Oh, and they also weren’t convinced of upgrading to iPhone 4 — but there’s no shortage of interest in it with 600,000 pre-orders on the first day.

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Here’s another way to think about it: delight the audience you already have, amaze the customers you can already reach, dazzle the small investors who already trust you enough to listen to you. Take the permission you have and work your way up. Leaps look good in the movies, but in fact, success is mostly about finding a path and walking it one step at a time.

This excerpt from Seth Godin’s “Hope and the magic lottery “reminded me of something I wrote in my upcoming book App Savvy:

Obviously, attention for your app is a good thing. In fact, your goal will be to see a flurry of excitement when your app is finally approved. The difference is that the core of the excitement for your app should always be generated by customers. Even if your app is reviewed by bloggers and more traditional media outlets, the buzz from those sites will eventually lessen and more likely become nonexistent. Customers that are excited, engaged, and passionate about your app — because of their influence in the development of it — will be the ones who continue to help promote you well after the media is done with their “scoop.”

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Pundits continue to see the flooding of Android devices into the market as the sign that Android has won…or at least as an indication that it will win in the app marketplace. I debunked this idea some time ago but it’s worth re-iterating one point in particular, especially now with Android’s growing influence: the best apps on Android devices are still Google’s apps. Android devices are not purchased because consumers want third-party developer apps. Instead, they want Google Voice integration, a native Gmail client, tethering, or to be on an “open” platform. Just ask Nokia (Symbian) if having a leading market position, with probably the largest diversity of devices, helped or hurt them with the Ovi Store.

Compare the best Android apps to just three apps that were announced yesterday for iPhone 4: Netflix, FarmVille, and Guitar Hero. Each of those are killer apps and they highlight Apple’s commitment to consumers and by winning them, they will let the developers follow the money trail. Yes, Apple focused on the form factor, display, camera, and iMovie…does that do anything for developers or early adopters? Possibly, depending on who you ask. More importantly, however, is that these new apps and features aggressively market to established audiences like Facebook-farming fanatics. They’ll also cause a consumer to think twice about purchasing a Flip and new smartphone or just buying an iPhone 4 that has HD recording and editing capabilities. Apple’s betting big on consumers and with their 150M credit cards on file through iTunes, they’re guessing that they won’t have any problems keeping those $1B checks to developers coming.

Let’s get into the details a bit more though…

Aside from my own experience, other developers report that they make significantly more on the Apple platform compared to Android. This thread last week got significant attention because the developer shared that the same app is making 3x more with Apple than with Android. With the latest numbers showing the worldwide operating system smartphone market share of Apple at 42% and Android at 25%, it’s a small indication of the disparity between the two platforms.

If you spend any amount of time in the Android Market, you’ll quickly realize that the best third-party apps are not paid but ad supported. It’s the Google model and it seems that for the time being Google is willing to subsidize these apps, offering outrageous CPM’s, until they get the distribution they want. Android developers are also generally happy with this approach (and these CPM’s) because fragmentation is not a made up issue. Not offering a paid app means they don’t have to care as much about the deafening number of customer complaints about device / OS compability. Most Android Market reviews are not actual reviews but instead are rants about an app not working properly because of the device / OS combination. Apple’s approach generally has this area under control but that’s even more true because they keep retiring older devices (bye, bye iPhone 3G).

These facts do not negate that Android is an up and coming player. But guess what, so is the iPad and now, iPhone 4. In fact, I recently re-launched one of my most popular iPhone apps as a Universal app onto the iPad and saw sales improve 3-4x immediately. They’ve stabilized at around 2.5-3x with a general upward trend. In particular, I’m still seeing huge opportunity on the iPad and I’m doubling down there and am urging developers and others I talk with to do the same. Idealists and technologists can embrace tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot support and complain about AT&T. But I’m going to hang out with the consumers who are going to line up to purchase the iPhone 4 on June 24th. And then, I’m going to build them some more apps to buy.

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“PFI is the result of months of consultation with customers and partners as well as a review of privacy standards in similar industries,” said Simon Khalaf, president and chief executive officer of Flurry, Inc. “PFI’s white hat approach to data collection and visibility into audience targeting goes a long way to ease consumer privacy concerns. Nothing is done without the consumer’s knowledge, or without the chance for a consumer to stop data collection.”

PFI will be rolled out in Summer 2010 and will give consumers the ability to opt out of data collection, as well as better control the types of ads they are served.

Read more about PFI by downloading the PDF’s below -

http://www.flurry.com/about-us/press/Flurry_PrivacyFirstInitiative_051310.pdf

http://www.flurry.com/about-us/press/Flurry_PFI_FAQ_051310.pdf

Tap, tap, tap.

All the PCs and laptops are basically not being used. All the Macs are not being used. All have been powered off.

Everyone in the family is waiting for their turn at the iPad.

…

I don’t think I’ll be buying any more desktops going forward. I don’t think I’ll even be buying any more laptops going forward.

Definitely a meme going around, which is also why there have been requests to have user account implemented throughout the community.

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Create an Android app that inspires and tracks physical movement.

What kind of app can you build to encourage people to get in motion? How can movement be just as easy and fun as checking-in or updating a status?

The winner will receive an all expense paid trip to TED Global 2010 with many other prizes (including MacBook Pro’s, Android devices, software, and hosting). Seems like a great excuse to build something inspiring and accessible outside of the tech community.

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Case closed. Be notified here.

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When users check in around various U.S. cities, they can find historical tidbits about their location and unlock the limited edition History Channel badge. “For example,” reads a release from the History Channel, “users in New York who check in to St. Paul’s Chapel will discover George Washington worshipped there on his Inauguration in 1789…

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As a consumer my first observation about the iPad App Store was that it was frustrating to browse. On the iPhone, the App Store is mostly controlled with “flick” gestures. For example, when searching for an app, it’s easy to browse twenty-five of them at a time by quickly scrolling up or down and then touching “Twenty Five More…” The iPad offers a vastly different experience. First, the initial search results page has iPad and iPhone apps competing with each other. Secondly and more oddly, even with a much larger screen, only twelve apps at a time are presented. Seeing the second page of twelve apps requires pressing the right arrow. With the iPhone App Store, it is possible to flick down to view the first set of twenty-five apps along with the second set. The iPad paradigm of arrows necessitates that only twelve apps only ever be present on the screen, with considerable effort required to move from page to page.

Check out my full post on the O’Reilly site — “iPad App Store Design – Bad for Consumers and Developers.”

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via @KuraFire

Relying on incumbents to produce your revolutions is not a good strategy. They’re apt to take all the stuff that makes their products great and try to use technology to charge you extra for it, or prohibit it altogether.

and these too:

If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn’t for you.

If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn’t for you.

If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you’re going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn’t for you.

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My verdict is that, while it has compromises and drawbacks, the iPad can indeed replace a laptop for most data communication, content consumption and even limited content creation, a lot of the time. But it all depends on how you use your computer.

Pogue writes two reviews — one for “techies” and one for “everyone else” — in his NYT piece and begins each with,

The Apple iPad is basically a gigantic iPod Touch.

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Ironically, the people who would benefit most from building in the browser (i.e., the developers) prefer to create something shinier by going native. Maybe they won’t choose that path if there are four or more major platforms they have to support but until that happens, it’s telling that when the browser route is possible, developers pass on it.

As I’ve tweeted on a number of occasions, my perspective is that there won’t be one winner when it comes to the debate of native apps versus the mobile web. This article doesn’t imply that and in fact, is probably hotter on apps than most perspectives.

My comment above clarifies my thinking, which is that the browser won’t be a strong option unless there are simply too many native platforms to support. That would mean that Windows Phone 7 would need to become a strong apps player. It might.

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MacJournal for iPhone (Mariner MacJournal)
Yes, there’s Evernote, Simplenote, and any other number of notes apps but to me, MacJournal is unique. I’ve been using the Mac app as a “learning journal” for the last year. I have a tendency to do a crazy amount of research when I’m interested in something and MacJournal’s allowed me to better archive and retrieve my notes on those subjects.

That’s why I was excited to learn an iPhone app was coming out and after a long and obsessive wait, it hit the App Store yesterday. Beyond syncing with the Mac version (and like the Mac counterpart), the app is a full blog editor. Personally, I use MarsEdit for blogging but this feature may prove useful on the iPhone.

Rating – ★★★★★
Price – $4.99
App Store Link

Grades
Grades is an app that will make you wish you were in school again…or at least make you mad about how you use to have to calculate the grade you needed to make that A (or B or C).

Aside from its usefulness, what I like about Grades is how well it guides the user through using the app. Most screens include references and examples for how to use the app without taking away from the clean design.

Rating – ★★★★★
Price – $0.99
App Store Link

Osfoora for Twitter
Considering how crowded the Twitter client marketplace is, you wouldn’t think there’d be room for a new kid on the block. But Osfoora has come out blazing and has a growing user base.

Osfoora definitely feels inspired by Tweetie 2 but its home screen is unique, adapting a Facebook-type layout. While I personally wouldn’t switch to it from my combo use of Echofon Pro and Tweetie 2, it’s a fairly bold undertaking by solo developer Said Marouf.

Rating – ★★★★
Price – $0.99
App Store Link

Street Fighter IV
Anyone who played video games in the 1990′s knows the Street Fighter series. That’s why despite the $9.99 price tag I immediately bought the game when I saw it on the App Store.

I was a little hesitant about playing a game like this, which historically was best with a joystick. Even the console versus arcade versions weren’t as good because it wasn’t as easy to do special moves and combos. Capcom did a pretty good adapting the gameplay to this format. My only complaint is that it seems like everything is lost when a call comes through…and just went I had defeated Dhalism several stages into the game.

Rating – ★★★★
Price – $9.99
App Store Link

Vlingo
I initially tried out Vlingo — a voice-powered app — when the first version hit the App Store (which I believe was some time in the last year). With the launch of v2.0, I thought I’d give it another try.

In concept, I still think Vlingo is a great idea. Who wouldn’t want to quickly dictate texts, e-mails, search the web, and more all via voice. In practice, it still just doesn’t work. Also, Vlingo has a super long Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Read it carefully because, for example, there’s a possibility that your contacts will get indexed and sent to their servers for faster voice retrieval if you select that during the setup process.

Rating – ★★
Price – Free (w/ In App Purchases)
App Store Link

Proactive Sleep
I own more than several alarm clock apps, including Sleep Cycle. I was interested to check Proactive Sleep out when I saw it on the “Featured” list but it really disappointed me.

Not only is it confusing to use, it’s extremely buggy. For example, the alarm clock immediately fell several minutes behind the iPhone system clock (thankfully, I noticed this before I went to sleep) and the app crashed three times on me. On the more bewildering side is that although Proactive Sleep is a paid app, they are including irrelevant ads in it.

Rating – ★
Price – $2.99
App Store Link

Like this post? Then sign up or learn more about my upcoming book, a guide to creating bestselling iPhone apps (O’Reilly). You can even be an early reviewer of it!

The secret sauce is simple. We need to take a more customer centered approach to creating products that solve real problems for real people. We need to listen to our customer’s wants, needs and frustrations and create products that solve them. We need to constantly strive to improve our products at their core, rather than hiding their inadequacies with slick marketing campaigns. We need to create experiences that consumers can rally around and talk about, and we need to get out there and engage with the conversation. Not everybody can or will be able to create remarkable products, but the ones that do will flourish and prosper.

via Hiten Shah

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But what Microsoft can’t do is will Window Phone 7 handsets into the public’s hands. They’re going to have to earn that, and they’re going to need developers’ help. And as excited as they—and we—might be about this thing, the earliest we could hope for Windows Phone 7 to have the kind of app power it needs to be competitive with the smartphone giants—who, by the way, aren’t going to be sitting still for the next year—is the middle of 2011. That’s the Windows Phone 7 problem—and it’s out of Microsoft’s hands.

How many iPhone and Android apps will there be by then?

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