Thursday, May 26, 2011

TheAppleBlog · Apple and iOS News, Tips and Reviews (9 сообщений)

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  • An Apology to Our Readers

    Yesterday, we ran a post about the keynote speaker at this year's WWDC, based on an old press release. (Apple has not yet announced who will be giving the keynote this year).

    I apologize for this error. We don't know quite how this slipped through, except that it was a result of a complete failure of our process.

    So we're reevaluating our processes, specifically in regard to fact-checking, and we're going to make whatever changes are necessary to make sure something like this never gets published to our site again.

    There is nothing more important to me, as an editor, than the relationship we have with our readers. We let you down here. We've learned our lesson, and we are taking steps to prevent this from happening again. We know it won't be easy, but we will do everything in our power to restore your trust in us.


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  • Is it Time to 'Think Different' About the Back to School Promo?

    Apple’s back-to-school promotion, during which new Mac buyers can get a free or significantly discounted iPod, has run the last several years, from the last week in May to the first week in September. However, as the growth of iPod sales has slowed, it might be time to rethink the promotion. Sure, an iPod touch is Apple’s “funnest” iPod ever, but Apple has a few other products that might suit the bill for the college-bound kid this summer.

    It’s no coincidence that new iPods are usually introduced right around the time that the back-to-school promo ends. The promotion helps Apple to move old inventory and ensures a large number of white earbuds on display at campuses in the Fall.

    But maybe an iPod (even an iPod touch) is not the marquee item to lure college students that it once was. A discount on an iPad might be a better option. Microsoft has come up with its own plan capture the hearts and minds of American college kids — a free Xbox 360 4GB with the purchase of a Windows 7 PC priced $699 or higher. This Xbox model usually sells for $199, making it an equivalent value with the Apple promotion.

    But an iPad has a lot going for it as both an entertainment device and an educational tool. It works as a lightweight companion device to bring to class for taking notes, checking online references, or maybe even reading textbooks. It’s also quite a bit of fun, maybe even during class if you happen to get a math prof that talks to the board for 90 minutes twice a week like the one I had.

    Taking $200 off the list price would be a strong enticement for many customers to walk out of the Apple Store with both a Mac and an iPad. It could only help Apple in the education market to send large numbers of kids to school with an iPad. It might be part of the pitch to get more textbook publishers to go digital.

    An iPhone is another alternative, but I don’t see Apple doing that because of the cost of the device and carriers involved. The only other Apple device that makes sense with a back to school promotion is an Apple TV. The perfect companion product to a Mac with iTunes, the Apple TV would be a big hit in dorm rooms. You can watch movies and play music, and it even ties into some online services like Netflix, NBA League Pass, and MLB.tv. Add support for Hulu Plus, and a rumored Apple cloud-based music and video streaming service, and that would allow college kids to completely cut the cord on cable television. Now, doesn’t that sound like a great way to go back to school?

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  • Why "Web vs. Native" Isn't a Black-and-White Battle

    Even before the iPhone gave mobile data a much-needed kick in the pants, mobile developers were debating the merits of native applications compared to Web-based offerings. But in recent weeks the discussion has begun to sound like a cutthroat Darwinian test of survival rather than a geeky topic of development strategy. Mobiledia this week asked if native apps are "an endangered species," while MIT's Technology Review went a step further in examining "why mobile apps will soon be dead."

    The rationale is that HTML5 and other Web-based technologies will soon give developers the tools they need to finally deliver an immersive experience to a massive audience across a wide variety of phones and operating systems. The biggest problem, though, is that those tools aren't close to being ready. The HTML5 draft specification, for example, was moved to Last Call status only a few days ago and isn't expected to be completed until 2014. So the reality of the situation is much more complicated than the black-and-white headlines of one technology "killing" another.

    Over the next several years, both Web and native apps will evolve alongside each other, and savvy developers will choose the best technology — or combination of technologies — for their specific purposes. Hewlett-Packard, for instance, is raising eyebrows with this week's claim that it will dethrone the iPad with its upcoming TouchPad; the device runs Palm's webOS, an operating system that developers are finding increasingly attractive thanks in part to HP's Enyo framework, which enables developers to build a single app that works effectively across webOS phones and tablets as well as in a computer browser.

    Meanwhile, hybrid apps — which couple the broad support of Web-based apps with the richer features of downloadable offerings — are also gaining traction among the developer community. Real-world examples include Facebook; GeoCongress, which tells users who their elected officials are based on location; and the productivity app Clarizen. And unlike purely Web-based applications, hybrids can take advantage of distribution channels such as Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market — which is a big plus for smaller developers who face an enormous task in drawing traffic to their Web sites.

    The challenge for developers, publishers and product strategists lies in striking a balance between the two technologies to create high-performance apps that are available to the biggest possible audience. Most will have to find some middle ground between the lowest common denominator and a jaw-dropping user experience. Even if it makes for less inflammatory headlines.

    For more thoughts on the great mobile app debate, please see my weekly column at GigaOM Pro (subscription required).

    Image courtesy Flickr user -miguelito-.

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  • Sen. Franken Seeks App Privacy Policies From Apple, Google

    Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) released a letter Wednesday calling for the institution of mandatory privacy policies from all apps offered via the official software marketplaces of Apple and Google. The request is a formal version of one of the suggestions made at Sen. Franken’s May 10 judiciary subcommittee hearing on mobile tech privacy.

    While some apps already have a privacy policy accessible through the apps themselves, Sen. Franken’s office points out that they represent only a very small percentage of the total number of apps available. A recent study by TRUSTe and Harris Interactive  found that less than 20 percent of the top 340 paid apps being used on smartphones included a link to a privacy policy, Sen. Franken notes in the letter. The result is that users aren’t generally well aware of what information is gathered by apps, and how that info is used.

    In his letter, which is jointly addressed to Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google CEO Larry Page, Sen. Franken requests Apple and Google “commit to requiring that all applications in the Apple App Store and the Android App Market have clear and understandable privacy policies,” as a “simple first step towards further protecting your users’ privacy.” Franken writes that he’s singling out Google and Apple because of their role as key influencers with an outsized share of the mobile app industry pie.

    Sen. Franken argues,”there is a greater need for transparency and disclosure for the collection and sharing of all personal information,” [emphasis in the original], but requests that “at a minimum,” apps that make use of location data specifically be required to “provide privacy policies that clearly specify what kind of location information is gathered from users, how that information is used, and how it is shared with third parties.”

    The Senator closes his letter by observing that instituting such a policy only serves to reinforce the sentiment expressed repeatedly by both Google and Apple that they are “committed to protecting users’ privacy.” Indeed, the request by Sen. Franken would be a relatively small concession that could help the mobile industry avoid legislative intervention regarding privacy issues, since the onus would mostly be on app developers, and wouldn’t require tremendous changes in the way Apple and Google do business. Even so, Sen. Franken does refer to the implementation of privacy policy requirements as a “first step,” so the issue probably isn’t just going to go away, even with industry cooperation.

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  • The Secret to The Heist's Success

    MacHeist and developer tap tap tap Tuesday released The Heist, an iPhone (a aapl) puzzle app that provides a real-world reward upon completion. The $0.99 app is a huge success so far, topping the U.S. paid charts just 20 hours after its release. So how did the app come about, and why is it doing so well?

    I talked to MacHeist Directorate Members and tap tap tap Principals Phill Ryu and John Casasanta to find out more about the idea behind The Heist, and what why it seems to have struck such a positive note with app buyers. Note that MacHeist and tap tap tap, while technically separate entities, share the same founders and most staff. MacHeist is a software bundle deals provider that also happens to develop apps in the process of designing its deals packages.

    Beginning in 2006, MacHeist ran series of challenges that consumers could follow in order to gain access to a software bundle deal that offered multiple Mac applications for one low price. In 2009, with MacHeist 3, it brought coder Corwin Derkatch (who was also instrumental in the development of this iOS app) on board to create Flash minigames.

    Casasanta came up with the idea of packaging minigames for the iPhone later that year, says Ryu. While the “games looked nice enough,” Ryu wanted to go bigger than simply repackaging what they already had, so he ended up suggesting “a much more involved take that featured a giant looming safe to crack, a prize at the end, and mysterious phone calls from Sophia, to try to port the spirit of MacHeist over [to the iPhone].” The MacHeist team had already invested considerable time and effort into a straightforward port of its flash games (six months worth, according to Ryu), but “everyone was on the same page about taking the time to make something truly cool.”

    The result of their efforts is definitely cool, as well as addictive. And I’m not the only one to think so, either. Ryu reports that the app has seen more than 25,000 sales so far in just its first day on the App Store. It’s the single best launch tap tap tap has seen for any of its apps so far. Those players are eager to crack the safe, too. So far, 10 percent of buyers have already beaten the game, which is no small feat, speaking as someone who probably slept less than he should have last night in an effort to claim my prize from The Heist.

    The addictive quality of the puzzles found in The Heist is due to a simple formula, according to Casasanta: “take a classic puzzle and throw an interesting twist into it.”

    For example, Casasanta points out that the wires puzzles in The Heist “are basically traditional 15-puzzles (8-puzzles for the easy levels),” with the additional element of having to “figure out how the wire segments on the tiles need to be arranged to connect the various circuits.” Same with the stone/sand/glyph puzzles, which borrow elements from Sudoku, but use “sections [that] are much more irregular” than the traditional simple 3×3 grid within a 9×9 larger grid arrangement used in Sudoku puzzles. Also, the Sudoku-style puzzles in The Heist employ “color to add another dimension,” and “various abstract glyphs instead of numbers” to “breathe a bit of new life into a familiar puzzle,” says Casasanta.

    Of course, the careful attention paid to the look, feel and sound of each puzzle experience is also a key factor. Casasanta notes the development team tried “very hard to make them look great and also have nice background soundtracks to set just the right mood for the player.”

    I also talked to Ryu about the business model behind The Heist. MacHeist charges $0.99 for The Heist in Apple’s App Store, but upon completion of the game, users are rewarded with a code for a $9.99 game called Eets in the Steam marketplace, which sells games for Mac and Windows computers. Ryu and his team negotiated a promotional deal with Klei Entertainment, the studio behind Eets, in which MacHeist pays Klei a licensing fee in exchange for the rights to distribute Steam codes to The Heist players for one year. Klei is looking for a bump in sales thanks to the exposure promotional downloads will provide its game through Steam and other sources as a result of increased download volume.

    Finally, I asked Ryu about his plans for the future of The Heist and the potential of the iOS platform. He admitted that there were potentially plans in the works for both the introduction of new content to the existing Heist app, and also plans to expand with additional apps and iPad support, but he wouldn’t make any guarantees about either. Judging by the response so far, I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see something new and exciting from the MacHeist/tap tap tap team on iOS down the road.

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  • No Code, No Problem. Prototypes Turns Ideas Into Working Apps.

    Taking ideas in your head and turning them in to working iPhone apps is a daunting process even for those with the coding knowledge to get the job done. If you don’t speak Xcode, it’s far more difficult. But a new Mac app called Prototypes is making it easier for non-developers to share their ideas in a more concrete form.

    Prototypes allows an app creator to drag-and-drop static images, be they Photoshop or Illustrator files, JPEGs or other image files, and then to add navigation connections between those screens, so that a tap on one leads to another. Once the creator is satisfied that all the links lead to the right places, she can run a demo of what the live app would look like in Prototypes itself. But if she really want to get a feel for how it will look on an iPhone or iPod touch, Prototypes still helps.

    The app creator can share her prototype app with anyone she wants (client, software developer, family and friends) at any time by uploading the project to the web. Prototypes will provide a link, and instructions about how to install the Prototypes web app from that link, to anyone the creator chooses via email, as well as a pin the recipient enters to retrieve the specific app mockup.

    The people a creator share the app with can then use the demo as a web app on their iPhone or iPod touch. The links the app creator specified when she created the app will respond to finger taps, and then people can see how the finished app would behave on an actual iOS device.

    The Prototypes app isn’t without limitations. Users can only create screens in the portrait orientation, and iPad resolution isn’t yet supported (though that’s coming soon, according to the developer). Also, note that once someone uploads a mockup, it will only be available for 30 days, after which Prototypes clears it from their servers to free up space.

    Prototypes is very easy to use, and especially handy if you’re somewhat capable in Photoshop but hopeless around code. As an example, you can see the start of the app I created in just a little less than an hour in the gallery below. If you want to test it out, navigate to ptyp.es on your iPhone or iPod touch and enter PIN 2668 4595 to try the live version. Note that it doesn’t do very much right now, and that it will expire 30 days after this post goes live. You can also try an official demo created by Prototypes by using the PIN 1467 5639 instead, and that link will never expire.

    The Prototypes app isn’t cheap at $39.99, but if you don’t have a coding background and you need to convey pretty much exactly how an app should look and feel, there are few solutions that are quite as easy or affordable.

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  • Apple Will Zap Mac Defender Malware With Update

    Apple posted a short support article late Tuesday called “How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware,” which provides instructions on dealing with an existing malware infection, and also promises an update in the near future that will automatically seek it out and remove it.

    Before the release of the support note yesterday, it was reported by ZDNet’s Ed Bott that Apple support staff on the phone were indicating that they couldn’t provide instructions for dealing with specific instances of malware. The fix is not overly complicated, but explaining it individually over the phone to every affected customer would tie up a lot of customer service agents, and it could set a dangerous precedent for the future treatment of such situations.

    The article promises that “Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants,” and that the update will arrive “in the coming days.” Users will also receive an explicit warning notification if they happen to download this malware once the update is installed.

    The step-by-step instructions for removing the Mac Defender malware involve using Activity Monitor to kill all running instances of the program and its equivalents (MacProtector, MacSecurity), then dragging the applications to the Trash, and finally, emptying the Trash. Apple also provides instructions for removing the malware’s login item, though the login item is no longer a threat once the application is removed from your system.

    Glad to see Apple responding to the valid security concerns of its users. Let’s hope this isn’t the just beginning of the Mac’s serious malware woes.

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  • Watchlater Is Instapaper for Video on Your iPad

    Even if you have a 3G-capable iPad and a mobile data plan, you might not always have access to a stable connection. That’s a situation Watchlater, a new iPad app that caches online video for later viewing, is hoping to make more bearable.

    Watchlater isn’t just about caching, though. You can use the app to bookmark video from a variety of sites, either using your iPad’s Safari browser or from any desktop computer using a javascript bookmarklet. Once you do that, the video will be available for viewing from the Watchlater iPad app, with an option to cache depending on the site. Some sites, like YouTube, prohibit caching, and Watchlater can’t provide the functionality without risking expulsion from the App Store.

    Even without caching, Watchlater is a good way to manage your online video queue. Say you see a trailer or review that you want to watch, but you’re at work or about to head to a meeting. With Watchlater, you can add clips you’re interested in to the app for viewing when you have more time later. The app also provides AirPlay support for bookmarked content, and automatically converts videos from sites which aren’t available for native iPad playback.

    Watchlater currently supports over 20 video platforms, according to the app’s developers, including blip.tv, TED talks, Break.com and Vimeo. In my own tests, I ran into problems with some other sites, like FunnyOrDie and CollegeHumor. I also couldn’t get the Watchlater bookmarklet to work with broadcast TV sites here in Canada. Still, when Watchlater does work, which is mostly in the area of dedicated online content, it works well. For instance, I was able to line up a string of video tutorials from YouTube within a folder, which is a lot easier than hunting them down individually for viewing.

    Watchlater has a $2.99 price tag when you download it from Apple’s App Store, but actually uses an in-app credit model in order to use its caching feature. It’s an interesting business model, and one that could not only make Watchlater’s model more sustainable than most, but might also pave the way for licensing deals with content partners in the future. Users buy caching time in 300 minute blocks, each of which costs $2.99 through Apple’s in-app purchasing system. Note that once you use some of your time to download a video, it can’t be reclaimed by clearing that clip from the cache, but you can re-cache videos you’d deleted for free if you’ve done it once. Some may find this a steep price to pay, but if Watchlater’s unique functionality is what you’re looking for, then the cost might be more than justified.

    This app may not be a slam dunk, but it’s been designed with care and the developers are working on legitimate workaround for sites that don’t yet allow caching. Watchlater is definitely an app to watch when it comes to online video.

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  • GQ and Wired Jump on the iPad Subscription Train

    Condé Nast continues its rollout of iPad magazine subscriptions with two marquee titles today, Wired and GQ. Both are now available monthly for $1.99 or yearly for $19.99, and existing print subscribers will be able to access the iPad editions for free.

    Wired and GQ are the two latest iPad magazines from the publisher to make use of Apple’s in-app subscription service for App Store titles. The company has already introduced subscription-ready versions of Allure, Glamour, Golf Digest, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

    Apple has support from most major magazine publishers for its in-app subscription system at this point, with the exception of Time, Inc., which has yet to sign on. Time, Inc. is among the dwindling minority who don’t seem eager to show support for Apple’s subscription terms ahead of June 30, when any magazine app not using the system will be turfed out of the App Store.

    Wired was one of the most successful attempts at bringing traditional magazines to the iPad. The first few iPad editions did very well, thanks to its ability to move into the space early and with a solid product, with the help of Adobe. The first issue of Wired for the iPad sold 24,000 issues in 24 hours, and hit more than 100,000 downloads during its first month in June 2010. After that early success, however, purchases dropped steeply. Wired averaged only 31,000 downloads per month between July and September, and that dropped to around 23,000 in the following two months.

    While the problem may yet lie mostly with the product, it’s obviously a factor that during that time, there was no way to subscribe to the magazine or pay less than the $4.99 per issue cover price. Thanks to Apple’s in-app subscription, the cost to consumers drops considerably, which should help bring those monthly download numbers up.

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