I've read some interesting stories on iPhone/Android development. Seems like it could be the next big thing.

http://www.taptaptap.com/blog/donkeys-and-pickaxes/

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

I thought about the iPhone stuff a tiny bit until I read about the ridiculous App Store rejections. At that point, Apple can reject your app after it's made, and they won't even look at it until it's done. So it's possible to spend a lot of time working on an app only to have it denied.

I'm more likely to develop an app that works with my systems in some advanced ways rather than trying to build a universal app.

I'm more prone to Android, though, as Google is way more open about things than Apple is. I'd hate to get dicked by Apple.

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Do it for the Lobster

Quote by Chops

I thought about the iPhone stuff a tiny bit until I read about the ridiculous App Store rejections. At that point, Apple can reject your app after it's made, and they won't even look at it until it's done. So it's possible to spend a lot of time working on an app only to have it denied. I'm more likely to develop an app that works with my systems in some advanced ways rather than trying to build a universal app. I'm more prone to Android, though, as Google is way more open about things than Apple is. I'd hate to get dicked by Apple.

I thought seriously about getting into iPhone development too. But then came to the sobering realization that I would have to buy a mac in order to do so.

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I'm NORML.

Quote by Chops

I thought about the iPhone stuff a tiny bit until I read about the ridiculous App Store rejections. [..] I'm more prone to Android, though, as Google is way more open about things than Apple is. I'd hate to get dicked by Apple.

Yeah, I'd definitely do Android over the iPhone. Apple is chasing away developers, sadly. One thing I keep reading about over at Ajaxian is setting up an online app specifically geared toward the iPhone. I don't have any specific examples offhand, but there's not too much of the API that you can't access through the web browser..... or at least that you would need to. Sure you wouldn't have the motion sensing and whatnot, but you can clone the overall interface and then charge people a small, recurring fee for your app instead of a small one-time fee and you take 100% of the cut. Plus, you could extend the interface to work with ANY device, even your real computer..... sounds like a win-win-win situation to me! This article sums up the situation pretty well. Read on for more info! (FYI, the iPhone Safari has its own CSS and SVG rendering to help you mimic the overall iPhone interface through a webpage too).

Quote by Funger

I thought seriously about getting into iPhone development too. But then came to the sobering realization that I would have to buy a mac in order to do so.

You could build a hackintosh, but seriously, why? Apple makes it so hard to get in to iPhone development that I fail to see why everyone is so gaga over it. The phone is cool, the interface is slick and the technology is impressive, sure. But it's a walled garden that is pissing off a lot of developers and users, I just don't see the appeal.

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no fat chicks

Quote by Funger

... I just don't see the appeal.

The appeal for me is that I own the phone.

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I'm NORML.

The appeal for me is that I own the phone. [/QUOTE]

The 3G or EDGE version?

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STS-124 RTFM!!!

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So it's possible to spend a lot of time working on an app only to have it denied.

Like this?

http://blog.dreamhost.com/2008/09/12/arguing-on-the-internet/

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And finally, after about a week, I had actually finished my first app! It was called Ponger and it was well under 100K. All it did was show an image of a ping pong paddle on your iPhone that when you swung it, made ping pong noises!

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

Quote by Drail

The 3G or EDGE version?

3G

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I'm NORML.

The coolest thing about the iphone store (I read somewhere) is that the customer can buy the apps with just a click, no credit card or anything, because the charge gets added to the monthly phone bill. I think that's really clever and makes it easier for people to buy cheap stuff on a whim.

What would be nice is if there was some way to do that type of thing on a per use basis, like how they charge for text messages. But you'd have to partner with the cell phone carrier, or maybe something like google checkout... if your cell phone app accepts payment with gcheckout, and you have a valid account with credit card, you can just buy stuff and be billed monthly.

My dumb idea is audio tours. I think they are really cool, and would unbelievably freaking cool with a GPS enabled player and made interactive. So if you're walking down a street in say Chicago, you would see a constantly updating list of short audio bites sorted by what's closest to you (or a map). Tap to play the tour. Extend this to museums (most already do something like this, with a little player you rent and type in numbers that are on exhibits to listen), college campuses, hiking/biking, any self-guided tour situation. Or you download a tour route, and as you hit checkpoints stuff plays automatically.

The tour givers don't have to provide any equipment, they just pay your company to host the audio and collect payment.

Obvy this is the kind of thing GOOG wants to do, but with ads: driving in your car, say "find pizza" and the map shows where you are and where the pizza places are. The pizza shop pays per view, maybe more per click to connect your call to the place to order. This is huge and this is where the money is.

I just read a short blurb in the UW alumni magazine about a guy that started a company http://www.perblue.com/ that is going to release a mobile role playing game that uses GPS, ie your real world location matters in the game.

I don't have a smart phone or iphone or a car navigation GPS so maybe people are already doing all this stuff, but it must not be awesome enough yet to motivate everyone to buy it. I think location aware apps are the killer apps for the iphone and gphone.

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

Quote by Funger

Quote by Drail The 3G or EDGE version? 3G

So how is that working out for you? And what the fastest transfer speed you have gotten using 3G?

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STS-124 RTFM!!!

THis is a fun app for Andriod



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Do it for the Lobster

i love how he has to tap the thing 3 times to get it to launch

sigh, touchscreens, will you ever not suck?

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

That's resistive touchscreen for ya. I'll admit, the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen was a damn good choice. The thing responds really well and they also did a really good job making the interface slick and usable. I just can't get past the price or the walled garden personally.

Android I'm not so impressed with. It's awesome that it's an open platofrom and all, but it doesn't seem to offer too much on its own. Even GOOG has said that it won't be impressive in its first gen.

The audio tour idea, on the other hand, is brilliant. I don't see why you'd need the iPhone exclusively though, it seems like something you could get working on any smart phone over the web.

Also, I don't know how much any of you looked at the Ajaxian link I posted, but the one thing I would say is worth looking in to is PhoneGap, which provides direct access to various parts of the iPhone (camera, GPS location, accelerometer and more) via Javascript calls. They're still working on everything, but DAMN that's slick! Webapps FTW!

EDIT: Another reason I love the webapp idea vs. the API idea is that it can be used on ANY smart phone, not just one specific kind. Sure the iPhone and now Android will have a lot of users, but if you open it up to everyone else (WinMo on corporate phones and Symbian, which has a HUGE overseas userbase, basically all Asian smartphones use it, to name a couple) you will end up with a MUCH larger market. Once you have something universal, you can tweak it to the specific phones or OS as you want. For your idea, sell people passes for X days and you'd have a pretty solid business model that would potentially work on any smart phone, not just the small percentage of users with an iPhone and Android.

EDIT2: And, again, you keep ALL of the profits.

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no fat chicks

Quote by skeezer65134

PhoneGap Another reason I love the webapp idea vs. the API idea is that it can be used on ANY smart phone, not just one specific kind.

Excellent point.

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

iPhone Developers Go From Rags to Riches

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/indie-developer.html

The guy basically writes Bejeweled for the iPhone and now he's a millionaire.

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

Awesome.

Being first to something is always great.

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Do it for the Lobster

Apple denies Opera Mini from the App Store.

http://www.osnews.com/story/20455/Apple_Not_Accepting_Opera_Mini_on_iPhone

Frankly, I want nothing to do with the iPhone at this point.

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Do it for the Lobster

Again, take an existing game and put it on the iPhone, and do it well.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/06/chess-with-friends-longs-for-push-as-it-taps-the-iphones-network-effect/

I've never had much interest in game development, but these simple games/puzzles are changing my mind. It could be a really fun business.

If I could sell something on the iphone that would cover the cost and contract, I'd consider it a success. Not to mention I'd deduct the whole thing too.

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."

Again, something that could very easily be done as a webapp, where you could be charging a monthly access fee of even $0.50. Or, you could be hosting any number of games and charge people a couple bucks for each one.

The only advantage I saw with a native app is the integrated contact list. That could be replicated simple enough through an email list and an integrated address book of sorts. Granted it's not quite as nice, but it's something the user would only be using once and is hardly a reason to develop something ONLY for the iPhone. A webapp would mean it would work on the G1 too, or, like I mentioned before, any other phone with a web browser assuming you have it degrade properly if the fancy drag and drop JS isn't supported.

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no fat chicks

Quote by skeezer65134

Again, something that could very easily be done as a webapp

true, but I think you'll have a hard time charging monthly fees for games like this, especially if its really cheap. The subscription web app model may be better suited for more expensive and (possibly) business applications and longer term contracts.

The beauty of a native app (getting in the iphone app store) is that your app is 1-click purchase away from the customer, and they dont even have to fool around entering credit card info.

I think that removes a huge barrier for the customer who's not even gonna think about dropping $3 to play a game with his friends.

And I do think for games the access to the iphone's capabilities is huge.

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"In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches."