The Eternal Transition
Trying to recap how many transitions we (developers) went through in Apple land: from 32 to 64 bits from one resolution (and one form factor) to many from one pixel density to three. Back to 2 if you target iOS10+ on. Unless in September the announce something @4x. from Spring and Struts to Auto Layout. Fun fact: a small version of Spring and Struts is back into Xcode 8. a new design language in iOS7.
Every Scene is a Lesson
Dreaming is a way of trivializing the process, the obsession that carries you through the failure as well as the successes, which could be harder to get through. If you're dreaming, you're sleeping. It's important and imperative to always be awake to your feelings, your possibilities, your ambitions. ... Every step is a first step. Every brush stroke is a test. Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school.
Upgrades in the Mac App Store
Last week I joined the MAS crusade. Over the weekend I have tried to imagine what such a redesign would entail. Let’s suppose somebody tasks you with implementing payed upgrades in the Mac App Store. What would you do? So far I have come up with the following list of edge cases: Customer bought version 1.1 back in the day. Newest version is 1.7. Can the customer upgrade? If no, who picks the exact words to tell him/her?
The MAS Crusade
Everybody complains about it but the change didn’t happen yet. The Mac App Store (MAS) does not allow paid upgrades. Paid Upgrades are the Lifeblood for Indie Businesses Dan Counsell source Yes, they are. You can’t count only on big launch. I believe they are lifeblood also for customers. An up-to-date app tells me that behind it there’s somebody that cares. It’s easy to draw a parallel between our situation and Taylor Swift’s.
iTunes parts
I’d break iTunes down into the following apps: Podcasts App to buy/stream music/movies App to buy/consume books/audiobooks App to play/manage music libraries iTunes U App to synch data with mobile devices I am fully aware that I don’t know what’s behind iTunes. Parts of my proposal maybe not be feasible given the current infrastructure or team organization. These are just the desiderata of a regular user that prefers small apps well done instead of a multi headed monster.
Alternatives to iTunes
When it comes to music I am religious. I have my library, it’s in iTunes and I always know where are my files. I keep many backups, offline and online. I am so paranoid because I spent 15 years building my library. I started when I got my first Mac. It took me a loooot of time to rip my CDs and to correctly name the mp3 files that I had on my PC.
Percentage of Apple Watch apps
How many watch apps are there? While searching for the answer I stumbled upon this report by AppAnnie. On June 8th there were 6,352. When I found it I felt it wasn’t a lot interesting. So I came up with a different question: In the countries in which the Apple Watch has been released, which is the percentage of apps that have a companion Watch app? I extrapolated some of the data that I have via AppVersion and http://canihazawatchapp.
Sandbox is bad sandbox is good
I love the Mac App Store, I hate the Mac App Store. The review system makes me angry, the review system makes my machines safer. I am a developer, I am a user, I am thorn. You might have read a lot of posts about how it’s hard to make a living in the App Store. The most common reasons are the usual ones: no paid upgrades long review times inconsistent rules no access to customers emails As a developer I perceive all these as obstacles to my business.
My WWDC week was about people
WWDC was two weeks ago. I watched some of the videos while I was in SF. I don’t remember anything, and I will watch them again. What I remember vividly is the people that I met, so many and so passionate. I don’t remember what’s new in Swift 2.0 but I clearly remember who I met in SF, where and what we talked about. The essence of a conference is not the new APIs or tools presented but the people you meet and the relationship you create or nurture.
Rob Napier on Taylor Swift and Apple
The web is full of unneeded and useless words about the “Taylor Swift convinced Apple with a blog post” episode. Among all the crap I found a gem, a post by Rob Napier The difference is that musicians had a money problem and devs have a not-money problem. ... The App Store is an engineering problem, not a money problem. Engineering problems are hard and messy. ... And that’s why one artist can move all of Apple.
App Store Slowness
Sometimes I wish the biggest app developers would get together and delist their apps for a day, just to show how much pain this process causes. Kushal Dave source I couldn’t have said it better. One of the best signals that you can give to your customers is quick intervention. Someone proposes a feature that goes along with your vision and actually improves the app? Work on that and push it quickly.
Quitting Apple
These days there’s a very interesting blog post by an ex-Apple employee. Correct me if I am wrong but I feel it’s the first of this kind, so open and so harsh. UPDATE: here is another interesting post by a designer. I can’t help myself to believe every single line is true. No, I don’t believe every team/manager at Apple is like that. I am sure there are great teams and people proud of being part of Apple.
The Notifications Whore
This post on Wired confirms even more the fact that I am not a target user for the Apple Watch. Along the way, the Apple team landed upon the Watch’s raison d’être. It came down to this: Your phone is ruining your life. Like the rest of us, Ive, Lynch, Dye, and everyone at Apple are subject to the tyranny of the buzz—the constant checking, the long list of nagging notifications.
Trade Different
Apple is gonna offer a trade-in promotion. It started it a few years ago but now it’s gonna open it to non-Apple smartphones. I am all for recycling when possible, so this is a great news. Still I think this is a pretty unexpected move. I read it as an acknowledgment of competitors. Apple once pushed the “Think Different” campaign. For twenty years they not so implicitly claimed: We are on a different level We know there are competitors out there but we pretend they don’t exist (unless they are Microsoft and they come with a bag of cash).
Concerns with Apple
Finally the Watch has been fully announced and we had a few days to think about it. I am glad there’s no more posts rambling about the possible prices. But I am concerned. I have written elsewhere that I don’t feel a target user for the watch. Still, congrats to the team in Cupertino for launching a new product. My concern is not the watch but Apple itself. Imagine. You are the only child and you enjoy your parents’ undivided attention.
Don't experiment on the App Store
The recent adventures of PCalc widget leads me to subscribe to the following statement. The bottom line is that if I were an iOS developer, I would be leery of investing significant resources into a Today View widget. @TidBITS source Unless you have time to explore (and see how it goes) DO NOT EXPERIMENT on the App Store. Do you have in mind a new feature? Toss it out as quickly as you can, submit it and see how it goes.
This is a new Apple
Facts: The first part of the keynote live stream was a mess Developers had issues when uploading iOS8 apps to the store iOS 8.0.1 was a screwd up iOS 8.0.2 is not that better Xcode 6.0.1 requires me to clean DerivedData 20 times a day As far as I remember I have never seen a concentration of issues in such a short time. It’s easy to close with a “I miss Steve Jobs”, but I won’t fall into that trap.
On Excitement in the Apple Land
Last year I wrote about boredom in the Apple land. Essentially I said that we were getting used to the patterns adopted by Apple and that a stretched iPhone was built just to show off. I still think we didn’t need a taller iPhone but I definitely changed my mind about boredom. It looks like Phil Schiller read my post and replied on stage with “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”. That was just referring to the new Mac Pro, of which we had a preview during the last WWDC.
On boredom in the Apple land
Boredom has come. It was inevitable. After a rush of four years we are now not stunned anymore. Those holding that “wow” for one year will have to keep it for future events. “Apple is not innovating anymore”. “Skeuomorphism? I don’t like it”. Twitter is full of this messages. My intention is far from defending Apple. They have a big marketing machine and many lawyers, so they don’t need my defense.