UI

UI Design matters more than before...but really has changed. I've read complaints about the Mac App Store, and how apps aren't conforming to the Mac interface guidelines. It still matters to have a great looking and intuitive UI, but the actual look & sticking to guidelines so every program is identical I think matters much less.

The web is the biggest thing that changed all that. People have grown accustomed to sites that all look unique and have navigation in slightly different places and in all sorts of styles. Menus, buttons, links, the all look different depending on the site. But as long as it looks good and is well designed, people figure it out. It's probably even a skill we keep improving: getting better at figuring out a new website.

And that's something the iPhone and Android continued. I've even bought a few apps (like Weightbot) purely because their well designed UI got some press and I wanted to check them out.

iPhone App Piracy

Over 9 months after it's been gone from the App Store, one of our apps is being pirated more than it ever sold.

We released the first version of our iPhone "strip poker" app, Poker vs Girls in June of 2009 (really based on the App Store limitations, it would have been better described as bikini poker, but strip poker sounds better! Improved marketing for our poker games was the whole idea.) After a lot of tries, the 2.0 version was accepted in early December 2009.

Version 1.0 had an little banner ad spot at the top, so we could promote our other apps. Version 2.0 needed more space, so we removed it. No legitimate purchasers have gotten that version 1.0 since December 2009. In fact the entire app was removed from the App Store in February 2010 as part of Apple's big sexy-app-purge.

For the past 10 days, a year after the version with the ad was last available, that ad page got over 32,000 unique views according to Google Analytics. That is more than the total number of copies sold the entire time it was in the App Store--22,935. (And doing the past 3 months, it's over 280,000 unique views--more than 10x the total sold.)

All 100% piracy* (Yeah, a couple could be people who bought, never upgraded, and are still playing...but there can't be many of them--say 99.9% piracy.)

The good news...we can show ads to all those people pirating it. And the poker game itself is still there and better than before (bluetooth games, etc.) For iPhone. For iPad.

iPad² & 1

There's a precedent:
* When the iPhone 3GS came out, Apple kept the 3G as an option to still buy, for a cheaper price.
* Same thing when the iPhone 4 arrived, you can still buy a 3GS for $100 less.
* And sometimes it's been done for the iPod touch--they kept one closer to the 2nd generation as the low end model when the 3rd came out.

I'm not sure how many people chose the lower end ones, especially for the iPhone. But it keeps real price pressure on competitors.


They could do the same for the iPad. When the iPad² comes out, presumably with cool new features like cameras, keep the current 16GB WiFi one as a lower end base model. And price that to kill competitors: $329, $349, $399, whatever. Most people will opt for the more expensive newer version--but it makes a really low price for competitors to beat (especially since they don't even really beat the current price without doing much smaller screens.)

iPhones everywhere

Apple makes one new iPhone a year. So they can spend a whole year advertising it, and building up its brand name and awareness--a name Apple already built up hugely.

All the Android companies come out with new models ever few weeks or months, gadget geeks pay attention, but none of them has nearly the same awareness from the average person since there is no one big phone that you see all the time.

Look when you see people using phones. Especially since 2 years of iPhones looked the same, you recognize them, and it seems like you see a lot. Android phones all look different, it never feels like you're seeing any one of them very much, even if some day (if not already) the total number passes the number of iPhones. So as you're seeing people with phones, it feels like there are more iPhones.

Same thing for laptops if you look in a coffee shop. All the others are a mix of styles and brands, so the Apple laptops stand out.

WindowsPhone/7

People keep saying Google/Android is the new Microsoft when comparing the smart phone OS battle to the computer OS battle back in the day.

But they keep missing the comparison for Microsoft Windows Phone 7--they're the new IBM OS/2.

iPhone 360 predictions

AT&T has done a few changes that aren't so friendly for people (increasing the early-termination and changing the data plans.) Apple might have let them do it without objecting too loudly in return for "something".

My prediction is that like last year the "old" iPhone 3GS will drop in price to keep a low end model & keep putting pressure on all the other cell phone companies. But I think they may go REALLY low in return for those cell plan changes. Such as free (with a 2 year contract of couse.)

I've yet to be right, but who knows this time. We'll see next week.

(Update: so I'm 100% on my predictions! all wrong.)

"Lost in a Bar" App....denied

We were saddened to hear our "Lost in a Bar" app has been denied and will not be coming to the App Store. (Its icon is shown to the right.)

It would have let you create a custom wallpaper to use as your iPhone's "locked" screen that had contact information you chose. An email or phone number you provided would have been easily visible if your phone was found, even if a passcode lock is used.

It would have protected your privacy too--without it, even a good samaritan would have to search your contacts, email, or your apps to find where to return your lost iPhone. You even could have chosen from several built in backgrounds, picked any image from your photo library, or taken a photo right within the app.

While it is a shame, it's honestly not a surprise. We were hoping the reviewers might have a little sense of humor in this case--but it's probably a pretty touchy topic within Apple. When I saw "Apple Inc" on the caller ID, I figured that's what they were calling for :)

But there is good news! Thankfully, it is already in the App Store with the name "Reward for Return". It's been there since last June. If it had been used on a certain lost iPhone, it might have saved a lot of trouble for a lot of people.

As an aside to the finder of the lost iPhone...did it never occur to you that Apple (with billions of dollars at stake) might have given a pretty nice "thank you" to get their device back and to keep the whole thing quiet and private?