Posts tagged with "developers"

Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.6 To Developers, 10.6.5 Coming Any Day Now

As noted by 9to5mac, Apple just seeded Mac OS X 10.6.6 (build 10J521) to registered Mac developers. 10.6.6, another version of Snow Leopard – we thought the upcoming 10.6.5 would be the last before Lion.

The only information provided in the changelog:

- Contains developer support for fetching and renewing App Store receipts. See “Validating App Store Receipts” for more details.

The release of a first 10.6.6 seed means the 10.6.5 version we’ve been talking about for months could be coming later today, tomorrow – any day. It’s ready, just waiting to be released publicly.

Mac App Store Name Squatters Already A Problem for Developers

Yesterday Apple opened app submissions for the Mac App Store, which as promised at the Back to the Mac event by Steve Jobs will be opening in less than 90 days – around February 2011. Developers can now submit their applications for Apple’s approval – something you want to do now as we still don’t know what policies Apple is going to adopt on the Mac.

When a developer submit an app for Apple’s approval, he has to pick up a name. But the App Store always had a problem with name reservations: developers were able to register a name, block it so no other developer could use it and never upload an actual application for approval. The name was there, frozen, but no app with that name was ever submitted. This practice is known as “name squatting”. After thousands of complaints by frustrated developers who had seen their app’s name “stolen” by suspicious individuals, Apple acknowledged the problem in mid-September and introduced a new policy: you can register an application name, but if you don’t upload anything in 90 days you’ll receive a notification informing you that in 30 days that name will no longer be assigned to you and it’ll be “unlocked” once again. With people sitting on unused names for 2 years, that was a quite welcome change. Read more

Developers, Start Submitting Your Mac Apps Today

Apple is now accepting submissions for the Mac App Store. With an email sent to registered Mac developers earlier today, Apple confirmed that Mac apps can now be sent to Apple for approval.

We don’t know which developers are jumping on this today and whether Apple has refined its review guidelines following the many doubts arisen in the past weeks, but we know it’s going to be huge – right?

The Mac App Store is set to open in less than 90 days. We can’t wait.

The Value Of “Pro”→

The Value Of “Pro”

I say ‘Pro’ makes more sense only if you develop an app that has two versions, one free and one paid and the free version is made to be a scaled down version that can stand on its own (meaning you don’t run out of “levels” as you would in a game). You are in effect giving away a full version of your app for free, and selling a version with more features as a ‘Pro’ level which is in line with what the consumer mind expects.

Either route you go I doubt you will get rid of the rude comments that plague the App Store.

Game developers won’t stop using the “Lite” tag. But I also can’t picture an “OmniFocus Pro”. The Mac App Store is going to be an interesting subject.

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“The Mac App Store Isn’t For Today’s Mac Developers”→

“The Mac App Store Isn’t For Today’s Mac Developers”

But a huge new market is about to open next door. And yes, it’ll probably be dominated by Angry Birds and other inexpensive, often trivial apps. When this happens, a lot of traditional Mac developers are going to look down on it. But those with a bit of free time to develop their own inexpensive, often trivial apps might have a different viewpoint entirely when they see their sales numbers.

Marco Arment nails it.

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Apple’s Secret Conference? Next Week.

It seems like Apple is back to the events. Business Insider reports that Apple is holding a “secret conference” for selected developers in Cupertino next week:

Apple is hosting an event for iOS developers in California next week, we’ve heard from an industry source. The event begins next Tuesday, and runs for three days, we’ve heard.

We are short on details, and we have not seen any public information about it, but it sounds like this will be a more intimate version of the iPhone Tech Talks that Apple hosted around the world last year.

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Justin Williams’ Mac App Store Blueprint→

Justin Williams’ Mac App Store Blueprint

Assuming both applications are accepted, both Today and Check Off will be in the App Store on day 1 as the exclusive distribution channel. At that point in time, I will shut down the existing Second Gear store and channel any sales traffic from my Web site to the Mac App Store.

Risky? Yeah. Insane? Maybe.

As with anything involving Apple’s App Store platforms, pricing is an issue. At this point, I’m not planning to adjust my prices for the Mac App Store. I think this will be the trend for existing software moving to the App Store, because giving up a 30% cut to Apple for the privilege is enough of a sacrifice. Tacking on a price cut as well? I can’t see many full-time developers agreeing to that.

If you’ve selling a $40 piece of software on your own distribution platform for years, moving it to a new platform doesn’t make it any less worth of $40.

A 30% cut seems to be perfectly fine for many developers as long as Apple provides the tools and the system to ensure that the only requirement for a dev is that of doing what he likes most: developing. Notable independent Mac developers such as the Omni Group, Realmac, Pixelmator and, now, Secondgear have already committed to Mac App Store development. I can see where this trend is going. We’ll check again in a couple of months.

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Apple Planning Additional App Store LockDown During Thanksgiving Week

Apple usually locks down iTunes Connect for developers during the week of Christmas. This procedure known as “lockdown” doesn’t allow developers to submit updates for their apps and perform price changes, as they’re basically forced to stay out of iTunes Connect, the system underlying the App Store distribution.

According to a rumor published by 148apps, Apple is planning an additional lockdown this year during the week of Thanksgiving. The lockdown is admittedly a problem for developers who need to submit fixes to their applications, but it’s also a great marketing opportunity as charts and top apps are not updated either during the period. If you’re there on the first day, you’ll stay there for the whole week. Read more

Backflip Studios Making Half A Million Dollars Per Month With In-Game Ads

So much for in-app advertising being a non-sustainable business mode. Backflip Studios, developers of the popular Paper Toss and Ninjump games for iPhone, is making half a million dollars per month from in-game ads alone. The company dramatically increased ad revenue since last May, when they confirmed they had managed to make $1 million in six months.

Backflip generated more than 45 million installs on iOS, 5.5 million on Android devices.

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