Category: iPod

Apple May Allow Background Apps in Firmware 3.0

“While we aren’t sure what the specific issues are, we’ve heard that as an alternative Apple is considering allowing apps to run as user selectable background processes. If so, this feature would likely come in the rumored iPhone 3.0 software update but would be limited to only one or two processes on current hardware. The next generation iPhone, however, would likely see less restricted background process support due to its improved hardware.”

So if it is user selectable I wonder if Apple will require developers to (if they want to have a background app) allow users to choose whether they want it running the background when closed and if not the app will save whatever your doing when the home button is pressed.

This seems like a very viable solution and I’ve often wondered why Apple didn’t just have a limit on the number of apps you can have running in the background at a time. 2 Would probably be a good number of apps and the way they would be selected would be just to have the most recent two apps that were opened be the background apps.

Apple to Allow Background Tasks on iPhone? – Mac Rumors.

Apple May Open Premium Game Section in App Store

App Store

One of the worries many big game developers have had about the iPhone is that they can’t put enough money into a game to make it good because unless they sell it at $1-3 it will get lost in the shuffle.

Apple may have found a solution to that problem however. PocketGamer.biz is reporting that Apple is planning on introducing a new section to the App Store with premium game titles priced at $19.99. The developers of those games would be hand picked by Apple and the games themselves would be of “PSP-quality.”

PocketGamer’s sources didn’t have any information as to when this new section would be implimented but WWDC seems to be a fairly logical announcement venue.

Not only will this convince some big developers to invest more money into game development but it would also indicate that Apple has been listening to criticisms about the problem with low priced iPhone apps.

The one thing that hasn’t been mentioned in all of this is that from a money standpoint Apple couldn’t care less about the price of applications in the App Store, as long as the amount of money spent on apps as a whole stays the same (they still get 30%). The only incentives Apple has for doing this is to keep the developers happy and to keep the quality of applications high.

I do think that this would fix many problems with the App Store but does add another one. How will Apple decide who is going to be in the premium section? I’m sure many indie developers of high quality games that don’t get into the premium section will be pretty peeved off that they are not included. The fact is that Apple isn’t going to make everyone happy with the App Store but this move gives some more indications that they are at least trying to.

Apple to Open $19.99 Premium Games Section in App Store? – Mac Rumors.
More Confirmation of a $19.99 Premium Games Section | Touch Arcade.

From the Ashes of Podcaster Comes RSS Player

RSS Player

If you remember back in September there was an application announced for the iPhone called Podcaster that was denied from the App Store. The developer of Podcaster later released the application through Apple’s Ad-Hoc system essentially allowing him to sell the application without the App Store.

Recently Almerica resubmitted Podcaster, under a different name (RSS Player) and with some slight modifications (he removed the podcast directory from the app). And, suprisingly, it was accepted. The application still does essentially the same thing but now you have to input the URL for either an RSS feed or an OPML file to set up which podcasts it will follow.

RSS Player is now available from the App Store, it is currently $1.99 but the price will be raised to $4.99 shortly.

I don’t know if Almerica (the developer of the app) did this for everyone who purchased Podcaster but he did send me an email with a beta version of the application (a newer version then what is available in the App Store). So, if you purchased Podcaster ou might want to check your email and see if you got a beta copy before you head over to purchase it from the App Store.

Rss Player: Native iPhone App: Rss Player – Native iPhone App.

Apple Approves 3rd Party Web Browsers for App Store

Apple has slowing been loosening the restrictions on developers, first they started allowing apps with toilet humor and now they have begun approving web browsing applications to the App Store.

It is possible that Apple has separate internal approval queues depending on the category of application, we’ve seen this same type of grouping happen with the toilet humor apps and now we are seeing it with these web browsers.

Apple has until just recently declined web browser because they offer duplicate functionality to what the iPhone already offers.

This potentially opens the door for bigger browsers such as Opera or Firefox to develop versions for the iPhone, inevitably making browsing web pages on the iPhone better for the end user.

Apple Allows 3rd Party Web Browsers into App Store – Mac Rumors.

The need for iPhone app folders and search is quickly approaching. No Thank You.

Dear MG Siegler,

Why the heck do you have 9 pages worth of applications? I understand that it is nice to have all of your applications with you at all times but I guarantee that you don’t use any more than 3 pages worth of them on a regular basis. I personally only have 2 pages worth of applications and that consists of only 9 3rd party applications.

The beauty of the iPhone and its ease of use is based on its simplicity, I know that you don’t want to have to make a decision on what applications you need on your phone but you may have to. The iPhone doesn’t need folders and search it needs you to make a decision on what of those 25 different games you actually play, because I’m sure you don’t play all of them.

I understand that you claim to have been managing applications in iTunes by unchecking unused apps but you need to pay attention to ones you actually open because I’m sure you don’t actually open all 129 of those applications that you have installed on a daily basis.

You also talk about how everyone who owns an iPhone or iPod Touch are going to download tons of applications in 2009 and you are right but you don’t use all of them and should not install the ones you don’t use. I don’t want there to be application search OR folders on the iPhone because the fact that it doesn’t have them is why the iPhone is so great. Mucking up the interface with more tedius features or buttons to click is what will hurt the iPhone experience overall. So you have a choice to make, either uninstall some apps or deal with having a slightly difficult time finding apps (or you could always organize them on pages based on app categories).

I know I may sound like an Apple apologetic at this point but I’m really not, in fact when Apple does something I don’t like, I’m one of the first to speak up about it, fortunately Apple doesn’t seem to make very many mistakes. I don’t think that is just my Apple loving eyes that can’t see those mistakes but instead the fact that Apple has commited to making simple and easy to use devices. If Apple started making crap, or doing things with UI I didn’t like I would complain, but until that happens I think I’m going to stick with enjoying my Apple gadgets without complaining about problems I caused.

Sincerely,
Michael

The need for iPhone app folders and search is quickly approaching » VentureBeat.

Copy and Paste Comes to iPhone

It isn’t launching until Friday but when it does you will be able to copy and paste text from within Safari to text fields within Safari or to an email.

I’m not even going to rag on the demonstration video because they mess up the text selection initially (even though technically that was ragging on it) but what I will say is that all of you who are asking for copy and paste seem to stop at nothing.

The implementation uses a combination of javascript bookmarks and web services to get the job done. My main question is, who is going to use this?

I know I won’t because I would rather reference something with a link, not actual text. It isn’t that difficult to give someone a link and tell them which paragraph you are specifying.

I understand why all of you want copy and paste but I still haven’t seen anyone with a clear idea of how to implement it elegantly. I’m sure Apple is trying to figure out an easy way to do it too but it is pretty clear to me that no one has a good idea yet. The solution has to be both simple, easy to use, and easy to learn, all without cluttering the screen with yet another button. I don’t see how this could be done but I’m sure if anyone is going to figure it out, the guys at Apple will.

(as you can probably gather I have no interest in copy and paste, I’ve probably only been in about 3 situations in which I wanted it and I’ve had my iPhone since launch day, the majority of those situations involved entering a WPA key as well)

Update: I’ve set up PasteBud on my iPhone and if I need it I will use it. In about a week or so I’ll share my experiences with it. I don’t expect needing to use it but I may be surprised.