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Apple, you win: we're pulling out of the App Store. for now

update 08/07/2010: we're back!

Dear Apple Inc. 

Your app-roval process is full of holes; you have approved Appsfire v1.0 last August and wished you hadn't because almost no one had any real clue about discoverability issues back then - indeed, we were the very first to address this issue in an app. Now you know what's at stake, so you've locked-down every aspect of the SDK ToS. Which is probably why you wouldn't write anything to us for 56 days re: Appsfire v2.0, despite our numerous calls, emails, and high level contacts (period during which you had no problem approving similar apps). Was your intent to shut us down by playing the waiting game until the legal team had caught up? The problem remains, in fact we don't even know what the problem might be since you are not talking to us.

So now, we're doing you a favor. We're pulling Appsfire v1.0 so that you don't have to.
Besides, we have so much content now that this old v1.0 is choking on it; but you won't let us update it to optimize the user experience.

We care about our users, and like you, we go to great lengths to ensure the best experience.

Appsfire v1.0 RIP.  

Anyways, you know full well that an app that does not get updated has a half-life of two days, and that the App Store has too many (fart/cheat/book/udid) apps anyways. Let's prune the apple tree (couldn't resist, sorry).

A bit of Objective-C is in order:
    [[AppStore sharedInstance] removeObjectForKey:@"appsfire v1.0"];

Steve, please update your slides. It's now 225k − 1!
Of course, you'll have to add another 15k apps since another week has passed. Good for you.

Meanwhile, and until we get approved, we'll be considering out-of-store alternatives, or until we get any sort of professional & constructive discussion going. 

Luckily, there is no limit to human creativity, and nothing worse than a lion in a cage. And as we like to say: "happy to think differently".

Note to our many users: we know many of you are waiting for our new version. We're confident things will change sooner or later. Meanwhile, stay tuned for very cool stuff coming up your way in the coming weeks. For now the best way to enjoy appsfire is by registering on our site!
ps: this is appsfire v2.0 in video demo for those asking

Apple hiring people to help users discover cool apps. Apple work with us!

Apple is taking the App store business seriously and, it makes us really happy because we believe the App Store deserves to be better served. In the key positions they are hiring, they want to help users discover apps in a new way.

If someone from Apple is reading this post: Hire all the key talents, but also work with outside people like us! we focus 100% on bringing a relevant experience to discovery. We brought in the "Top grossing chart" before it was even in the App Store. We brought App Sharing on Twitter and Facebook, before it was on the App Store and many more things. So much more is coming that could potentially be a game changer and accelerate the discovery of relevant apps for each one.

Apple, work with us! 

[updated: we're back!] PasteFire bug and fix coming with new version

update 06/02/2010: and we're back. Download Pastefire on getAp.ps/Pastefire Now enjoy the power of push notifications on Pastefire!
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We pushed a week ago a new version of Pastefire iPhone app with a new push notification system. This is the good news
The bad news is that we discovered a bug although the app was just approved by Apple. This bug causes an error message to appear on your screen when opening Pastefire on your iPhone

Although the copy/paste is working fine we decided to remove this new version from the App Store until the working version is back again. It is important to us to ensure the best experience to our users and we won't let a little bug pollute the experience

We ve just pushed this new version (1.1.1) to Apple for approval including also a few more surprises. Hopefully it should be back very soon.
We don't understand how Apple could let this bug go through since we thought they would test the app to screen those messages. But the mistake is ours. We are fixing it.

Apologies for that. 

Note: if you did not update Pastefire the version 1.0.1 is working still fine. So you can enjoy it!

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If you needed a proof that the APP-roval process is faster- there it is

The image below is the status bar of the global review process made by Apple when you log into iTunes connect (the developer zone for apps). Just as an element of comparison 

  • Before december it was 89/90% in the last 14 days 
  • Just before the christmas break it was at 99% in the last 14 days
  • and now what you are seeing below 99% in the past 7 days. 

This is a great news and a major improvement

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iPhone app discovery: how it is approached today, online. Full map and observations

We like to map the complex iPhone ecosystem (we did it for analytics and app creation), because it is important for us to understand where we move. One of the key issues of the iPhone world is app discovery: finding the right apps for you.

 

It is an issue for both developers and users. 

iTunes is doing a decent job at organizing the app catalog but, let's face it, the browsing experience, the absence of internal marketing channel to the App Store and the explosion of the number of apps (will reach 300/500k by year end) is making the discovery and relevancy of the process painful. 

This is then, no surprise that lots of services and companies are trying to solve that issue. We wanted to map those players and although Appsfire has not really started implementing what we are planning (this is called a teaser - more on that later), we also find ourselves in that map. 

There it is (click to zoom). Note we put aside the App store/Google and the blogosphere/TwitterSphere that plays an important part too. We focused here only on services that specifically aim at solving the discovery of mobile apps for the iPhone

What we can learn from this map is that the attention of iPhone users is split between many sorts of discovery opportunities from the most traditional (app catalogs like AppStore HQ) to the most complex (Flurry is an example), from personal initiatives (like appstore-appstot.com) to funded startups (a bunch in our map). And none has really taken the lead to mainstream although some have reached a decent size already (like AppstoreHQ)

App discovery is far from being solved. All those players, Apple included and soon many more players like Google/Android, Mobile operators, probably some publishers, will try to bring their own solution. This is a very hard problem to solve correctly. We tried ourselves with a few discovery mechanisms from which we learned a lot and gave us the vision for our next steps.

One more thing to mention is that the discovery of Apps for many users does not take place online. It takes place offline, while discussing and comparing apps with friends. Apps are the new playlists and the new mobile glue. People like to talk about them in real life. If you have an iPhone you know what we mean. And this part cannot be underestimated
This is definitely a hot space and one that requires monitoring.

10 super short iPad thoughts, after the storm

Now that the storm seems over and that we digested some noise, here are some gross thoughts on what we are observing about the iPad


  1. It is probably the most over anticipated AND underestimated device since the iPhone
  2. The 3 killer features of the Tablet are probably and beyond all expectations and gorgeous UI, 1. speed 2. battery life and 3.price 3 things the iPhone is not yet good at. The rest seems like a decoration 
  3. Probably a killer device for reading. Not sure the Kindle comparison is good because the Kindle is made for reading books. iPad is going to be killer to read 1. Comics / 2 Magazines / 3 PhotoBooks / 4 Music Sheets *
  4. Multi-tasking is not yet here. let's bet it will be within 12 months. At least some form of communication protocol between key apps (email, calendar, contact, notes)
  5. In the ad, Jobs does not appear, only Yve, Schiller and Forstdale. One of them will replace Jobs. I would say Yve (most charisma, vision, apple DNA)
  6. The 2 immediate killer iPhone apps for iPad will be Instapaper and ReadItLater
  7. How will you deal with an iPhone, running already 1 phone number and an iPad running another? Will there be a sync?
  8. Will the iPad be used as a Phone? Probably not, even if the function is available on the 3G model. During the Apple event nothing was said about calling. It is more about data and permanent connection
  9. App discovery for the iPad will become even more critical since a new generation of Apps will raise in addition to current iPhone apps.
  10. Probably the most missed feature to make the iPad a true macbook replacement, will be a frontal webcam.
Bonus:
  1. why iPad.com is not an Apple property?
  2. Will the iPad blend?
We think the iPad will be a major success. Maybe bigger than the iPod touch.

* one thing i really wonder whether Apple thought about, since the iPad is a connected device, will books "web ready"? meaning if i read a sentence, run a search on a word in Google, or find a wikipedia definition instantly. Will there be "Smart reading" enabled vs "Classic Reading"

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The App store brings the "Did you mean THAT APP" to search [updated: not that new! just not really visible]

Not sure, how new this is, the visual integration is kind of not obvious but it works.

Any idea when Apple released that?

update: looks it s been around since last itunes 9. but it was not obvious to notice it

Morgan Stanley: the future of mobile internet is not Search (read Google) but Apps (read Apple)

I've just finished reading the very impressive report prepared by Morgan Stanley on the future of the Mobile internet (save an hour in a quite room). This is a must read for whoever is part of the mobile industry. It includes real key data on mobile devices, metrics, companies business figures..

 

The report is naturally focusing on the iPhone/iTouch case which is the game changer in that industry.

What is really compelling in that report, and that is the underlying fact of this whole presentation, is how the mobile internet is getting us, users, used to consume differently the web thanks to new devices, infrastructures and mainly the app ecosystems

When on the computer the starting point is a search engine for the mainstream: namely Google, on the mobile our starting point are Apps. (For now ) Namely Apple

Google knows it and that's why they need to catch up on Apple, including creating their own device. Google can't afford not to become the entry point

This is what lead them on the computer to create a browser and an OS. In order to remain the entry point.

But how do you deal with that with Apps, which are slicing the web in a convenient user friendly way? How many of us start really use Google on their iPhone vs the rest of the Apps?

Apple is winning the App war (read the mobile web war) for now. Not Google.

PS: one surprising missing point in Morgan Stanley's presentation is the notion of discoverability of apps. It is and will be a critical issue that no one is addressing correctly (including Apple) and that will condition the development of the mobile internet as an ecosystem

Welcome to our new VIP: Apple's VP worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller

Ok. he does not really know it, but we could not help creating him a special profile in our VIP section. 

You can discover here Phil Schiller, favorite iPhone apps, as he declared in an interview in the NYT

Phil Schiller was vocal recently about issues regarding the App Store approval. Interesting to note Facebook in his selection, whose creator has decided to quit the mission to code for the App store.

I am sure there are more apps on his iPhone. But those are the one we know of. Mostly best sellers.

If you know him, you can forward him his personal widget :)

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Apple buys Lala, confirms intention to move to the web and marks a first in Apple acquisition history

Apple has acquired web based music service Lala. There are 2 things that are interesting to observe

1. Apple is confirming its intention to move iTunes to the Web. This has already started with iTunes preview released 2 weeks ago
2. What is striking about this acquisition is that, if we're correct, this is the 1st Apple makes in the web consumer space. Traditionally they acquire hardware, or software or web infrastructures service.

Is that the beginning of a new Era for Apple? or just an opportunistic acquisition to preserve iTunes leading position before services like MOG or Spotify really take off?