iCombat App Store Pirates

The iCombat blog features an interesting statistics and analysis of pirated versions of iCombat:

iCombat was cracked and posted to Twitter before even propagating through all of Apple’s servers (I’d say within 30 minutes from going live). Their adoption on the front end was much quicker than the paying user. Nothing beats free…

Coming to the following conclusions:

• Piracy is still not that big of a problem when talking about the apps with larger download volumes
• Blocking pirates is not worth it unless you can push conversion by giving them a lite style version

Read the whole story at My Experience Getting Owned by App Store Pirates | iCombat.

iPhone Backward Compatibility

Following up my recent post on Android Backward Compatibility, the same problem seems to strike back to iPhone developers now. As Ars Technica reports, many iPhone developers seems to struggle with Apple’s latest changes of the App Store review policy, forcing applications to both run on iPhone OS 2.2.1 as well as the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0:

Apple also disclosed that any application currently in App Store that did not run properly under 3.0 would be removed from the store.

Many developers have expressed concern over this move. Although Apple stated in the e-mail that “[e]xisting apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification,” some developers have told Ars that they’ve found otherwise. Apple has always stood behind its public APIs, guaranteeing that bug-free programs that ran under earlier firmware would continue to run in later releases. Developers worry, though, that solid 2.x applications may not run properly under 3.0, causing them to lose their place in App Store.

…

This introduces a brand new puzzle into the iPhone development equation. Business plans that were predicated on getting applications ready for the 3.0 launch, whenever that should happen, must now start building 3.0 compatibility into their 2.x products. If a company wants to release a bug fix or offer any updated features over the next few months, they’ll need to task their engineers with a whole new development effort. There’s no way to keep programming for 2.x until 3.0 debuts.

This actually changes the situation a lot.

Sales Stats of Best Seller iPhone Game

Firemint, the company behind the best selling iPhone game ‘Flight Control‘, has put together a fascinating report outlining the sales trends the company has seen over the last month, from March 24 to April 25. The application has dominated the App Store over the last few weeks, reaching the #1 paid spot in over a dozen countries (though it’s currently fallen to #7 in the US). Since launching on March 6 the application has been downloaded over 700,000 times.

Read the whole story at TechCrunch: ‘Flight Control’ Sales Stats Offer Fascinating Look At Inner Workings Of The iPhone App Store.

Creative Funding

In times of the crisis, some people become really creative in funding their project or company. As an example, Miro, a free HD video player, started just recently with an initiative to let users adopt lines of their source code for a monthly payment. A great idea and also nicely setup in their Miro Adoption Center.

And of course, the right idea to let people spread the word about it.

Android Backward Compatibility

Following up a post on the Android Developer blog, TechCrunch writes about the possible problems deriving from caring about backward compatibility:

As an open platform, Google isn’t requiring backward compatibility for all Android apps. But as more devices and applications come out, that could be an issue. As Google writes, “do you want to allow your application to run on all devices, or just those running newer software?” Plenty of iPhone apps answer that very question with the latter. And while you might think that may be limiting, it ensures a certain level of simplicity in the App Store — and perhaps more importantly, in developing for the iPhone.

The iPhone platform already has a massive lead in terms of applications built for it over Android. Anything, such a backwards compatibility code, that adds complexity to developing for Android is certainly not going to help.

While I can not see the benefit for the user in having non backward compatible applications, I fully agree that setting backward compatibility as standard expectation for Android applications will make it even harder for Android developers.

This adds up to the complexity of not being able to know the hardware specifications your application will run on, which I wrote about in my post “Is Android’s Flexibility a Disadvantage?”.

Is Android’s Flexibility a Disadvantage?

A recent post on the Android Developers blog highlights problems, Android developers have to cope with but iPhone developers doesn’t:

Android 1.5 includes support for soft keyboards, and there will soon be many devices that run Android but do not have physical keyboards. If your application assumes the presence of a physical keyboard such as if you have created a custom View that sinks keypress events you should make sure it degrades gracefully on devices that only have soft keyboards. For more information on this, keep on eye on this blog as we’ll be posting more detailed information about handling the new soft keyboards.

Since Android is not coupled to the hardware as the iPhone OS currently is, developers should not do assumptions on the available hardware, their application is running on. The situation might get worse, if Android will also be used on Netbooks. 

The State Of The iPhone Is Strong — Very Strong

TechCrunch features a very interesting analysis of the iPhone’s state:

People can downplay the actual number of iPhones in circulation all they want — the fact of the matter is that it has changed things. While there were some third-party mobile app developers before Apple’s App Store, they received almost no attention, and as such, it wasn’t really a viable business. Now, everyone and their mother is flocking to develop for the App Store. And every major mobile player is rushing to make their own app stores. But Apple’s already has over 35,000 apps — and in a few short hours, there will have been one billion apps downloaded in just 9 month.

…

Zen of Program Managment

Microsoft’s Jobsblog features a very interesting overview of the role of a program manager at Microsoft together with some hints on how to be successful. The role of a program manager at Microsoft seems to be similiar to the product manager role at other companies. So this will also be an interesting read for product managers there.

The ‘zen’ of program management lies in connecting the customer and value proposition with an actual product or service. The program manager brings the team together to make this connection between aspirations and ends.

The goal of this paper is to provide deeper insight into the program management role and clearly identify what makes program managers unique and uniquely valuable. While this document focuses on the value of program management, this value is only realized within the context of the broader team. Teamwork is paramount, and no one role carries the team.

This paper covers the three major steps of the software product cycle, and the value that program managers bring to each step:

• Planning: Framing the Landscape
• Design: Defining the Solution
• Execution: Delivering on the Value Proposition

Read the whole article at Zen of PM : Microsoft JobsBlog.

Reid Hoffman: My Rule of Three for Investing

Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, describes his first three criteria to evaluate the business idea of a startup:

As a serial investor, I’ve enjoyed backing some good Web 2.0 companies, and it’s helped me develop a shortlist of criteria to cut the wheat from the chaff. After five minutes of a pitch, I know if I’m not going to invest, and after 30 minutes to an hour, I generally know if I will. Many entrepreneurs are product-focused, which leads them to pitch the brilliance of the product. Others are money-minded, so they can over think the business plan. But neither of these approaches answer the first few questions I want to know as an investor:

1. How will you reach a massive audience?

2. What is your unique value proposition?

3. Will your business be capital efficient?

Read the whole story at TechCrunch…

When the Job Changes But the Programmer Doesn’t

As manager, you might have had the situation that a programmer is not able to cope with changed job requirements:

A programmer on your team is great at maintaining the old system. But the company has switched to a new platform. What do you do with the no-longer-effective developer?

The blog post “When the Job Changes But the Programmer Doesn’t | JavaWorld’s Daily Brew” is looking at the possible alternatives on how to handle such situations.