On Wednesday, 20 October, Apple announced a number of products including the new Mac App Store. The Mac App Store will go online in early 2011. Like the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the Mac App Store will allow developers to sell applications for the Mac. For this convenience, Apple takes 30% off the top.
People are asking Apple's motivation for starting this store. Is it to make life easier for inexperienced users by making it easy to buy and install applications? Or is it simply to make money? No matter the motivation, in its current form, I don't believe the App Store concept is mature enough to help the user.
Plenty of reasons have been pointed out why the iOS App Store is a good thing. Apps are easy to load into iOS devices, security is good, updates are handled easily and for free, and so on.
There has also been plenty of discussion on the web why the Mac App Store will not be a good idea. For example, developers do not know what application concepts will be accepted or rejected. As much talk as this problem has brought, it's not a problem for most developers.
And, these sorts of problems affect developers more than they do users. But, the biggest problems with the Mac App Store (and iOS App Store) concept affect the end user.
Here are some of those reasons:
1. It can be very difficult to find apps in the App Store. Apple categorizes applications with a handful of labels, such as games, utilities, and education. But, there are now hundreds of thousands of applications for the iPhone and iPad, and narrowing a search based on a category and a couple of keywords does little to help the user find the app they need.
For example, Power Passwords is a unique application for creating strong passwords the user can re-create when ever it's time to use a password. To find a password program in the App Store, it is logical the user enters the keyword "passwords." In the App Store, this will yield several pages of applications with perhaps three dozen apps per page. Few of these apps are for managing or creating passwords. Power Passwords comes in several pages down in this search as does Password1, which is probably the leading password management application. What apps come higher up? A whole lot of apps that do not create or manage passwords, but may use password protection within the app; those are not the kinds of apps the user was looking for at all.
2. The next problem with the App Store concept is no try before you buy. Based on simple descriptions or perhaps poorly written reviews, the user is supposed to guess that an app will suite their needs. I believe sales on the App Store do suffer and will suffer as long as the user has no way of trying apps before committing to the credit card.
TUAW pointed this problem out in an article published here: http://bit.ly/bhGeL4
3. The pricing model is a problem for the user, because it is a problem for the developer. Since the opening of the App Store for the iPhone, Apple seems to be trying to push the prices of iOS apps as low as they can go. Prices have come up some what for iPad apps, but just a little. And, the user has come to expect really cheap prices. I have heard reviewers on podcasts review a good product for the iPhone complaining "it costs a whole $4" and then turn around and extol a simple utility for the Mac that costs "only $20."
Apple also does not support paid for upgrades. Users seem to think the prices should be low because developers are selling millions of copies. Not so. If this were true, I would be retired and living on an unnamed Pacific island. No, only a few games and a few other apps sell significant numbers.
And, to top it all off, if someone demands a refund for an app (admittedly difficult to get from Apple), Apple keeps the original 30% of gross and the developer pays for the *entire* refund price. Apple assumes that whatever reason the user wants a refund is the developer's fault.
Given these factors, and probably more, the pricing model for apps found in the App Store does not support serious app development, and developers' desire to be part of the "once in a blue moon jackpot" will wain.
4. This last reason is the big one as far as I am concerned. The App Store does not support the user. Period. I am not talking about the lack of support from iTunes when the user has problems with their account. Yes, that's a big problem. I am not talking about the lack of adequate iTunes phone support and the slow responses to email for customers and developers alike.
I am talking about the lack of support for applications purchased from the iOS App Store. Apple doesn't support apps they haven't developed. Yes, there are links on iPhone app pages to developer email and support pages, but Apple buries them below the description, and most users don't know those links are there. It's as though Apple doesn't want the user to see these links, because it would take attention away from Apple and put it on a third party developer.
If the user thinks there is a problem with the application, where do they go? Email to iTunes support can be so slow, users assume they will receive no reply at all. And, if they receive a reply, it is just to tell them to contact the developer, which they may not know how to do.
Well, Apple doesn't bury the Review button. So, many users leave reviews describing problems they have had, even when the problem is doesn't have anything to do with the app. The developer has no way to get back to the customer with aid. Apple's position is that this customer is Apple's customer and not the developer's, and so they will not share a single iota of information about the customer with the developer.
And, those errant reviews hurt the sales for the developer. There are people who ignore these reviews or at least take them with a big grain of salt, but these people are few and far between. Assuming potential customers do not react emotionally to these reviews is like assuming people do not vote in elections emotionally.
I had this very problem. One customer left a review claiming my Scientific Expression Calculator is full of bugs. He based this on a single problem he had. I did a major code review and many tests on the application, including calling and emailing a number of local users of my app. The testers could not cause the claimed problem to be repeated. I determined the problem was not with my app, and so this customer's review is an inaccurate assessment, because the problem was with his iPad or how the app was synched to the iPad. But the problem wasn't with the application.
When I complained to Apple about the "review," they took almost a week via email to tell me they couldn't remove it. In the meantime, I had added a sentence to the app description explaining the situation (in simple, polite terms), and this sentence was removed by Apple. Hypocrisy.
A local iPad user told me he had a similar problem with a Wall Street application, which was resolved when he erased the app and reloaded it. But, he had difficulty finding support that would suggest this was the correct course of action to take. He suggested that Apple could at least put a Help button next to the Review button for each application in the App Store, so the user has an obvious place to go.
But, more than just a Help button, I believe that Apple's *Ping* social thing they added to the music portion of the iTunes store is largely wasted. What is Ping? A place to tell other people what music you are listening to? Apple has a unique opportunity to add a social component to the app stores as forums in which customers discuss apps, and developers lend their support. This could be done in such a way that would be truly unique on the Internet promoting apps and Apple's iOS devices, while supporting developers and customers alike.
But, the App Store for the iPhone and iPad are lacking in support for customers, and they refuse to let developers have the kind of contact with customers that would be appropriate. There is no evidence that the Mac App Store will fill any of the described gaps. For these and the other listed reasons, I don't believe the Mac App Store will be a success with customers, nor do I believe it deserves to be.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
How Much Flash Do We Need?
or Diatribe in Text
The iPhone, iPod Touch and new iPad do not support Flash. "Just what is Flash, and why should we care?" asked Allan Jensen.
Flash is a system created by Macromedia, later acquired by Adobe for adding bling to web sites. The bling includes simple animation used in advertisements, web sites with poor design esthetics, and less. When you see a web site with ads that trigger an action as you roll your mouse over them, you are often seeing Flash. Some web sites even create their primary content using Flash. These sites remind me of those tested with Internet Explorer and then the site authors assume the site will look good with all browsers. Not so.
Flash is also used to add video to web sites, including major video providers, such as YouTube and Hulu. Files with the extension .swf are Flash video. Flash video has taken over the internet, because video rights holders think they can control the security of their property by using this format. Flash video is a file wrapper like QuickTime, and can support H264 format. And yet, the quality of playback just doesn't seem to be as good as QuickTime.
But, Flash video has many more problems than this. Flash video doesn't buffer very well, and doesn't pay attention to preferences you set. Flash video doesn't appear to support simple video controls, such as rewind or fast forward. Try clicking on the time bar to jump ahead or behind your current position, and you will often have problems. You can often lose your buffer, and the video glitches, and the video and audio go out of synch without warning. The more video you watch or the more narrow your bandwidth, and you will experience more of these problems.
What do I have against Flash? The Flash plug-ins for your browser are poorly engineered. These plug-ins use as much memory and processing power as they can take from your system, slowing your browser down and making you wait for simple pages to load. When the web page is closed, the memory used by Flash should be released, but it is released in an inelegant way; play enough videos or Flash content and your memory will get all chopped up, and all of your apps will begin to run slowly. The only solution is to reboot your Mac. My experiments tend to indicate problems with iChat seeing my video camera have to do with the Flash plug-in. Reboot again!
In fact, 99% of Safari crashes are caused by web pages containing Flash or PDFs. Just like Flash, the PDF plug-in for Safari is an Adobe product.
So, should anyone care that Apple's mobile devices do not support Flash? Obviously, I don't think so, and I don't think anyone will mind advertisements will not load on your iPad. Some web sites rely on Flash to display their primary content rather than use properly formatted HTML, but they will suffer, not you. The biggest missing piece for users will be video on Hulu and similar sites. Hulu has already announced experiments in a new format, and YouTube is already moving towards H.264 using QuickTime.
You may be thinking 'if Flash is used in a lot of those advertisements adorning web pages you visit, how nice it would be to not to load the Flash stuff at all.' You can test that idea right now if you use Safari. Wolf Rensch created a free Safari plug-in called ClickToFlash. ClickToFlash prevents Flash modules from loading, replacing them with light gray rectangles containing a small "Flash" button. If you really want to see the Flash, such as video on a Hulu page, just click the Flash button. We discussed this software at the last MacinTech meeting, but in case you haven't tried it yet:
Download ClickToFlash from
You will also demonstrate the look of web pages as seen on an iPhone or iPad. If you ever want to go back to the old way of doing things, just go to the folder found at Home Folder --> Library --> Internet Plugins and pull out the file called ClickToFlash.webplugin.
But, I bet you won't.
Flash is a system created by Macromedia, later acquired by Adobe for adding bling to web sites. The bling includes simple animation used in advertisements, web sites with poor design esthetics, and less. When you see a web site with ads that trigger an action as you roll your mouse over them, you are often seeing Flash. Some web sites even create their primary content using Flash. These sites remind me of those tested with Internet Explorer and then the site authors assume the site will look good with all browsers. Not so.
Flash is also used to add video to web sites, including major video providers, such as YouTube and Hulu. Files with the extension .swf are Flash video. Flash video has taken over the internet, because video rights holders think they can control the security of their property by using this format. Flash video is a file wrapper like QuickTime, and can support H264 format. And yet, the quality of playback just doesn't seem to be as good as QuickTime.
But, Flash video has many more problems than this. Flash video doesn't buffer very well, and doesn't pay attention to preferences you set. Flash video doesn't appear to support simple video controls, such as rewind or fast forward. Try clicking on the time bar to jump ahead or behind your current position, and you will often have problems. You can often lose your buffer, and the video glitches, and the video and audio go out of synch without warning. The more video you watch or the more narrow your bandwidth, and you will experience more of these problems.
What do I have against Flash? The Flash plug-ins for your browser are poorly engineered. These plug-ins use as much memory and processing power as they can take from your system, slowing your browser down and making you wait for simple pages to load. When the web page is closed, the memory used by Flash should be released, but it is released in an inelegant way; play enough videos or Flash content and your memory will get all chopped up, and all of your apps will begin to run slowly. The only solution is to reboot your Mac. My experiments tend to indicate problems with iChat seeing my video camera have to do with the Flash plug-in. Reboot again!
In fact, 99% of Safari crashes are caused by web pages containing Flash or PDFs. Just like Flash, the PDF plug-in for Safari is an Adobe product.
So, should anyone care that Apple's mobile devices do not support Flash? Obviously, I don't think so, and I don't think anyone will mind advertisements will not load on your iPad. Some web sites rely on Flash to display their primary content rather than use properly formatted HTML, but they will suffer, not you. The biggest missing piece for users will be video on Hulu and similar sites. Hulu has already announced experiments in a new format, and YouTube is already moving towards H.264 using QuickTime.
You may be thinking 'if Flash is used in a lot of those advertisements adorning web pages you visit, how nice it would be to not to load the Flash stuff at all.' You can test that idea right now if you use Safari. Wolf Rensch created a free Safari plug-in called ClickToFlash. ClickToFlash prevents Flash modules from loading, replacing them with light gray rectangles containing a small "Flash" button. If you really want to see the Flash, such as video on a Hulu page, just click the Flash button. We discussed this software at the last MacinTech meeting, but in case you haven't tried it yet:
Download ClickToFlash from
You will also demonstrate the look of web pages as seen on an iPhone or iPad. If you ever want to go back to the old way of doing things, just go to the folder found at Home Folder --> Library --> Internet Plugins and pull out the file called ClickToFlash.webplugin.
But, I bet you won't.
Monday, February 1, 2010
New Power Passwords version
Not sure the blog is a great place for this news, but:
Just wanted you to know Power Passwords version 2.3 is now up on the iTunes store under applications. This is for iPhones and iPod touch (iPods touch?) running system 3.0 and later. The store is accessed via the iTunes application.
V2.3 adds the ability to view individual passwords in "heads up display". Just double tap a password and that password will show up in large font, in any orientation. Tap the display to go back to the normal Power Passwords view.
Power Passwords generates 20 unique passwords from each key or master password. So, you can use that easy to hack password as a key to generate strong passwords for your important accounts, such as your online banking. Just go to the App Store in iTunes and search on "Power Passwords".
Version 2.3 is free for current owners.
Just wanted you to know Power Passwords version 2.3 is now up on the iTunes store under applications. This is for iPhones and iPod touch (iPods touch?) running system 3.0 and later. The store is accessed via the iTunes application.
V2.3 adds the ability to view individual passwords in "heads up display". Just double tap a password and that password will show up in large font, in any orientation. Tap the display to go back to the normal Power Passwords view.
Power Passwords generates 20 unique passwords from each key or master password. So, you can use that easy to hack password as a key to generate strong passwords for your important accounts, such as your online banking. Just go to the App Store in iTunes and search on "Power Passwords".
Version 2.3 is free for current owners.
The New iPad
On Wednesday, 26 January, Apple introduced the iPad. Everything about the iPad is interesting with the exception of the name.
The iPad is a flat device with a 9.7 inch ISP LED screen (1024 by 768 pixels) for wide angle viewing. It is 9.56 in long, 7.47 in wide, and 0.5 in thick, and weighs just 1.5 pounds. The battery provides 10 hours of use!
The iPad will come with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of storage. The base cost is only $499!! The best surprise of the announcement. Each storage bump costs an additional $100.
The basic model (available in 2 months) comes without 3G data capability. Adding 3G costs $130 (3 months). To be clear, the 3G cell data capability allows you to fetch email, browse the web and more, when WiFi networks are not available. This is a little like having the data part of an iPhone without the ability to make voice calls.
But, there is a microphone, so you may be able to make voice calls using Skype. The iPad without 3G cell data capabilities is a bit like the iPod Touch; it still has WiFi and Bluetooth. In the SIG meeting, Craig Lewis said both models can use WiFi connections in Panera, but only the 3G data model can get a connection while driving down the road. It is unclear whether both models or only the 3G data models will have GPS location built in.
3G data capabilities will require a $15 or $30 month-by-month AT&T plan. You are not tied to a contract. Or cancel the AT&T plan any time, and limit yourself to the WiFi capabilities.
An Apple Bluetooth keyboard can be synched with the iPad for input, although the virtual keyboard and touch screen will be used for most input. Other options include a case that folds into a stand, and a camera connection kit connecting digital cameras for transfer of photos or video, and an SD Card reader. We do not yet know about printer access.
So, is this a big iPhone/iPod touch or a computer? It is somewhere in between. The iPad will run an expanded version of the iPhone OS, which will have many new features not yet found in the iPhone or iPod touch.
If you think the iPad will be able to do all sorts of complicated photo editing and movie creation, it will not. But it will be able to do basic editing of photos and perhaps videos.
The iPad will run the vast majority of iPhone applications, and you will add applications with iPhone Store purchases. You can also purchase music and videos from the iTunes Sore just like any iPod, and still rip your own CDs, and synch the iPad to iTunes on your Mac.
So in some ways, the iPad is a large iPhone or iPod touch with no voice calling capabilities. But, it will do more. It comes with a powerful 1 GHz multi-core ARM processor, although not as powerful as the Mac's Dual Core Intel processors.
The new iBooks application turns the iPad into an electronic book reader. The iPad is about the size of the large Kindle DX reader, and costs only $20 more. Of course, the iPad does much more with a better screen in full color. Apple will have an iBooks Store with books, magazines and newspapers. The Amazon Kindle application should be available for the iPad, so you will be able to buy Amazon's electronic books.
Special applications will be available for the iPad; Pages, Numbers and Keynote. You will be able to author documents, create spreadsheets and put together slide presentations, and show them using a special connector for monitors and projectors.
There will be many special applications for the iPad, such as drawing and painting applications (and games, games, games), so in some ways the iPad is more of a computer than the iPhone. Someone who uses their Mac for email, web browsing and creating a few documents may find the iPad to be all they need.
People have already criticized the iPad for not having a camera or SD Card slots or whatever. They have missed the point. Apple is creating a whole new category of device, so they need to keep it simple, allowing the public to understand it. Too new and complicated, and people won't buy it; think Newton. The iPad will grow over the years, and could very well replace the MacBook Air, and maybe even the basic MacBook in the next 2 or 3 years.
The iPad is a flat device with a 9.7 inch ISP LED screen (1024 by 768 pixels) for wide angle viewing. It is 9.56 in long, 7.47 in wide, and 0.5 in thick, and weighs just 1.5 pounds. The battery provides 10 hours of use!
The iPad will come with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of storage. The base cost is only $499!! The best surprise of the announcement. Each storage bump costs an additional $100.
The basic model (available in 2 months) comes without 3G data capability. Adding 3G costs $130 (3 months). To be clear, the 3G cell data capability allows you to fetch email, browse the web and more, when WiFi networks are not available. This is a little like having the data part of an iPhone without the ability to make voice calls.
But, there is a microphone, so you may be able to make voice calls using Skype. The iPad without 3G cell data capabilities is a bit like the iPod Touch; it still has WiFi and Bluetooth. In the SIG meeting, Craig Lewis said both models can use WiFi connections in Panera, but only the 3G data model can get a connection while driving down the road. It is unclear whether both models or only the 3G data models will have GPS location built in.
3G data capabilities will require a $15 or $30 month-by-month AT&T plan. You are not tied to a contract. Or cancel the AT&T plan any time, and limit yourself to the WiFi capabilities.
An Apple Bluetooth keyboard can be synched with the iPad for input, although the virtual keyboard and touch screen will be used for most input. Other options include a case that folds into a stand, and a camera connection kit connecting digital cameras for transfer of photos or video, and an SD Card reader. We do not yet know about printer access.
So, is this a big iPhone/iPod touch or a computer? It is somewhere in between. The iPad will run an expanded version of the iPhone OS, which will have many new features not yet found in the iPhone or iPod touch.
If you think the iPad will be able to do all sorts of complicated photo editing and movie creation, it will not. But it will be able to do basic editing of photos and perhaps videos.
The iPad will run the vast majority of iPhone applications, and you will add applications with iPhone Store purchases. You can also purchase music and videos from the iTunes Sore just like any iPod, and still rip your own CDs, and synch the iPad to iTunes on your Mac.
So in some ways, the iPad is a large iPhone or iPod touch with no voice calling capabilities. But, it will do more. It comes with a powerful 1 GHz multi-core ARM processor, although not as powerful as the Mac's Dual Core Intel processors.
The new iBooks application turns the iPad into an electronic book reader. The iPad is about the size of the large Kindle DX reader, and costs only $20 more. Of course, the iPad does much more with a better screen in full color. Apple will have an iBooks Store with books, magazines and newspapers. The Amazon Kindle application should be available for the iPad, so you will be able to buy Amazon's electronic books.
Special applications will be available for the iPad; Pages, Numbers and Keynote. You will be able to author documents, create spreadsheets and put together slide presentations, and show them using a special connector for monitors and projectors.
There will be many special applications for the iPad, such as drawing and painting applications (and games, games, games), so in some ways the iPad is more of a computer than the iPhone. Someone who uses their Mac for email, web browsing and creating a few documents may find the iPad to be all they need.
People have already criticized the iPad for not having a camera or SD Card slots or whatever. They have missed the point. Apple is creating a whole new category of device, so they need to keep it simple, allowing the public to understand it. Too new and complicated, and people won't buy it; think Newton. The iPad will grow over the years, and could very well replace the MacBook Air, and maybe even the basic MacBook in the next 2 or 3 years.
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