Tiny Shiny Apps is very proud to support the Developers Against Poverty campaign which is supporting the great work done by charity:water.
The campaign, which runs throughout February and March 2011, is encouraging developers of iPhone, iPad and Mac apps to donate to this worthy cause. Scotty at iDeveloper.tv is once again shown to be a driving force behind this community.
The year 2010 saw massive changes with updates to the iPhone, the introduction of the iPad and the rebranding of iPhone OS as iOS. The year 2011 could bring just as many changes.
The Mac App Store opened for business on Jan 6th 2011 and did one million downloads in the first day.
It introduces the simplicity of software application management seen on the iPhone and iPad, to the Mac. The Mac App Store is very familiar to users of iTunes and the App Store. The same Apple iTunes account can be be used for payment. Updates for purchased applications are highlighted when available. It provides such a great experience that many will be left wondering why it hasn’t always been like this.
Apple takes a slice of every pie and the same 30% payment applied in the App Store is applied in the Mac App Store. The trade-off of a much larger ready made market for your software is at the cost of reduced margin.
In the same way that many apps migrated from iPhone to iPad, many more will migrate their way over to the Mac. The migration from iPhone or iPad to Mac is not straightforward as the iOS components will need to be replaced with MacOSX components. Though this mass migration strengthens the Mac as a important development platform.
Meanwhile, the App Store is on track to overtake iTunes in sales in 2011. The App Store will reach the 10 billion mark in less than half the time it took the iTunes to reach that total.
An iPad announcement is expected in February 2011 to announce an updated iPad to be released in April. There is speculation around front and rear cameras for FaceTime. Improved hardware is expected in an updated Apple A4 chip with a graphics core supporting Retina Display and potential 1080p HD support.
The product has proven massively popular with sales of approx 12 million in 2010 and forecasts of 20 million in 2011. With an average of 60 apps downloaded on each iOS device this is a growing opportunity for app sales.
Expect an announcement in June 2011 and for the device to be shipping shortly afterwards. Improved hardware including the new A5 chip and more memory are being predicted.
Apps are here to stay. 2011 will see further growth in the availability of iOS devices with millions of customers keen to download some tiny shiny apps.
Using the TapLynx framework, The Heritage Foundation were able to design and create an iPhone app based on the content produced daily for Heritage.org. By basing their iPhone app on existing RSS feeds containing news, research, blogs and videos, they were able to rapidly develop their content rich app.
The Heritage Foundation hired Tiny Shiny Apps, a TapLynx partner, to assist with preparing the app for release to the App Store. This included a review of app content and upgrading for iOS 4.
TinyShinyApps also assisted with the setup of Provisioning Profiles, device testing and release to the App Store.
The Heritage iPhone app is available for download from the AppStore.
If you would like to discuss iPhone app development or the TapLynx framework, please contact TinyShinyApps.
At Apple’s September 1st 2010 event they announced the new versions of iOS 4.
iOS 4.1 is to be released in September 2010. This iPhone upgrade allows users to benefit from the full power of the hardware. The addition of HDR function allows the camera to be used to take high definition photographs. For the video camera there is a change to allow the upload of high def videos directly from the iPhone. The release of GameCenter adds features for multiplayer gaming to the device.
iOS 4.2 is to be released in November 2010. This iPad upgrade will bring the most demanded features from the iPhone to the iPad. Multitasking was long seen as missing from the iPhone and its implementation in 4.0 was seen as overdue. The arrival of multitasking on the iPad will also be later than expected. Folders will also become available on the iPad for the first time allowing for a more tidy interface. New additions are wireless printing and Airplay which allows wireless streaming of music, videos and photos.
The introduction of a new version of the iPod Touch brings the product in line with the iPhone by adding front facing and rear cameras. The compatibility of FaceTime with the iPod Touch will allows calls with iPhone users. This offers a great phone device without a contract, a first from Apple which may lead to an increased demand for the product.
TapLynx 1.4 has been released.
This is mainly a maintenance release which allows TapLynx apps to be built with iOS4 for release to the App Store.
Read more about the capabilities of TapLynx.
TapLynx 1.3 has been released with the following new features:
Updated: 1.3.4 has been released with fixes
Read more about the capabilities of TapLynx.
When the ReadWriteWeb iPhone app was released, there was a comment on Twitter that it had taken longer than they expected to complete the development. I decided to take a look at the app to see what may have caused them issues.
Through the review I created a similar application using the TapLynx framework.
I believe that an equally usable application could have been created in greatly reduced timescales and at greatly reduced cost.
If you have any questions about aggregating your content for the iPhone, please contact us.
ReadWriteWebApp has channels displayed on the main screen for the application for ReadWriteWeb, Enterprise, Start and Cloud, the four mains section of the site. There is also a link to the Twitter accounts of the RWW Team.
 ReadWriteWeb App - Main Menu |
 TapLynx - Main Screen |
Options for sharing – Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper and Read It Later are all available from the home screen too. These configurable options allow for easy sharing of items when reading.
The main screen is easy to navigate although it feels unfamiliar as a tab based navigation would be a more obvious choice.
In the TapLynx main screen we have included additional categories of Products and Trends as featured on the ReadWriteWeb site. The More option allows the user to configure the main screen to include Cloud, Start and Twitter if preferred.
The article listing navigation is typical and includes entries for ads and sponsors. Linking through to the article displays pages optimised for mobile with graphics displaying correctly.
As mentioned above, ads and sponsor mentions are incorporated into the article list. The current sponsor link Camera Plus Pro, is a link to the AppStore Info page which closes the ReadWriteWeb app and launches the AppStore. This could be considered out of the users control until the behaviour is learnt.
 ReadWriteWeb App - News |
 TapLynx - Article Ad |
In article ads appeared to be removed when viewed in the app. While this may enhance the experience for the user, surely the publisher is missing out on a page view, especially if the app is a success.
In the ReadWriteWeb app, the navigation between pages can be slow at times, with the selected option remaining highlighted as the next screen is displayed.
Offline browsing is not supported in ReadWriteWeb app. This is supported as standard with TapLynx.
The ReadWriteWeb app has a nice reply/retweet/follow Twitter function. All authentication is done use Twitter oAuth.
We recreated the Twitter page by grabbing the list of staff members from their Twitter page and creating a couple of Twitter Search feeds which were combined in TapLynx. The Twitter integration in TapLynx is not so solid as it relies on using the mobile version of Twitter after you’ve logged in or a simple post screen which requires your username/password once, not using oAuth.
 ReadWriteWeb app - Tweeting |
 TapLynx - Tweeting |
 ReadWriteWeb app - Sharing Options |
 TapLynx - Sharing Options |
There is no option to search in the ReadWriteWeb app. This may be linked to the lack of offline browsing. The TapLynx app has searching built-in by default.
The TapLynx framework offers the ability to aggregate the content from an online publication into a mobile application. The flexible design of the framework allowed configuration without coding, with excellent results.
Other publishers can save time and money with the TapLynx framework. If you have any questions about aggregating your content for the iPhone, please contact us.
TinyShinyApps is proud to have been added to the TapLynx Partner Program. We will now have further access to feature requests and framework development which will assist us in delivering the solutions need by our clients.
Thanks to all the team at TapLynx for creating a great iPhone framework and we look forward to using it much more in the future.
Read more about the TapLynx Framework.
Attending NSConference in February 2010 was a great opportunity to meet other iPhone developers. The event organised by The Mac Developer Network is in its second year. The UK event was held in Reading and this year there is sister event in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
I attended the iPhone Developer Conference on day four when many of the attendees were starting to struggle with information overload and lack of sleep. The sessions were varied and included a talk about considering the user, a overview of the design process for a game app using Core Animation and tech talks delving into Open GL ES and Data Syncing.
The lunchtime break was handed over to delegates with opinions or products to share and proved an interesting diversion.
One aim of the conference was to encourage community and the breaks in between sessions were ideal for meeting fellow developers. There was much speculation and talk of the impending arrival of the iPad. There was way too much try and cram into one day so next year, I’ll be there for the full 4 day duration.
Twitter updates from the event were tagged #nsconf. Follow Tiny Shiny Apps at @tinyshinyapps.
The announcement of the iPad as “magical and revolutionary” brings great opportunities for content creators to extend their audience.
All iPhone apps are compatible with the iPad. The app experience on the iPad will show iPhone apps at twice the size. That means that your existing iPhone app is compatible with this new device with no updates necessary. As soon as the iPad is released, your existing apps can be downloaded and used.
While scaling up from the iPhone to the iPad is simple it will still always be necessary to design for mobile with the iPhone. Even though there are certain design restrictions on the iPad, the size of the iPhone will always require extra consideration in the design process. As the multi-touch interface of the large iPad screen allows more possibilities, iPhone apps will continue to operate within certain constraints.
The assortment of products and services (TapLynx, AppMakr, iSites) which allow you to repackage your content for the iPhone may not be necessary for the iPad as it offers a full web browsing experience on its 9.7″ screen. While an iPhone app may provide a convenient shortcut to your content on the iPad, viewing your web site in Safari may offer a better experience.
If you would like discuss the possibilities of offering your content on the iPhone or iPad, please contact us.
© 2012 Tiny Shiny Apps – iOS, iPhone and iPad App Development. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Wordpress. Designed by 
