
IPhone App Store Has Launched - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/10/app-store-launches-upgrade-itunes-now/
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jonknee
There is going to be lot of crap to sift through. It would probably have been
a better idea to let anyone distribute iPhone apps and then only include
decent ones in the store. Stuff like Tom Peck's many novel apps (literally
public domain novels made into an "application", one per app) don't make your
platform look cutting edge.

Anyone find anything really cool?

Update: not sure why Apple let this through, but Tom got 43 novels posted as
separate applications. That's a pretty high percentage of the total store!

[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist...](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=284921631)

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blurry
I actually think it's great news to have e-books available for the iPhone. It
may not be cutting edge technology-wise, but convenience-wise, it's smart to
use the iTunes app store as a distribution channel for e-books and to use
Apple's payment system instead of one's own. Simple and effective. I like it.

~~~
jcl
It does strike me as a little silly that there isn't a better way to get
e-books to people. What if there was a band that released their new album as
14 separate iPhone applications, each with their own audio player?

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matthewking
Anyone know if there's going to be a terminal/ssh app that you can use without
jail breaking your iphone?

Would be excellent for a spot of emergency server admin when away from the
desk :)

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jgrahamc
I can't find one. Which sucks because I had figured there was no point me
writing one because someone else was going to. I figured someone would hack
<http://code.google.com/p/mobileterminal/> and make it an AppStore
application.

~~~
matthewking
I commented on their wiki earlier asking if they were going to do it, no
response as of yet though.

I wonder if apple will have any problems with it?

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cstejerean
apple should have no problem with an ssh app. i'm sure it's only a matter of
time before someone (maybe
[http://www.rovemobile.com/products/networkadministration/ssh...](http://www.rovemobile.com/products/networkadministration/ssh/features/))
gets around to releasing one (likely won't be free).

~~~
dreish
I would expect that they're under pressure to avoid offering apps that might
cut into AT&T's business, such as Skype or an IRC client. An ssh client would
be about as good as an IRC client.

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timae
There are 27 pages of all iPhone apps in iTunes, including 7 pages of free
ones. Looks like most chose to charge a fee.

The most exciting part about flipping through the 27 pages this morning was
that there is still A LOT of room for more innovation.

~~~
sant0sk1
Agreed. I just perused all 27 pages and didn't see any application that just
blew my mind. A bit disappointing, but like you said there is a lot of room in
this space for a hacker with an innovative mind.

Funny, my company had a test iPhone with the 2.0 software on it (to test the
Exchange connector) and we gave it back yesterday. The whole time I had it I
could click on the "App Store" button but couldn't connect. If we would have
kept it one more day I could be one of the first to try these apps out.

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damon
Downloading/sync to iPhone is trivial and slick, very easy to trial/error free
programs, apple did distribution right.

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mechanical_fish
I haven't checked out the apps, but it would hardly be surprising if the first
ones out the door were kind of crappy.

Suppose you've written an awesome iPhone app with a price tag of $9.99. Would
you want to release it the day before anyone was even _able_ to buy a new
iPhone in the store? Wouldn't you rather wait until tomorrow, at least, so
that on a day when the bulk of new iPhone owners unwrap their 3G Phone and
visit the store your app will be near the top of the Hot New Apps Released
Today list?

The problem of deciding when to launch a new app is nontrivial, actually. You
want to pick a day when the first-day audience has potential to be as large as
possible, which means waiting for some 3G phones to sell. But you don't want
to be too late!

~~~
tstegart
I don't think they got to pick the day its released. It was either get
included for the launch, or wait until we accept your app.

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mechanical_fish
Thanks. If you're right, so much for _that_ hypothesis. I'll have to fall back
to my Sturgeon's Law position.

~~~
tstegart
Even if you could pick the day, testing the above hypothesis would be very
hard. IF you could guess when the most iPhones would be bought, you couldn't
possibly know when people would first visit the App Store (they might not go
on the same day they buy the phone). Moreover, even if you got on the list of
top apps for that day, it might not be as useful as having already been
selling your app for a few days. To me, having known customers is more useful
than waiting for the moment of the most potential customers. It sounds nice to
be able to wait to launch on the best day and have a nice launch day, but I'd
rather get out there sooner and build up my customer base, even if it's slow.
In my view, unless you have an actual promotion planned, any day after your
app is ready is too late.

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tstegart
Anyone here have an iPhone app they're releasing? I'd love to hear about it.

~~~
damon
I'm releasing one at _some point_. If I can ever get the MLS data. Yikes what
a mess. <http://codemorphic.com/products>

~~~
tstegart
What about the timeline for your other apps?

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tlrobinson
So, what apps have people installed? Any recommendations?

My favorite app so far: "LifeGame" ... it's Conway's Game of Life

Other apps I've installed:

\- Loopt (cool integration with Twitter, Facebook, Yelp... just need more
friends on it)

\- AOL Radio (very nice, except you can't leave it running in the background
while you're doing other things, but that's Apple's fault)

\- Facebook (quicker than the web iPhone app, which is also very nice)

\- Apple's iTunes Remote app

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tialys
Lots of free apps it looks like. Just what I was hoping to see. 'Flashlight'
though? Wow...

~~~
jonknee
Shout It is just as useful... This is the equivalent of allowing someone to
post their first music lessons for sale on iTunes. No one wants to buy (or if
it's free, download) your Hello World app. Show your mom, don't try and
impress anyone else.

[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftwa...](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284701802&mt=8)

~~~
pistoriusp
Can't anyone just publish a podcast through itunes right now?

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jonknee
The podcast list is moderated, but fairly open. However the app store is a
commercial entity and different quality measures should be expected. Much like
how you can assume base quality measures for iTunes paid content (certain bit
rate, perfectly legal, it comes with album art, it will really work on your
iPod, etc etc).

Since they are letting so much crap through it's pretty likely they aren't
actually looking at all the apps. I gotta imagine Steve Jobs isn't going to
smile when he sees 10% of the apps in his store are public domain books. One
of the benefits of a walled garden is a base line of quality.

I still haven't heard the customer service side of the app store. What kind of
data do you get about your customers? How do you make paid updates? How do you
do demo copies? Evaluation copies? Who decides when a customer gets a refund?
Etc etc. Since it's Apple's merch account they have the last say, but to date
they haven't said much to developers.

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auston
I'm personally very disappointed that I did not find any mobile video
streaming apps on their... like qik or flixwagon... hopefully JTV will move
into this space soon so I dont have to create yet another account.

~~~
darragjm
From the NYT:

{Still, Apple could end up at odds with some developers - particularly
creators or distributors of content and media - who offer applications that
compete directly with iTunes. Rajeev Raman, chief executive of Mywaves, an ad-
sponsored free mobile video service available on millions of handsets,
including Nokia and BlackBerry smartphones, said he would like to offer
Mywaves in the App Store.

But he has made little headway in his discussions with Apple, he said: "We
have a reverse conflict because they are not providing video for free, but we
are. We are interested, but we don’t want to jump into anything that will have
our hands tied behind our backs."

When asked about it, Mr. Jobs said: "He’s right. We will compete." He added,
"That’s a discussion to have."}

Looks like you may be waiting for a while...

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auston
I dont want to watch video in that sense.

I want to stream live video from an iphone to the net.

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wallflower
As an ex-Palm/Handango user, I was hoping for more quality. iPhone games will
rock. Time will tell...

~~~
TweedHeads
The iPhone will kill the PSP and all handheld gaming devices

They will never know what hit them

~~~
jcl
I wouldn't bet on it. The majority of the 70 million Nintendo DSs out there
are likely owned by persons who cannot afford an iPhone (although the
situation may be different for the PSP).

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evgen
The iPod Touch is only about 2X the price of a DS, and you get music + games.
If they drop the price on this any time soon it will be a sign that they
intend on owning the mobile gaming market.

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jcl
The iPod Touch also has no buttons. Even though the DS has a touchscreen,
there are very few games that use it exclusively; it seems that many of the
games that use it do so only for the novelty, much like the detecting-blowing-
via-the-microphone gimmick. Although I'm sure people can come up with
compelling games using only the touchscreen, I think it would be hard for the
iPhone to take on the DS and PSP's "twitch" game audience.

Given the iPhone's unconventional input techniques and the 1-2 years of lead
time needed for a professional game, I wouldn't consider an iPod Touch price
drop as a sign of interest in gaming. Rather, I'd look for Apple to purchase
or contract existing game studios... ideally a year ago.

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evgen
Having spent the better part of this morning playing cro-magnon rally and
super monkey ball, I have to say that you are quite incorrect. The d-pad is so
1990. Accelerometers are where its at today. With the multi-touch touchscreen
the ipod touch and iphone are going to get a lot more use out of their
touchscreen as an input device than the DS did...

