Posts tagged Development
New Gestures in iPhone SDK 3.2 for iPad?
Mar 10th
9to5Mac continues its tradition of tearing through new iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad betas, this time digging into beta 4 and finding:
In the gestures folder, you’ll see two new types of commands (3Tap.plist and LongPress.plist) that are certainly not implemented in the current 3.1 iPhone SDK.
No idea what these mean yet, but if you were Apple, what would you use the triple tap and long press for? (Aside from morse code!)
New Gestures in iPhone SDK 3.2 for iPad? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 is Out
Mar 9th
iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch developers: get yourself over to Apple’s developer center, as iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 is ready for you to download, a mere two weeks after Beta three was unleashed for your coding pleasure. As MacRumors and Engadget note, it’s too early to say what magical new capabilities are to be found here – but don’t let that stop you.
iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 is Out is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
iPhone No Longer “Mobile”, Big Enough to be Own Gaming Platform Now
Mar 9th
I already mentioned I’m on my way to GDC 2010 to cover the iPhone panel, and that iPhone gaming is getting big, so it’s interesting to see CNET reenforce just how big it’s getting:
strikingly absent among those 18 [Mobile Gaming] panels are any that deal with game development specifically for the iPhone. And why? Because for the first time, the GDC advisory board decided that Apple’s smartphone is an important enough platform to warrant its own summit. And it filled quickly.
Simon Jeffrey, vice president of social applications for leading iPhone game developer Ngmoco says:
“The iPhone is now recognized as a leading platform that’s independent from the mobile. People are specifically naming the iPhone as a threat to their businesses. Nintendo said the iPhone is taking customers away from [its popular] DS handhelds.”
The cost of entry is lower than Microsoft or Nintendo, and it’s getting more and more popular while still maintaining its cool factor.
While Android and Windows Phone 7 Series will bring the competition (and perhaps Palm as well), right now the iPhone is riding high on its head start.
iPhone No Longer “Mobile”, Big Enough to be Own Gaming Platform Now is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
iPhone Games Can be Ported to Palm webOS PDK in “Days”? — The Competition
Mar 8th
It seems like Palm’s new webOS PDK (plug-in development kit) can be used to port over iPhone games in a matter of days — or even hours. Given how fast some iPhone games have turned up on the Palm Pre we’ve kind of suspect there was a little something something going on behind the screen, and our sibling site PreCentral.net confirmed it by way of Digital Daily’s pre-GDC coverage.
As just mentioned, I’ll be at GDC to have a look at what they’re doing. If it’s really just that easy to get your iPhone games onto webOS, then Palm has once again made their platform as frictionless as possible for developers (on top of the web technology SDK and Classic PalmOS emulation). Smart.
Windows Phone 7 Series looks to be packing Xbox Live gaming muscle, so they likely won’t go the same route as Palm… but could Android and BlackBerry? And if developers can keep making great iPhone games and get webOS (and maybe others) as a bonus, is that ultimately better for iPhone gamers, or does it weaken the uniqueness of the platform? If it does, will there eventually be “exclusives” like there are on Xbox and Playstation, or will Apple do more first-party games like the console makers — especially Nintendo — do?
iPhone Games Can be Ported to Palm webOS PDK in “Days”? — The Competition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
TiPb at Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2010
Mar 8th
Tuesday and Wednesday TiPb is going to be at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) San Francisco 2010 to find out what’s new and notable in the world of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad gaming. Scuttlebutt is, if you think gaming is big on the iPhone OS now… get ready for it to explode in 2010.
We’ll do our best to meet with all your favorite game companies, from the huge houses to the best and brightest indies.
If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello. If you’re a developer with a great new iPhone OS game to show off, ping us [news at tipb dot com] so we can meet up. If you’re joining us from a far, keep your browsers locked right here on TiPb for all the video action, and follow along for live updates and behind the scenes banter with @reneritchie on the Twitter.
Game. On.
TiPb at Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2010 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
Apple Cracking Down on Mass Produced, Low Functionality Apps?
Mar 8th
TechCrunch is reporting that companies who mass produce (or provide tools and templates for the mass production of) “cookie cutter” apps are hearing that they need to add differentiation and functionality or risk Apple not allowing them into the iTunes App Store. Jason Kincaid says:
Between the developers I spoke to, the consensus was this: Apple doesn’t appear to be opposed to ‘app generators’ and templates per se, but in the last month or so it has started cracking down on basic applications that are little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards. In short, Apple doesn’t want people using native applications for things that a basic web app could accomplish. For some of these services that’s bad news, because that’s exactly the sort of application they produce; any new applications they submit are going to get rejected. But all hope isn’t lost for them, provided they can make their apps more useful.
Kincaid says Appmakr for one has taken suggestions from Apple to improve things like in-app purchases, instant notifications, offline access, and landscape viewing modes and describe the process as positive. Other services apparently haven’t had as much luck.
The move seems to be part of Apple’s ongoing efforts to increase the quality of the App Store experience and protect the brand. Much like the removal of sex-based apps last month, “cookie cutter” apps could seen as low value, sometimes verging on spam. For consumers it could result in a cleaner App Store and ultimately better apps (more than just re-packaged RSS feeds) but at the expense of quantity and choice. For developers, it’s likely another in a list of things they’ll consider before building on Apple’s platform.
If Apple is indeed working on revamping the mass produced app, what think you?
Apple Cracking Down on Mass Produced, Low Functionality Apps? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
TUAW’s Erica Sadun Shares SDK Sugar with iPhone Devs
Mar 6th
iPhone developer extraordinaire Erica Sadun has been running a great series of “iPhone Dev Sugar” posts over on TUAW:
- Should you be building universal apps for App Store?
- Create shiny buttons easily
- Simulating device events with iSimulate
- Re-signing applications
- Installing the 3.2 SDK alongside the 3.1.1 SDK - Three lessons from the iPhone (big fingers, attention spans, fast launches)
- Letting go of iPhone visual design patterns
- Simple table badges
- Improved Network Reachability routines
- SwapKit
For anyone interested in the nuts and bolts — and subtleties — of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch development, they’re definitely worth a look. Check them out, and if you have any ninja-level tips of your own to share, don’t be shy!
TUAW’s Erica Sadun Shares SDK Sugar with iPhone Devs is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
