iPhone 4, iOS and the growing app market

Well the keynote is over. I followed along as best I could with this nasty chest cold I came down with this morning. But, as promised, here are my thoughts on the announcements:

Beautiful

Once again, Apple has put out a simple and gorgeous device. While less rounded than the original designs of the iPhone, it still looks sleek and smooth. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. It does have more of an iPad look to it with the smooth glass all the way to the edges. I like the look, and after several years of use with my iPhones I’m not as scared of all that glass on my device anymore either. Apple says they’ve engineered a glass that bends. If that’s true, well… cool.

Loads of Welcomed Features

The new screen is amazing. At 4 times the pixel depth of the original iPhone it has a screen that surpasses the human eye’s ability to differentiate the pixels. This should make for an awesome reading experience on the new phone. Which also brings me to the inclusion of iBooks on the device. I wasn’t as thrilled about that when it was originally announced a few months back. But with this high a resolution on the screen I have a feeling it just might make reading on the iPhone a lot nicer. And you can load PDFs into iBooks for reading on the go. That’s perfect. And I know Bryan is going to be very happy with that.

A 5 megapixel camera that doesn’t shrink the pixels from the original is also a very welcome upgrade. And so is the inclusion of HD (720p) video on the device. I have a feeling that could really eat into the Flip HD sales. Especially when you add in the iMovie software that now runs on the iPhone. This is a complete editor that allows for Ken Burns effects and Titles all from the iPhone. This is outstanding, and a real demonstration of just how far the iOS and the mobile hardware it runs on have come in the past couple of years.

Multi-tasking is finally on the phone. Looks like the implementation is very well thought out to allow multitasking without killing battery life.

Speaking of… the new battery is great. As we use our devices for more and more intensive tasks (like HD video) we need more juice to keep them running.

The new A4 processor in the iPhone is also very welcome. As an iPad owner I can speak to the speed and capability of this Apple designed processor. My iPad runs everything I throw at it with ease, and I can only imagine that the A4 in in iPhone is going to make the phone scream at its tasks.

Folders. More and more apps… Thank you for a way to organize them. What more is there to say?

Video Chat. At long last. This is something I’ve been longing for in a phone since the first cell phone I ever used. We are truly moving into the future I’ve always dreamed about now. And kudos to Apple for saying this will be an open standard. The more phones have this on them the better I say. (Hey Droid, get to it! I want some FaceTime with your users!)

Price is Right

Apple did a wise thing and didn’t increase the price of the phone above the current model’s price points. And, like they did with the release of the 3Gs they’ve now moved that model into the $99 category. This is fantastic. The 3Gs is a more than capable smartphone and priced at $99 it’s bound to get more people looking at moving onto the platform.

iAds and Games

The addition of a gyroscope to the phone is sure to do wonders for game controls. I don’t play a lot of those kinds of games, but I love that Apple is actively pursuing the gaming market in this new market. It’s something they let get away from them on the desktop and I think it really contributed to their loss in the desktop market to Microsoft.

iAds… not a big deal I think for users. And ad is an ad is an ad… granted iAds look great, but I think the big “hooray” on this is from developers. I can now add iAds to my apps and use the same account that I manage my apps to also manage my ads. That’s so much less work on my end. And the payment split seems fair to me as well. Hooray.

Conclusion

The iOS continues to evolve. The items put out on display today are not revolutionary… they are evolutionary. The revolutionary bit was the original release of the iPhone OS a few years ago. What we are seeing now is the maturation of that revolutionary idea. And that’s good. Revolutions are great… but it’s usually the releases a little down the line from the big break through that are truly great. The iPhone and the iOS are finally coming to maturity and that’s a good thing. As they mature and continue to raise the bar, so too does the competition. We are already seeing that in the Droid phones. The Incredible is a nice device. Not my platform of choice, but I appreciate that there is competition out there in the market and that both Google and Apple are continuing to move forward on their software and hardware. It’s a fun time to be a part of a new computing platform.

WWDC 2010

I really wish I could be in San Francisco tomorrow. The annual Apple World Wide Developers Conference kicks off with another Steve Jobs keynote address. I look forward to all of his keynotes. The CEO of Apple is quite the showman and whether or not his announcements contain anything of use to me or not I love to see his presentations. Over a decade of working AV, specifically as a PowerPoint operator has made me really appreciate well executed keynotes. They are a rare thing indeed, and Mr. Jobs never fails to impress me with his presentations.

I especially love it when they bring up “guest speakers” from other companies and you get to see what your average speaker looks like up against a Mr. Jobs keynote. It usually pretty sad for the guest. At least from the standpoint of how they compare in the presentation style, not in terms of the great PR they get from sharing the stage.

Tomorrow should bring a new iPhone, I imagine delivery of the new device should be quickly following the announcement. Hopefully we can afford to get me one. We’ll need one to test apps on at the very least. (I can find any excuse to buy a new Apple device.)

But what else will they announce? They’ve already given us a glimpse of iPhone OS 4. I suppose we might get a recap and maybe a surprise new feature or two. Might new Mac Pros be on tap? Possibly, but lately those have been getting less fanfare and more quiet updates than you usually see in the keynotes.

I’ll be sure to blog about my reactions to whatever the announcements are in the morning. Only 12 hours to go!

Analyst: Apple iPads outselling Macs, nearing iPhone 3GS sales | VentureBeat

Analyst: Apple iPads outselling Macs, nearing iPhone 3GS sales | VentureBeat.

Well, the iPad is a hit. Apple has done it again.

Can’t wait to see how this affects the Netbook/Tablet market long-term.

MDWorkout.com v1.1

Well our first iPhone app launch was exciting! Just getting the app on the store was a milestone and very exciting. The app is now working perfectly!

Make sure you get a copy of the app for yourself, and if you don’t have an iPhone you can at least take a look at what our work is here.

The wait is killing me…

Ok… months of development came to a close on Wednesday when we bundled our first ever iPhone app and submitted it to Apple for approval. It was a rewarding experience getting to that milestone.

But now we play the waiting game. Apple takes anywhere up to two weeks to approve or reject an app when submitted. Supposedly over 90% of the apps that are submitted are approved on the first go. So realistically we shouldn’t have too much to worry about in the process… I mean, our app doesn’t do anything that should raise a red flag. But the wait is horrible. It’s like watching a pot, waiting for the water to boil. I just keep checking my email, checking iTunesConnect… waiting for the yellow dot to go green, indicating our apps been approved.

It’s a nail-biting period. It’s actually kind of stressful. And I can’t wait for it to be over, preferably with an “approved” notice.

I think I’ll go check again now. And you can get a glimpse at the app at the MDWorkout website.