The official launch movie for the new Saab 9-5 iPhone and iPad applications was just released!
“Free download from App Store. Search for Saab.”
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After an intense work period we at HiQ together with Saab and Valentin & Byhr launched the Saab 9-5 applications for the iPhone and the iPad. I worked in the project as a requirement coordinator, concept developer, software developer and quality assurance manager.
This was my first commercial iPad project, which will most probably be followed by many others this year. I really enjoyed working with Saab in this fun and engaging project – hopefully this application will help them gain brand awareness and interest of the new Saab 9-5.
My word of advice for anyone else planning to develop for the iPad: Don’t trust the iPad simulator. We experienced differences with XIB-file rendering, memory management (especially in low memory conditions) and Core Graphics behavior between real iPads and the iPad simulator. If you plan to develop an iPad application you really need to get a real device.
Download the Saab 9-5 iPhone application
Download the Saab 9-5 iPad application
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If you are developing an interactive 2D application for the iPhone or the iPad I would like to recommend the graphics library Cocos 2D. We recently used it in the Saab 9-5 applications for iPhone and iPad, and Cocos 2D is easy to use, robust and has very high performance. Other well-known applications using Cocos 2D include FarmVille by Zynga and The Elements: A Visual Exploration.
The best thing about Cocos 2D however is that you can use it completely free of charge. All you need to do is to acknowledge that you have used it in your product. Check the about box when you’re placed in the Gallery section of the Saab 9-5 applications for iPhone and iPad and you’ll see it there as well.
Read more about Cocos 2D for iPhone and iPad
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Yesterday when I was sitting at my desk it struck me that I have two SIM cards from Spain lying in front of me. I bought the cards during my last trip to Mobile World Congress 2010 in February for 3G data access. I put one of them into the HTC Desire and -boom- I had full Android Market access through the WiFi connection. I tried purchasing an item and then switching back to my old SIM card, and today the Android Market informed me that an update was available for the purchased application, even though I could no longer see the application in the Swedish version of Android Market. The update downloaded just fine.
If you have an Android phone and want to access the Android Market to buy Android apps you can buy a UK SIM cards from the site droidstuff.se. They are quite cheap at €7 a piece (79 Kr) so it’s really a no-brainer if you own an Android phone and live outside the 14 countries that have full access to the Android Market today.
Order a UK SIM Card from T-Mobile at droidstuff.se
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The Swedish HTC Desire UI experience has much like the HTC Hero and the HTC HD2 proven to be an interesting mixture of Swedish, English, other foreign and badly translated words. My current favorite is the locking screen that tells me that the phone battery has been debit. It’s of course the English word for “charged” that translates to both “Laddat” and “Debiterat”. Funny how the translation firm picked the last one.
“Ditt batteri är debiterat”
(Eng: Your battery has been debit)
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Jon Lech Johansen (aka “DVD-Jon”) was the guy famous for breaking the DVD copy protection system CSS (Content Scrambling System) with the utility DeCSS. He has since then co-founded the Android development company doubleTwist, which markets a product that looks quite similar to iTunes that you use to browse and purchase MP3 songs from Amazon, sync them to an Android phone, and play them using the custom built doubleTwist Android player.
Jon today posted an article called Google’s Mismanagement of the Android Market which highlights some of the frustrations he is facing as a developer trying to push legitimate music software to the Android Market. When you read the article keep in mind that Jon is trying to sell a music application for Android, and the examples he makes is very specific for launching an app such as the doubleTwist player:
- Jon: “The top ranks of the multimedia category are cluttered by 144 spam ringtone apps.”
My interpretation: Searching for top apps will not help users find Jon’s doubleTwist player since it is being placed below hundreds of copyright-infringing ring tone apps. Currently users need to know what they are looking for in the Android Market.
- Jon: “You can’t pay for foreign apps using your Amex card or carrier billing.”
My interpretation: If doubleTwist want to charge for their application, they might loose business opportunities due to the lack of AMEX support and operator billing.
- Jon: “Trademark and copyright infringement is widespread in the Android Market.”
My interpretation: Jon explicitly lists several applications that look like iTunes and even have the same icon as iTunes. Users might have a hard time knowing if doubleTwist is indeed legit software just by browsing the Android Market, since there are so many alternatives that clearly do not follow copyright laws.
- Jon: “The music downloading app “Tunee” (one of many such apps) is one of the Top Free apps in the Multimedia category with more than 250k downloads. Their screenshot shows copyrighted music by the band Muse (Warner Music Group) being illegally downloaded.”
My interpretation: By allowing apps such as Tunee that are clearly made for listening to and downloading illegal content, legal alternatives such as doubleTwist and Spotify are facing illegal competition they should not have been exposed to.
I believe all of his critique is well founded. Unfortunately this is how the Android Market has functioned since it was launched almost 1.5 years ago, and this is also how the Android Market will most probably continue to function for the next coming years. At the moment startup ventures like doubleTwist are stuck in a quite awkward position. They cannot launch on the iOS platform since Apple won’t allow their products since they compete with iTunes. And by the looks of it they seem to have a hard time on the Android platform since Google seems to allow almost everything in their Market.
Read the full article: Google’s Mismanagement of the Android Market
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If you’re into numbers you’re gonna love this blog post by Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications at Microsoft. The post is interesting since it contains a wide range of figures and comparisons of things such as iPad sales, Apple revenue and Netflix subscribers, complete with sources. As an example:
7.1 million
Projected iPad sales for 2010. [source]58 million
Projected netbook sales in 2010. [source]355 million
Projected PC sales in 2010. [source]
** Update ** TechCrunch just posted an analysis of Shaw’s post which is definitely worth a read.
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Here are two great tips for designing good looking web pages for iOS devices.
Targeting the iPhone 4 Retina Display with CSS3 Media Queries
All iPhone OS 4 devices report the same user agent. This article explains how you can detect the high resolution display on the iPhone 4 and adjust graphic detail as needed.
Targeting various iOS devices with media queries
This article explains how you can add separate icons for each iOS device for their home screens. Check it out if you want bookmarked pages to look good on the iPad and the iPhone 4.
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Matt Neuburg, developer of the TidBITS News iPhone App, has put together a good description of how fast app switching works in iPhone OS 4, and explains why it might take some time for developers to add support for fast app switching to current applications.
“Basically I had to consider every state the app might be in at the moment the user comes along and suspends it. That turned out to be remarkably difficult – and the TidBITS News app is very simple and small! Imagine, then, how long it will probably take before your favorite third-party apps are updated.”
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If you’re into game development for mobile devices you will be pleased to hear that Unity 3D is now accepting pre-orders for Unity 3D for Android. If you hurry and are among the first 500 customers you will also get a free complimentary unlocked Nexus One with your order!
More information about Unity 3D for Android
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