CapMac iPhone SIG

Apple today revised their developer guidelines and agreement to allow the use of some third-party API’s in the creation of apps. Perhaps even more startling was Apple’s uncharacteristic clarity in how they will review and approve app submissions:

• “We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don’t work unless the parents set them up (many don’t). So know that we’re keeping an eye out for the kids.”
• “We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any more Fart apps.”
• “We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.”
• “If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.”
• “This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this.”
• “If it sounds like we’re control freaks, well, maybe it’s because we’re so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products.”

The changes announced today seem to reopen the possibility of VideoLAN’s VLC and Adobe’s workaround solution Flash-based app development to now become acceptable under Apple guidelines.

Many developers have posted that they welcome Apple’s less restrictive submission and review policies. Apple has recently come under fire from federal regulatory agencies for their perceived effort to restrict competing technology.

Full details of the changes are available at Apple’s iOS Developer website.

With the release of Apple’s iOS 4.1 imminent – now would be a good time to get your mobile device ready for a fault-free upgrade.

Here are a few suggestions to help you prepare:

• Upgrade to the latest iTunes 10 version. You must be running the most recent version to upgrade your iOS device. Be patient while iTunes updates your library’s data structure, then review all preferences and settings, just to be sure they’re the way you want them.
• Update your existing apps. Be sure that you have the latest versions on your iOS device, or in iTunes.
• Sync your data. Sounds simple, but you’d be amazed the number of folks who don’t keep their iPhones, ipads, and iPod Touches in sync.
• Backup your data. True a standard iOS upgrade will do a ‘backup’ as part of the upgrade – but a prior backup is a really good idea in case things go wrong during the upgrade.
• Never rush an iOS update. Please take your time. This is your data, your music, your video and photos, your life we’re talking about here.  Take it slow and easy and safe.
• Backup your backups. Use Time Machine or another drive to keep a copy of iTunes on another machine, and in another place. You got it.

We’ll let you know as soon as iOS 4.1 goes live in iTunes.

The waiting line for the first Spain Apple retail store formed early Friday morning outside the La Maquinista mall in Barcelona – both excited at the arrival of the store, and appreciative that Apple used the Catalan language throughout the store instead of Spanish.

About 60 Apple enthusiasts camped overnight outside the store with the cooperation of the mall staff, and were provided coffee, donuts, bottled water. By the 10 a.m. opening time there were several hundred people in a line snaking throughout the mall, many wearing Mac and Apple-related T-shirts.

Apple’s store was appreciated on a cultural level as well.

Barcelona and the surrounding region comprise Catalonia. Residents also consider themselves culturally separate from Spain. About 75 percent can speak the Catalan language, and its use by Apple within the store is not only practical, but is considered a sign of respect for the region’s residents.

A second Spain store will open at the Xanadú shopping mall in Madrid Saturday, September 11th. A street-level store in an historic Valencia building will open in early 2011.

Apple has announced that over one million users have joined Ping, the company’s new social networking feature focused on music and built into iTunes 10.

According to Eddy Cue, VP of Internet Services at Apple, one-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 in its first 48 hours of availability have joined Ping:

“One-third of the people… have joined Ping… [and] as many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.”

Ping has not been been with controversy. Proposed integration with Facebook was withdrawn, when Apple rejected the ‘onerous’ terms for accessing Facebook’s proprietary APIs. And, improper security settings have allowed sporadic cases of spamming on user’s Ping accounts and postings.

Overall, the response to Ping has been favorable from users, and the music community – with industry observers expecting Ping to become a powerful collaborative tool for iTunes users who wish to share insights, and recommendations.

Ignore the critics of iTunes 10. Let them complain about the austere UI, Ping, and a host of other nit-picky things that truly don’t matter… rejoice – backups are faster!

Many of us have gotten lazy about backing up our iOS devices because the sync and backup process could often take time – lots of time. One of the nicest new features in iTunes 10 is that syncing and backing up your iPhones, iPads, and iPods is now darn speedy. And even better, the top progress bar gives you better feedback about the process. What a concept!

The procedure is the same in iTunes 10  – just connect your device, wait for it to be recognized, and hit SYNC. The process will sync music, videos, podcasts, movies, books, and apps – and will backup your iOS device in case the unthinkable happens. Only now, the entire process is 40% faster by my guesstimates – so putting it off is no excuse.

Why don’t you all join me and back up your iOS device today?  The heartache you save may be your own.

With the new iOS update less than a week away – a report by NetMarketShare today shows that Apple’s mobile platform OS has overtaken Linux to claim third place in operating systems.

The iOS platform currently consists of the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices – along with the soon-shipping Apple TV.  With over 120 million of these iOS devices currently in use, its little wonder that they are beginning to show up in a big way in web-tracking metrics.

Android usage share is currently pegged at 0.2% – around a quarter of the Linux total.

“Android devices made up just 0.2% of the operating systems that powered browsers Net Applications tracked last month. “Whatever the sales are, we’re seeing iOS totally dominate the market on the Web,” Vince Vizzaccaro, a Net Applications VP noted. “iOS has nearly a 6:1 advantage over Android.”

Statistically, since we are dealing with fractions of a percent, so the margin for error is significant. But if you look at the trends, Apple’s iOS is clearly up, Android is edging up more slowly, and Linux has stalled and declining.

NetMarketShare uses data captured from the 160 million unique visitors browsing some 40,000 Web sites it monitors for clients.

As promised at today’s Apple Media Event, iTunes 10 is ready for download for both Mac + PC’s. Besides a cleaner, simpler user interface, iTunes 10 sports a new CD-less icon, since early next year, digital music downloads will surpass total CD sales. The new iTunes version also:

• Creates a new column to display album art in the list view
• Airplay allows seamless streaming to other OS X and iOS devices
• TV show rentals for 99-cents from ABC and FOX, sans commercials
• Ping, a new collaborative social tool for sharing music preferences
• Integration with the new Apple TV for a whole-house media center
• Improved handling and syncing for video, audio, or photos

Apple has posted detailed information about the new iTunes 10 features here, and you can follow this link to download the new iTunes 10 version for your machine.

Please remember to backup your iOS devices, and backup your previous iTunes 9 files before installing the iTunes 10 update.

If you missed today’s livestream of the Apple Media Event, because of silly things like having to work or go to school – fear not – Apple has posted a weblink to a replay, so you can sit back and at least pretend.

Although rumors and predictions had been circulating for months – there is something about watching it all come together so gracefully.

And after you mull the implications of it all – please post us your thoughts.

Cosmic convergence happens.  It began with an introduction of Steve Wozniak – the other ‘Steve’ – and finished with solid proof that vision, technology, engineering and marketing can collide in delightful ways to change the world.

Today’s Apple Media Event was meaningful in dozens of subtle ways that portend a massive sell-thru this holiday season.

Apple’s lineup of music-related products couldn’t be stronger:

• iPod Shuffle with buttons is back, only smaller
• iPod Nano with an iPhone-like MultiTouch interface
• iPod Touch, now with Retina display and cameras front and rear, for FaceTime and HD video
• Apple TV, your entertainment stream-machine, no storage, 75% smaller and only $99
• iTunes 10, refined UI, speed, streaming, and Ping, an optional social network for music lovers

Apple’s new products and price points are impressive – and create a high bar for anyone who wants to compete with Apple this year.

We’ll have details on the entire lineup later.

Apple has issued an alert that tomorrow’s media event will be streamed live from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. While delayed streaming of Apple events and keynote presentations is customary – it has been years since an event was webcast live.

The weblink for the stream has not yet been provided – I will post the link as soon as Apple makes the announcement, or follow us on Twitter for the link  @iphonesig

The webcast begins at noon Central time, and will be available in HD if you have available bandwidth.

The latest version of QuickTime X is required to watch. The feed will be available on computer, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. Quicktime X is not yet available for PC’s.