iFranky

Jens Alfke has a great point on the possibilities of the Apps Store for developers.

Interesting is the conversation which had grown/could have continued in the comments had I hijacked the comments even more.

Sure, it’s peanuts, but it’s a significant step up compared to nothing at all. Also, $35/year for hosting, if that was static, is nothing compared to hosting on your own and potentially seeing your hosting costs skyrocket to hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month.
On the whole, though, I just don’t think the comparison with Sourceforge will hold once this all goes live. The two have very different (developer) communities and, more importantly, audiences. [Faruk]

The point of this comment was my comparison to an eventual Sourceforge alike, jungle which might grow based on $.99 applications.

I entirely agree with Faruk that both platforms (iPhone and Sourceforge) have a different audience. But the iPhone platform is only 10 months old and already heading for 10m users (not counting the multiple iPod Touch users - I use a touch at work as well, an iPhone in private life).

What does this mean? The iPhone/Apps Store surely has the potential to reach out to even more people than Sourceforge does. Not that long ago it costed $35/year to host an (open source) application at Sourceforge. The Apple digital certificate costs $99 (for a lifetime probably since no edits pointing at a yearly fee have been made since yesterday).

Let’s bring things back to reality now. Until little more than 2 years ago I ran several Windows communities, with around 20 k members and more than 4k daily active forum nerds. My voice pretty much was law in those communities. Yesterday I applied as Enterprise developer for the iPhone platform. It cost me $99.
If I hadn’t sold on those Windows communities (I’m on Mac now), I could have pitched no matter what sh|tty iPhone application to around 20k people without much of an effort. Apple takes care of the effort hosting and distribution. And highly improves the visibility of my crappy application, even more than the 2-3k nerds who will blindly throw in a buck to test/use my stuff.

Does my popularity guarantee that I deliver quality? Nope, but probably the fact of running a community soon will see my application among the most popular apps and boost my sales even more.

Did I say Sourceforge Jungle? $99 Is nothing compared to hosting on your own and potentially seeing your hosting costs skyrocket to hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month.

I started a challenge with myself… and the world. It’s about blogging. I’m returning.

The challenge is simple: make a blog popular (subjectively), without whoring the blog out in comments or on traffic platforms. Just rely on the ability to write passionately, opinionatedly and know some keyword stuff SEO have a popular topic.
Both blogs enter an already overcrowded area and target a passionate and active community, which actually makes things harder, but could also be an advantage.

In one month I will report here about the first weeks and how stats have grown (or not).
Both URLs will not be used in comments on more than 2 other blogs each.

Update: Life has come in between the challenge and the reality. I still believe in the concept and several blogs are in the planning. One more actually: Bloggers Turn Me On, a return to the good ol’ (JOAB) times, just a little more high profile and less obligatory as then. See you soon in a blog coming to a browser on your monitor.

One rule of thumb:

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Time Capsule (UK) delayed. First ’ships in February’, today ’ships in 3-4 weeks’. Which is earliest March, 4th.

Mac OS X obviously is smarter than Windows. After having installed both Mac OS X 10.5.2 and Leopard Graphics Update, I was greeted with this message when I wanted to install the third update Apple released today. The Security Update 2008-001. That secure that it even can’t be installed.

Reminds me of Windows, except I can’t remember a monthly Windows update with 3 (Three!) required updates.
Although those updates are free, they don’t rejoice me as much as a working and stable OS.
But maybe they meant that the 2008-001 Security Update already contained is in Mac OS X 10.5.2. Terrific user experience!

Did I already mention that BootCamp doesn’t want to install, because the drive is fragmented?
True, my bad, Mac OS X doesn’t need any defragmentation!

So I went¹ to the Apple store in the Manchester Arndale Center for the first time².

Loaded with cash.
Plastic cash.

I had lots of plans.

Although the conversion to Mac OS X came with several problems, and certainly missed Windows (network) features, I had decided over the last days to refocus on video… and now wanted some decent equipment. The MacBook is fun, cool and easy to carry around… but lacks in power. So I was going to get a MBP. Updated or not.

And a 2.8Ghz iMac as well.

And a new phone. Funnily enough I broke the screen of my shitty LG Shine yesterday afternoon and now I needed a new phone too.
Only two models made it past my initial internet quest: the iPhone³ and the Samsung U900 Black⁴.

But I needed more. Since I already have sold the Dell notebook, I wasn’t going to feel bad about buying some superfluous stuff for everything and decided I wanted some stuff.

• A black iNcase sleeve for both MB and MBP.
• As every music fan, I wanted more and better than the standard iPod (touch) earbuds and had dropped my eye on a pair of Sennheiser in-ear buds;
• Because we do (almost) everything at the computer, the set of matching iSkin keyboard protectors.
• The obvious MiniDVI to DVI-D converter
• Some cases and scratch protectors for both iPod Touch and iPhone;
• A certain book about Final Cut Pro;
• Last but not least Mac OS X 10.5 for the MB, which was configured with Tiger when it arrived⁵.

All these items are available over the Apple store and since the Arndale Center store one of the less than 10 shops in the UK is, i expected them to have everything obviously. Even the iPhone.
I already had decided I couldn’t be bothered by offering the Carphone Warehouse or O2 the commission and would buy everything from Apple directly. In person. Physically.
Not online.

I made an error.

Contrarily to most switchers, when I arrived at the Apple Store and a salesmen jumped at me, even before I had enjoyed 30 seconds of time to browse, I did not as to speak to a Genius. No, I knew what I wanted and Google had helped me with all the other stuff last days.
Suffocated as I felt, I first asked for an iPod touch case. ‘We’re sold out, but here’s a store card and feel free to ring us to check if we have new ones in stock. We’ll gladly put one aside for you.’

Dumb ass, I thought. There are no official iPod touch cases yet, other than the Socks, but whatevah.

My next question was a harder one. I wanted a Toslink wire to connect any device, mainly the soon to be bought MBP with my kick ass stereo.
Why have a Mac and only enjoy sound over crappy built-in speakers?

Again I was confronted with the same answer: ‘We’re sold out.’
Luckily I had drunk MY kool-aid before I went to the Arndale Center and lassively I answered ‘No worries, I’ll order them online.’

I honestly was starting to doubt the so raved about Apple service. Especially when after walking and browsing some in this Ikea designed store puristic designed store, with way too many people in it, I found my Toslink cable and also the MiniDVI to DVI-D adapter I had asked for in between grumbling teeth.

At a totally different spot than where the interim employee with the Faster Than Shadow Apple Store Card Move^TM looked.

Of the 3 people who read here, luckily there’s no one who doesn’t know that I’m a bitch^TM, so I guess you all can imagine my appetite for more Apple stuff was gone. Even the iPhone appetite⁶.

End result? I left the store with a Leopard install pack, a Toslink connector which fits every MP3 device, except the iPod touch, the iSkin protector I wanted, the iNcase sleeve in Khaki because obviously no black one was available, my wanted MiniDVI to DVI-D connector and iPhone socks.
The iPhone, iMac and MBP? Maybe I’ll get some next week when I’m in the Arndale Center again, but today the awesome customer service killed my mood to splash money.
Even if it were only an interim employer, just there because of the launch of the iPhone… the Apple Store is that big and has that many items that I knew where everything was within 20 minutes.

1. For that friggin’ phone; [↩]
2. Trust me, I’m lying; [↩]
3. No shit, Sherlock; [↩]
4. Fuckit, I like black and shiny things; [↩]
5. Stupid ebay seller had registered it some days before the up-to-date offer kicked in [↩]
6. To be honest, the iPhone didn’t tempt me that much, but I needed one to report on iPhones on the future Apple blog; [↩]