Tag Archives: iPhone

Today there’s nothing but a pretty video

It’s a grey and dreary day in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. The kind of day that sucks all the energy out of a room and all the thoughts out of your brain. If I had any thoughts left, they’d surely be regarding this post about the history of the photo that’s the default wall paper for iPhones, or about how Facebook was really founded (be careful if you have delicate sensibilities when it comes to the f-word, there’s some swearing), or maybe I could weigh in on this point/counterpoint between Marco Arment and Merlin Mann.

But I have no thoughts, instead I have a very cool video to share.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Tech Tuesday: Development for (and getting our Nerdery hands on) the Apple iPad

By now, you’ve read all about the Apple’s new tablet, the iPad. You’ve watched the videos. You’ve maybe giggled about the product name; let’s be honest though, the Nintendo Wii’s name hasn’t hurt its popularity. You’ve either dismissed it as a big iPod Touch that won’t go anywhere, or, you’ve already smashed your piggy bank and have money in hand. Regardless, Apple has a pretty good track record with their latest products (iPod, iTunes, iPhone) and we don’t want our ad and marketing agency partners to be the last ones to the party.

First, the iPad debut doesn’t mean that our agency partners should stop making iPhone applications. All iPhone applications will work on the iPad out of the box.

But how does the iPad affect our agency partners who have already created applications for iPhone and now also want to take advantage of the bigger screen of the iPad? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as hitting an Easy button (trust me, I have one) and magically all your applications are reformatted for the iPad. The user interface will have to be redesigned to support multiple resolutions. It’s also not just relaying out the design for the larger screen; it’s also understanding what the iPad is, and designing an amazing user interface to take advantage of the new user interface features.

When looking at creating a new iPad application, our agency partners really have two options: target just the iPad or target the iPhone and the iPad.  Targeting the only the iPad should have a similar development cycle and cost as developing an application just for the iPhone. If the choice is to target both devices, there will be some design layout changes, but the core of the application will stay the same. There will also be some additional time for our crack Quality Assurance team to make sure we release a great application.

If you don’t think the iPad is going anywhere, I present Steve Ballmer.

Then again, if you think Apple is infallible, I present the iPod Hi-Fi.

Either way, The Nerdery is ready to help you create great applications, no matter the platform.

Friday Links: Feeling grumpy is good for you, and other news

• The Nerdery wants to recruit you.
• Why digital agencies aren’t ready to lead: “Digital agencies are having a ton of fun experimenting with ideas, technologies and strategies to find new alternatives superior to obsolete ways of doing marketing. That’s what they do best. The problem is, this is the only thing they are doing.” (make sure you check out the 78 comments)
• You need to read the saga of the poor American Airlines UX guy who was fired
• Three Rowlf moon t-shirt
• Feeling grumpy is good for you
• Succeed Blog, for when you need some positivity in your life.
• iPhone vs. BlackBerry Owners:
  Your Phone Tells All
• Public Image Unlimited: Consumerism and Anonymity’s End
• The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe
• How business is adopting design thinking
• The post might be in Spanish, but this Beatles USB drive translates to awesome.
• Win an iPod Touch and a dream job at The Nerdery.

Mobile TC user group welcomes non-nerds

Looking around but not finding a user group fit for developers and non-developers alike who are interested in mobile apps, Justin Grammens founded the Mobile Twin Cities user group in March. Programming experience is far from prerequisite for Mobil TC members and visitors – the door is open to anyone wanting to talk/learn about what’s possible on mobile platforms, including Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

“Being more on the technical side myself, I somewhat jokingly said, ‘I want to have people at these meetings that are NOT like me,’” said Grammens. “I decided that if I were to form a group, I wanted it not to segment anyone. I wanted presentations on both technical and non-technical subjects, by people who were interested in mobile technology and allow for networking, companies and new products to grow. I wanted it platform agnostic and skill level/knowledge/interest agnostic as well.”

Having outgrown its table at a coffee shop, Mobile TC makes its Nerdery debut tomorrow evening (Sept. 15, 7-9 p.m.).

On tap: Alex Brekken will demonstrate on a high level the Palm WebOS and the technologies involved on getting going with development on the platform. Justin Grammens and Sam Schroeder of Recursive Awesome will show some differences in a trivial iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palp Pre applications they wrote. And representing non-developers, self-proclaimed Nerdery senior account nerd Matt Albiniak will talk about how to make a paycheck as a mobile developer – come see if he also regurgitates some of what his ad agency contacts tell him about their ambitions for going mobile.

Want to make sure the Nerdery orders enough pizza for all? Then RSVP by replying to Justin here or by leaving us a comment. Same goes for those wanting to speak their mind – as mobile developers, users, interested parties, passersby – at an upcoming Mobile TC user group meeting.

Friday Links: Bold statements, N00bs, and another advertising documentary

• 20 Killer iPhone Game Designs: I can vouch for the beauty of Sheep Abduction.
• In case you need some tips, How to effectively communicate with developers.
• 100 Artworks From the Top Digital Artists in the USA & Canada
• If this comic comparing Aldous Huxley and George Orwell doesn’t kind make you a little sad and afraid, it might already be too late for you.
• I like bold statements, especially ones like this: The most creative & skillful corporate web designs of all time (also, is it just me or does Silverback’s gorilla mascot look kinda busty for a gorilla?).
• Every 1337 parent fears the day their daughter brings home a n00b, this is a good one lifted from @the_nerdery’s twitter stream.
• And one more before the weekend begins, another trailer for an advertising documentary. This one’s called Lemonade and it’s about what people did after they got laid off.

Reviews roll in for new iPhone 3GS and iPhone OS 3.0

With the release of the iPhone 3GS only two days away reviews of the new Apple device are cropping up everywhere. I need to figure out how to be one of these wizbang gadget reviewers because much like most all the other people in the land my very first iPhone is being held for future delivery (boo).

• Gizmodo says the 3GS is totally worth the extra $100 over the $99 3G
• Walt Mossberg says the OS upgrade might be enough to keep older iPhone users happy
• Ars Technica says the the S stands for subtle, which doesn’t mean boring

And for those of you iPhone owners who are probably in the process of downloading the update to iPhone OS 3.0 (or anxiously awaiting your chance to download) Mashable has a nice list of things you should know about the update.

Where is my mind/smartphone?

Minnov8’s Steve Borsch buried the lead nicely in his article on the forthcoming iPhone 3GS – let’s skip on down to the last four paragraphs of his story,  “Smartphones — computers in your pocket — extend your mind and your reach”:

“I’ve been in conversations with educators about technology and social media — and about the current paradigm of cramming kids’ brains with facts — and my asking why we need to teach rote facts about the countries that surround, say, the Baltic Sea when it can be instantly looked up? Are there ways to focus on how to search, ways to seek and verify authentic material, and move toward an educational model that would assume an always-on, always-connected student population?

In our working world, enlightened companies are realizing that providing a solid and good experience to employees with access to information and work processes (and email, of course) allows the employee to access and deal with a task, communication or even an idea when they have a moment or when inspiration strikes, rather than hope that all that can be stored up and dealt with when they’re in the office.

Tapping into the streams of consciousness of people one follows on Twitter, reading blog posts and staying abreast of news and other information mean that all of us are more aware of the meaningful inputs of others in whom we find value.

Then there is just the simple utility of having movie showtimes, a dictionary, time zones, airfare lookups, stock tickers, and even games. This means that smartphones extend our minds, so that we’re no longer tethered to a desk for computer and Internet use in the same way that the mobile phone for voice made us free from a phone line.”

Read Borsch’s entire Minnov8 article reposted on MinnPost. 

The waiting for iPhone 3GS is the hardest part

Like kids waiting for a new candy store to open, The Nerdery watched and listened to what’s next for the iPhone during Monday’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote spiel. Now, while we pace in the waiting room like expectant fathers for the birth of the iPhone 3GS, we take this moment to page through a story in Ad Age by Rita Chang on what this baby has in store for marketers.

But before we get to what’s next, just dropping the existing 3G iPhone to $99 (everything must go) will likely attract younger buyers – and greater market share alone spurs greater interest from marketers.

Then, on June 19, “speed” puts the “S” in 3GS.  Speedier downloads, greater memory and processing speed, and AT&T’s pledged 3G network upgrade make for a capital “S.”

Writes Chang, “Krish Arvapally, chief technology officer of mobile ad platform provider Mojiva, said since Apple announced its new iPhone software in March, it has seen a 20% increase in the number of advertisers who say they want to target iPhone users.” 

“Bring them on,” says the Nerdery.

Another marketable upgrade with 3GS is its ability to record and edit video, upload clips to YouTube, and share video via e-mail or multimedia messaging. “Michael Chang of Greystripe notes that the ‘better camera plus the faster network bandwidth could be the start of mobile video renaissance,’” writes Chang. 

Location, location, location, you say?

“Until now, marketers had to count on users to enter their ZIP codes in a browser to geo-target offers via the mobile web,” writes Chang. “Now, with the Safari web browser pulling the users’ location data into the browser experience, marketers could serve geo-targeted ads to any iPhone user with an open browser – assuming the user has allowed the website operator to track his location.”

Also, writes Chang, “The iPhone 3GS will also sport a digital compass that tells users which direction they’re facing, with integrated mapping applications to automatically orient the map in the corresponding direction. Jamie Wells, director of mobile at OMD’s Ignition Factory, said he could see advertisers using the compass feature to make their creative more engaging – for example, a vendor selling merchandise at a sporting event could serve ads that instruct users to point their iPhone at the nearest concession stand to get a coupon.” 

The new iPhone also lets users glow in the dark, experience weightlessness and even travel through time. Not really, but wait ‘til next year.

Lastly, if you’re Tom Petty, I’m truly sorry about that headline – but thanks for reading. 

How to make $10 million and the cover of The New Yorker

There’s an app for that and that? Not really. Not yet. But artist Jorge Colombo made the June 1 cover of The New Yorker using the Brushes iPhone app created by Steve Sprang. That’ll get an app (further) noticed, and it caught the eye of Creativity Online.

Another recent star turn occurred when developer Mitchell Waite’s iBird app carved out a nice niche by landing a lucrative seven seconds in a recent iPhone commercial … cha-ching! “I look at it like Apple paid me $10 million to show my application on every single major network, every major television show – no, I can’t even put a figure on it,” said Waite to New York Times Digital Domain columnist Randall Stross.

Throngs of creative people want their creation prominently displayed in the iPhone App Store. No amount of lobbying or cash (paid placement) can make it so.

More from NY Times: “In April, Apple celebrated its one billionth download from the App Store in only nine months. For all of its success with the store, however, Apple remains most interested in using third-party software to sell its hardware. Mr. Waite said an Apple liaison told him, ‘We pick apps not for how well they’re selling — we pick apps that will sell more iPhones and iPod Touches because they show off the best features or are something you can’t get elsewhere.’ Fitting that bill is Mr. Waite’s iBird application, which turns the iPhone into an always-in-hand field guide replete with bird calls that a printed field guide cannot provide.”

The App Store rolls with the democracy of good ideas. If they see an app that’s particularly fresh and useful, they lift it up with their considerable marketing muscle.

Agency iPhone Primer Wrapup

Yesterday marked the first in our Nerdery Agency Primers series, this one centering on what a creative agency needs to know about the iPhone market in order to vision and pitch iPhone projects to their clients. Thanks to those of you who attended and we apologize to those of you who were turned away because of capacity (we were a little overwhelmed with over 50 attendees turning out for it).

As promised on the call, we’re posting the slides from the presentation here along with a list of links where we drew the data that we shared on market statistics and demographics.

Source Links

• 148apps
• Apple’s iPod touch sales double, nearly on par with iPhone
• Study: iPhone generates 43 percent of mobile web requests
• The Life of an iPhone App According to iPhone Ad Network
• What iPhone Apps Are Used Most? Hint: Not Games
• Apple Reports First Quarter Results

If you missed the Primer the first time around, don’t worry, you’ve got another chance. We’ll be holding the talk again next Tuesday, June 9th at 11:00 a.m CT. You can register using the form on the right or at event page at http://nerdery.com/iphone. This next event will be after the WWDC announcements so we’ll hopefully have plenty of new tech and insights to share about what’s next for the multitouch platform.

If your agency has a bunch of people interested in learning more about developing ideas for the iPhone platform contact us and we can arrange for a “private screening” of the talk.