Some Apps and Some Recaps
Friday has come again and Fuel Your Apps is trying to bring some of the good things that happened this week to your attention, so you can reflect back on your rather busy week. We also want to take the time to thank our readers and Twitter followers, so 5 random app-related followers will be chosen each week and be featured on this site. This idea is not new to FUEL, as it came from a bunch of smarties over at FuelYourCreativity (which is uber-cool if you want to check it out, when you need some design ammo). We also encourage you to submit your interface and app designs to us for a weekly highlight. You can do that through our Flickr Group. OK, on to that Friday Goodness!
How to Understand Your Users with Personas
Personas are a powerful tool for helping you to better understand the needs of your users. In this comic, drawn exclusively for Think Vitamin, you’ll learn more about Personas and how they’ll revolutionize the way you design and build web sites.
App Store Heresies: Higher Price, Better Ratings. Don’t Discount Your App At Launch.
Lower your price, lower your ratings. Lower ratings, lower social proof. Lower social proof, lower sales. That’s my theory, and I’ve got data to support it.”
The Exploded View Shirt
Originally I’d printed a small series of my WWDC shirt while I was in San Francisco, but after almost a hundred comments on my blog, and almost a thousand combined emails, twitter replies, messages, and flickr comments, I had figured out that it might be a good idea to make my shirt available for sale.
Adobe Max 2009 Videos (in case you missed it)
No matter where you are, Adobe MAX 2009 Online is your ticket to experiencing Adobe MAX 2009 on demand. Whether you joined us in Los Angeles and want to revisit your favorite sessions and keynotes or you want to catch up on everything you missed, this is where you’ll find links to the webcast keynotes and the session catalog, where you can access more than 200 sessions for instant viewing.
Introducing Atlas: A Visual Development Tool for creating Web Applications by Francisco Tolmasky video from FOWA
View on Vimeo.
Start-up Metrics that Matter by Dave McClure video from FOWA
View on Vimeo.
Branding and Marketing Essentials for Your Web App by Alex Hunter
View on Vimeo.
Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Now web designers and developers can join the iPhone app party without having to learn Cocoa’s Objective-C programming language. It’s true: You can write iPhone apps quickly and efficiently using your existing skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This book shows you how with lots of detailed examples, step-by-step instructions, and hands-on exercises.
Ryan Block on First and 20
Even though the iPhone isn’t an especially good productivity device, that’s what I tend to use it for since I refuse to carry multiple phones. So in terms of the dock, the iPod had to go; between it and the bottom row, I’ve got most of what I need to get down to business……
All you Tweetie fan boys (and girls). This one’s for you…
Of course, many of you out there are will disagree and for you, I present these two cushions as a peace offering. Covered in spicy chocolate sea salt, these pillows are 100% hand-made! Available in two versions these Tweetie for Mac or Tweetie 2 pillows can be yours for $15 a piece or $25 for a pair. Buy them here.
Apple announces In App Purchases for free App Store software
Apple has announced that developers who offer free App Store applications can now take advantage of in-app transactions — a feature that was previously allowed only for paid software. The In App Purchase feature, which was implemented in the iPhone 3.0 software update for paid applications, has now been expanded for use in free applications. Previously, some developers were forced to charge a nominal $0.99 fee for their software to have In App Purchase capabilities.
iPhone app piracy numbers show low conversion rate
Pinch Media added code to its Pinch Analytic API last June that allowed for the detection of jailbroken devices as well as whether an application had been pirated. Since then, the company has been monitoring the applications of developers who chose to implement the API, and the numbers have been a bit staggering thus far (hat tip to ReadWriteWeb).
Chad Engle is the Editor of Fuel Your Apps. He is a fulltime designer, who lives, breathes, listens , eats, tweets , connects & consumes all that is creative & app related. He is a caffeine addict and likes long walks on the beach. Follow him on twitter at@chadengle and @fuelyourapps
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Chad,
great roundup. just sat through AH’s preaching, thank you for sharing – great points so relevant!!!
Thank you!
Awesome round-up Chad! I really loved the Tweetie pillows. I’m thinking of buying one. Thanks!
Those pillows are awesome! I want them for my office.
I think a low piracy rate for iPhone apps says that Apple is doing a lot right. Rather, the developers are doing it right!
By charging under $5 for almost every app (with a few worthy exceptions), it puts it in the buying range of everyone who has the disposable income to buy an iPod or iPhone in the first place.
I agree Kevin, with prices so low its easy to afford apps and the fact that they are not readily available to pirate that helps keep the community thriving.