The Worldwide Developers Conference brings new opportunities and new threats for indie developers. If you’re lucky, Apple introduces an API that could enhance your app. If you’re unlucky, Apple launches a new feature that renders your app obsolete.
One thing is certain: Whatever Apple announces at the annual conference will mean a lot more work for indie developers just to stay in the game. And since developers can’t charge for updates on the App Store, most of that work will go unrewarded.
Apple may have announced iOS 9 at WWDC yesterday, but it hasn’t forgotten about its iOS 8.4 beta. A fourth release is now available to developers ahead of this month’s public rollout.
When you’re choosing between Android and iOS, you also have to choose between the App Store and Google Play; apps are so important to us these days that they must come into consideration when we’re buying new mobile devices.
Android has caught up with and even overtaken the App Store in sheer number of apps, but Apple’s marketplace continues to rake in lots more revenue. But which offers better titles, a greater user experience, and more features?
In this week’s Friday Night Fight with Cult of Android versus Cult of Mac, we pit the App Store against Google Play to find out which is the best mobile marketplace.
This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off June 8 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, Apple said today. The five-day event will provide an early glimpse at the future of iOS and OS X, plus more developer sessions than ever before.
Indie developer Daryl Hornsby has a novel approach for getting kids engaged with educational games: Don’t dumb things down.
That’s the key to Machineers, the clever puzzle-adventure game his company crafted to to lead kids through various programming logic concepts.
“When you say you want to target 10 to 15 year-olds, you’re told you have to make it overly colorful and bubbly, and that no kids read text,” Hornsby told Cult of Mac. “We’ve been able to prove that this is not quite the case. We’ve found that kids want to be treated like adults, but it still has to be approachable.”
Along with doubling the max file size of apps, Apple introduced something else today for its third-party developer community.
TestFlight, the Apple-owned service devs use to beta test their apps before submitting them to the App Store, can now do controlled group testing.
Developers trying to update their apps on iTunes got a surprise this morning, when thanks to a weird glitch with iTunes Connect, devs were logged into other users’ accounts.
Not only has the outage prevented developers from being able to log into their own accounts to update apps, but it’s also exposed apps that are secretly in development to competitors.
Developers have taken to Twitter this morning expressing their outrage, with some calling for Apple to just take an ax to any cable leading to the iTunes Connect servers. Apple has yet to release an official statement, but they have finally taken iTunes connect offline, hours after the first reports hit.
Hollywood has long been the sparkling gem of entertainment in the U.S., but when it comes to making money, Apple is schooling the entertainment industry on how to bring in the cash with the App Store.
In 2014, iOS app developers earned more than Hollywood did from U.S. box office revenues, reports top Apple analyst Horace Dediu. According to Asymco’s number crunching, apps are now a bigger digital content business than music, TV programs, movie purchases and rentals combined.
Apple paid out approximately $25 billion total to developers, which means that not only is the App industry healthier than Hollywood, but also on an individual level, some developers are out earning Hollywood stars. The median income for developers is also likely higher than the median income for actors. If you’re looking to strike it rich, forget becoming the next Brad Pitt. Be the next Dong Nguyen.
Check out the chart below:
In a curious example of international geopolitics influencing the App Store, developers who have registered iTunes accounts in the Crimea are being told to stop using all Apple software, and destroy any materials related to it. Why? It all has to do with the United States imposing sanctions against Russia.
Apple surprised developers with its new programming language, Swift, at WWDC 2014 but it hasn’t taken long for the developer community to get behind what will soon be the replacement for Objective-C.
In the latest programming language popularity rankings from RedMonk, Swift has shot up from the 68th ranked language in Q3 2014, to the 22nd most popular language going into 2015. To put that growth into perspective, Google released its new language Go in 2009, but it just barely cracked the top 20 in this quarter’s rankings.
Here’s the full rankings chart:
Apple surprised us with the untested iOS 8.1.2 update yesterday, but this morning Cupertino is dropping something a bit more exciting with the second beta release of iOS 8.2 that brings WatchKit to the iPhone.
The iOS 8.2 beta is available now in the Dev Center along with an Xcode 6.2 beta. The release notes don’t mention any new features, but there are tons of bug fixes, plus some improvements made to WatchKit. We’ll let you know if we find anything new once we install it.
Developers can pick up the beta as an over-the-air update if you’re already on the iOS 8.2 beta 1, or you can get it from the direct download links below:
When you live in Apple’s world as a third-party developer, you are required to play by Apple’s rules. And sometimes those rules are subject to sudden change.
James Thomson, the developer behind the scientific calculator app PCalc, was notified today by Apple that his iOS 8 widget must be removed. The reason? A new stipulation that iOS widgets cannot perform calculations.
The reasoning behind Apple’s decision may never be known by Thomson or anyone outside the company, and that’s just the point. The App Store is Apple’s kingdom to rule, for better or worse.
First launched in January 2011, the Mac App Store promised to give developers the same sort of centralized marketplace to sell their apps that had made the iOS App Store such a success. Instead of making developers rich or giving them a better place to market their apps, though, an increasing number of developers are actually leaving the Mac App Store in what Milen Dzhumerov, one of the devopers behind Monodraw, has called a “subtle exodus.”
Why? It all has to do with Apple’s Mac App Store policies.
iOS 8’s release is eminent with Apple announcing today that its new software will be released to the public on September 17th.
To get the App Store ready, Apple is officially accepting iOS 8 versions of apps from third-party developers.
One of the great mysteries of the App Store is why certain apps get rejected and why others don’t. Apple has let a surprising number of ripoffs and clones through the store’s iron gates, yet some developers face rejection for seemingly innocent apps.
“Before you develop your app, it’s important to become familiar with the technical, content, and design criteria that we use to review all apps,” explains Apple on a new webpage called “Common App Rejections.”
Last weekend, we reported that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 seemed likely to boast a 1334 x 750 Retina Display, while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6L could have a 461 PPI Super- Retina Display. Now it looks like that working iPhone 6 cobbled together may have confirmed the iPhone 6’s resolution.
Apple has seeded the third beta of OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 build 13F14 to developers this morning, just six days after the previous beta and all its bug fixes were released.
The impending fall release of OS X Yosemite has been on the minds of most developers since WWDC, but Apple is continuing to make improvements to OS X 10.9 Mavericks with the release of the first OS X 10.9.5 beta that’s slim on new features, but big on bug fixes.
Swift, a completely new programming language for the App Age, was one of the biggest announcements that come out of WWDC and now it’s also got its own blog.
Apple launched a new blog dedicated to the development of Swift on its developer site this morning to educate coders on the new language that has replaced Objective-C to build iOS and Mac apps. The blog will give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the design and development of Swift from the very engineers who created it. News and hints will also spill over the blogs’ pages to help devs become more productive with the Swift language.
Here’s the first post:
Apple sure is looking friendlier these days.
This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference was geekier, more welcoming and less locked-down than any in recent history. Apple also bid farewell to Katie Cotton — the much-feared queen of PR, whose frosty relations with journalists made her only slightly less terrifying than an angry Steve Jobs — with a call for a “friendlier, more approachable” public relations face to warm up the company’s relationship with the press.
“For the past few years it’s felt like Apple’s only goal was to put us in our place,” Panic’s Cabel Sasser recently tweeted. “Now it feels like they might want to be friends.”
These recent moves represent a major change in the way Apple does business, even as the company sits atop a $150 billion war chest amassed thanks to innovative products, ruthless leadership and heavy-handed policies that fostered a culture of secrecy and utter domination. But in a world where it’s drummed into our heads that nice guys finish last, does Apple’s approach risk killing the company with kindness?
CEO Tim Cook certainly doesn’t seem to think so.
SAN FRANCISCO -- While Apple watchers tuned into last week's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote for a look at where the company might be headed, coders at the annual convention were getting a look at the current state of the art when it comes to the company's software.
Cult of Mac asked developers from around the world who were in town for WWDC (or its indie sibling, AltConf) what they thought about changes coming in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. We also asked them about their favorite apps as well as their views on Swift, the new programming language Apple introduced at WWDC. Get their takes in the gallery above.
Got your own favorite features in Apple’s latest releases? Let us know in the comments below.
Photos: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
One of the biggest announcements coming out of Cupertino today is the creation of a completely new programming language called Swift – a programming language for the App Age.
Apple is wasting no time getting developers educated on the new tools available to them by making the Swift Programming Language guide book immediately available on iTunes.
Apple is busy putting the finishing touches on WWDC before the invasion of 5,000 developers destroy the corridors of Moscone West, but even if you didn’t get a ticket to the hottest developer event in the world, you can still enjoy WWDC like you’re actually there by sporting some of this gear from the comfort of your couch.
Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple gang are coming straight out of Cupertino on June 2nd to kick off WWDC with the first keynote of the year. iOS 8, OS X 10.10, a home automation platform, new iMacs and possibly even an 8GB iPhone 5s are rumored to make an appearance.
We’ll be covering the action on our liveblog starting at 10AM PDT, Monday June 2nd and won’t let up until WWDC finishes on June 6th, but to get yourself ready for the assault, here are eight things you should buy to get your WWDC on.
Segway tours are so last year now that Scoot has come out with iPhone-locked scooters. Not only is a scooter the best way to see San Francisco's landmarks, the tiny two-wheelers are more environmentally friendly than those huge double-decker tour buses. Just remember to book your reservation in advance because spots fill up quickly.
Location: 756 Natoma St., San Francisco
Image: Scoot Networks
Coding marathons, packed parties and more fanboys than should be legally permissible in one building await developers when Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off in San Francisco next week, and while the conference is serious business for most devs, who says you can’t have a little bit of fun too?
WWDC rips into high gear with a keynote on June 2nd followed by days of coding sessions, high-profile speakers, hands-on labs and tons of get togethers for developers of all sizes and backgrounds.
Sneaking in time to tour San Francisco is nearly impossible thanks to the stuffed scheduled at WWDC and nearby AltConf, but whether you’re coming to WWDC as a first timer or a seasoned vet, here are nine things every Apple fan must do at least once while visiting the Bay Area.
Apple is releasing new Mavericks betas like clockwork with the last three coming one week apart from each other. Developers can now download the latest Mavericks update, OS X 10.9.3 beta 3 from the Mac Dev Center or via Software Update.
The first OS X 10.9.3 beta added support for a full range of Retina scaling modes for 4k monitors. The other have mostly focused on bug fixes with the latest seed note asking devs to focus on graphics drivers, audio, Safari, and contacts & calendar sync over USB in iTunes.
An iTunes 11.1.6 beta was also released this afternoon to devs that restores the ability to sync contacts and calendars to USB after Apple removed the option in favor of an iCloud-only approach.
Source: Apple
