There’s a lot being written about iTunes and the App Store this week. And a lot of it is by developers who are guessing what people want, how they find it, and how much they’ll pay for it.
Rather than guess, I thought I’d ask.
I’ve put together a very short survey. If you’d like to fill it out, please do! We’d appreciate the answers. And we’ll give away a bunch of iTunes or Amazon gift cards to people who fill it out (and include their email addresses, which we won’t do anything else with), so you’ll have a good chance to win.
We’ll publish the results if we get enough responses to be meaningful. So if you’re interested, help us publicize it!
Check it out. Tell your friends. And if you have comments, please post them below.
So you heard that Kings Corners on iPhone was the coolest game ever, but let’s face it - the economy isn’t what it used to be - and you probably thought “A dollar? For a card game? Nah, I’ll pass.”
Well good news! We just made the decision easier for you! Now you can get Kings Corners for FREE!
That’s right, Kings Corners Free is now available in the iTunes store. It’s like an “Entertainment Bailout!”
“Now hold on a second,” I hear you saying. “What’s the catch?”
Very perceptive! Nothing is truly free in this world. In this case, the free version of Kings Corners is ad supported BUT FEAR NOT! We aren’t going to be flashing ads at you every time you start a game, or insisting that you try another product to use this one, or anything like that. Right now it’s just a little ad that pops up while the software is loading. We might do something a little fancier down the road, but even then it won’t be annoying - we hate annoying ads and we’re not going to inflict them on others.
And the good news is that you can still get Kings Corners without ads for just $1.99! We’re all about options here at Ilium Software.
So there you have it! The greatest thing to hit the world of entertainment since Donny and Marie is now FREE. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and grab your copy today!
Well, I’m back from Macworld! For those of you who are interested, I thought I’d share a few thoughts. I’ve also included a few pictures I took.
I’ll give the extended version after the jump, but for those of you in need of a sound bite I’ll summarize.
It was very cool. I loved getting to talk to so many great people, especially folks who I’ve long known by their email address but not face to face! It was also neat to take part in something I’ve heard so many people rave about. I saw some very interesting things and got some excellent insight into the Apple market. All in all a very satisfying experience. Plus San Francisco is great so how could I go wrong!
So, on to the details…
Minor Disclaimer: As I write, please understand that we are first and foremost a mobile software developer. There was lots of amazing desktop stuff going on, but my focus (naturally) was on the mobile market. That said…
Companies and Products
There were a number of great mobile software companies there, some of whom we’ve known for years. Among these were our good friends at WebIS. What I did notice, however, was that for all the mind-share the iPhone has among consumers, that mind-share was not reflected on the floor of the dealer’s halls. There are lots of possible reasons for this, but it was something that stood out for me.
Real Contacts with Virtual Friends
It was GREAT to see some of our “virtual” friends in real life. In particular, we got to hang out with Steve Sande from TUAW and Jeff Scott from 148Apps . Both of these guys (and their sites) have been very helpful to us, and we really respect the work they are doing for the community as a whole. 148Apps has some exciting plans for the future. We look forward to their continued success. We also got to do a Podcast/Vidcast interview with Steve from TUAW. That was a lot of fun!
The Apple Presence
Obviously Apple’s presence was a big deal, including the “giant-black-cube-of-power” that dominated the south dealer’s hall. I’m not, however, as convinced as the media outlets that folks are O.K. with Apple leaving after this year. Folks were handing out “Bring Back Jobs” fliers on the street and there was just this sense that people almost didn’t believe that Apple wouldn’t be back.
As for the presence of iPhone amid the official Apple stuff, the “giant-black-cube-of-power” had one of three sides devoted to iPhone + iPods. There was a nice table with a bunch of iPhones and iPod touches on it.
Events and Parties
There were a number of great get-togethersI got to partake in. Stand outs include the iPhone Intelligence Party at Harlot and the TUAW get-together at the Thirsty Bear. It was also at the Harlot even that they announced the winners of the BestAppEver Sadly, we didn’t win, but just to get nominated in SO many categories was amazing. You guys rock. Thanks to everyone who nominated and voted for all your help!!
Other Cool and Fun Stuff Of course I got to see something in person I’d only seen pictures of before…the eWallet icon in the Apple store window!! How cool is that?! I asked if we could have it when they were done with the display, but sadly the powers at Apple require that they destroy any display materials when the promotion is over. Ah, well.
And then there’s Beard PaPa, one of my favorite things about San Francisco. Mmmmmmm - fresh cream puffs. Although if anyone out there can explain to me the connection between delicious cream puffs and an old, smoking sailor, I’d love to hear it! (“Arrr! There be nothin’ like bakin’ cream puffs after a long day at sea!”)
In a comment on the last post, someone asked what was up with the eWallet Web Companion. For those of you who don’t know, the web companion is a web based application that allows you to view your eWallet wallet files online. You can sync to it, just like to any other mobile device, and securely view your wallets from any computer with internet access and a web browser. We even have a page about it here.
If you want to learn more about the Web Companion, read on after the jump!
A Little History
Work on the Web Companion has been going on (on and off) for quite some time now. One of my goals as Product Manager is to give you secure access to your important information no matter where you are. I don’t want our customers hampered by what device they are carrying or what computer they are sitting in front of. To that end, I got us started working on the eWallet Web Companion. The eWallet Web Companion (or EWC as I typically refer to it,) runs on pretty much any browser, from your mobile device to a laptop to a Ninetendo Wii (yes, we tested it on the Wii :) ).
Shortly after the project got underway, the iPhone came out. At the time, native software wasn’t supported and Apple hadn’t confirmed plans to support native software, so the new goal became an EWC with full iPhone support. We started the Closed Beta with a group of iPhone users and got some great results. Before we could finish, however, the word came down from Apple that they would support native applications.
This changed a LOT for us. While we still felt that the EWC was important, we knew that we had to get a native version of eWallet for iPhone completed. As a result, our attention was refocused on that effort. By July of this year we had eWallet for iPhone done, and by September, we had sync in place. This significantly reduced the urgency for getting the EWC out there.
We also saw the EWC as a possible BlackBerry solution. Of course we ended up with a native BlackBerry version as well, which further reduced the urgency for completing the EWC.
So Now What…
As I said, the EWC was not dropped - simply bumped a couple steps down the “Get it done now!” ladder. We have someone working actively on it right now so we’re making good progress. There have been a number of minor improvements, and we have plans for some MAJOR updates in the neat future. We still have some challenges to overcome, however. To that end, I hope to get out the next Advisory Board assignment sometime this week, and that assignment will deal with those very challenges!
If you’re attending MacWorld (or if you live in the Bay Area) come have coffee with me tomorrow morning! I’ll be camped out at Starbucks in the Marriott lobby from 8am to 9am, stocking up on caffeine to get me through the day.
It’s your chance to ask me your burning questions (yes, we’re working on the Mac version), offer up your ideas, and find out what we have planned for the future. We’d love to hear from you so come on over.
And if you can’t make it tomorrow, I’ll be there again on Thursday morning!
Just look for the stunningly handsome bald guy with an Ilium Software shirt on! ;)
THANK YOU to everyone who nominated us for the BestAppEver contest! Thanks to your help, eWallet and Kings Corners have made it to the finals for the BestAppEver! This means that out of 17,758 nominations for 1,259 applications, eWallet and Kings Corners made it to the Top Ten for multiple lists. What’s more, eWallet got SO many votes that it is now up for the mother-of-all awards - the Best iPhone Application Ever! You guys rock!
Now it’s time for the big game! With the field narrowed to 10 applications per category, the final voting begins. We need your vote! As before, we’ve made it easy! Just:
We need you! I’d shake your hand and kiss your babies if I could! OK, maybe that’s a little creepy, but you get the idea. Voting ends on January 6th! Winners are announced on January 7th!
Thank you!!!
PS: Yep, we’re making eWallet for Mac! I just got a new build. Card display looks great! Some additional UI elements are coming in the next week or so. Woot!
PSS: Yes, we’re still planning ListPro for iPhone. We’re experimenting with ways of transferring data. We’ll keep you updated!
There’s a lot being written about iTunes and the App Store this week. And a lot of it is by developers who are guessing what people want, how they find it, and how much they’ll pay for it.
If you’re attending MacWorld (or if you live in the Bay Area) come have coffee with me tomorrow morning! I’ll be camped out at Starbucks in the Marriott lobby from 8am to 9am, stocking up on caffeine to get me through the day.