The iTunes Review Process

 

There has been some talk recently over the process by which application are allowed in the iTunes App Store. Whilst this is a problem, I think the customer review process is proving to be a bigger problem.

When browsing the App Store a few days ago I came across an application called iPray Pro. I found out from the page that it is an application that gives Muslim prayer times as well as the direction of Meca and among other things, religious holiday dates. I was glad to see an application like this, not because I would personally use it (being a Catholic) but because it is good to see a wonderful device such as the iPhone being used for a purpose that someone else could really appreciate.

 

Scrolling down to the comments I found this:

Ignoring the highly pathetic comment this person left, it highlights a problem that Apple has that hasn’t yet been addressed. The ability to leave a review of a product is one that can be a highly effective way of getting the word out to people on the quality of an application. But this process is being abused by people such as ‘m_peace’ (iTunes screen name). Besides from racist clueless insults, the review process is one that is being used by people who have just looked at the preview pictures and made a judgement from those. I barely look at the star rating of applications anymore because they are most likely not a reliable way to judge the quality of an app. From what I see, this looks like a briliant and polished app, but I wouldn’t review it based on that assumption.

There is one easy and obvious way to fix this: only allow people to comment who have bought the application and tried it. Apple has purchase data on everyone who has an account, why not use it?

This is not the only example of the review process being abbused, but in my opinion is definetly the worst. Comments like this (plus the whole tattered product review process) don’t reflect well on Apple. The best I could do to help this situation was to report this comment as offensive.

Please Apple, lift you game on this!

Side note to m_peace: dude, have you even heard of the IRA?!

The Day Draws Closer

 

As the time period Kevin Rose described as the release date of the new iPod line there is even more to back up the rumors that the iPod Nano will get a new, uglier look. Its becoming more likely that Apple will in fact release the 4G, slim and tall Nano in the next few weeks judging from this case available at Alibaba.com

On a side note, this mock up (by a MacRumors Forum poster) of a new MacBook Pro looks reallllly purty (pretty)! Note that this is not an actual leak. If Apple does refresh the line, I hope it looks like this. I dunno about the September date though. It seams a bit to early for Apple to do this. I would think they would want to wait until the new Intel Nehalem quad-core processor was released next year.

Still no word from Apple as to a release event date yet.

Introducing the iPod Ugly

 

Today Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) posted on his blog rumors of new product refreshes from Apple to be released in the next few weeks. Theyr’e bound to be true, I mean he’s Kevin Rose, what sources doesn’t he have? I’m sure most of these will be confirmed if we just wait.

Latest rumors:

-Revamp of entire iPod line.
-Small cosmetic changes to Touch, Nano to see significant redesign (see pic below).
-iPods to see fairly large price drops to distance itself from the $199 iPhone.
-iPod touch 2.1 software, iPhone to get update very soon after.
-iTunes 8.0 (“it’s a big update w/new features”).
-All of this coming in the next 2-3 weeks.

The biggest rumored change to the iPod line is a new Nano. It’s out with chunky-fat and in with tall and slim. The pictures I’ve seen of it look RELLLLYY ugly. It’s curved for some obscure reason. I can see Apple making the Nano taller but not rounded across the face.

The rumored price drop is one I am confident will happen. Apple has done it in the past and they will probably do it again. This is of course to stop the iPhone taking sales away from iPods.

Something Kevin briefly mentioned at the end of the video was Blue-Ray support in Mac OS 10.5.6. He said that in line with this, a Blue-Ray option would be included in the refreshed in the MacBook Pros. This isn’t something outrageous and was guaranteed to happen with time.

With all these rumors flying about it sound like an exciting few months at Apple. I will be watching with anticipation!

Microsoft ♥ Seinfeld!

 

Gold! Gold! Gold! Two well known brands, somewhat stagnant and somewhat desperate getting into bed for an ad. If you haven’t heard yet, Microsoft is paying $300 million to create an ad campaign starting Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. They plan to create the campaign around the slogan ‘Windows, Not Walls’. Apparently, Jerry is receiving $10 million for the job. Not bad!

It is obvious that Microsoft is responding at long last to the highly successful ‘Get a Mac’ ads, which I’m sure you know about. The ads will attempt to change people’s views about Windows Vista from the current scathing criticism of the product and to let people know that it works now (like it should have at launch. Boy did Microsoft screw that up). I admit, there is nothing wrong with Windows, but from personal experience I have found that Macs are easier to use as a personal computer. In my opinion, Windows belong in the office and Macs belong at home. It’s as easy as that.

Microsoft’s history of ad campaigns doesn’t set a very high benchmark for the new campaign to reach. The ‘Realizing Potential’ campaign (created in 2005) was so forgettable that I had to check Wikipedia to check what Microsoft’s last ad campaign was. For the record, the ad featured a series of deep and profound phrases that were so tenuously linked to anything to do with Microsoft that it took until the logo appeared for people to realize what the ad was for. Even after that appeared I still found myself wondering what they were trying to sell. I liked the tone of the ads, but they failed to sell me something. Note to Microsoft: try to sell something in this new campaign.

The huge hurdle Microsoft have to overcome is the known fact that Microsoft and Windows aren’t cool! Nobody from my generation gets excited about a Microsoft product release. Apple on the other hand have the infamous self driven free PR machine that I am a part of. Even though nobody my age (excluding me) jumped out of their chairs when the iPhone reached Australia, it was discussed and people knew about it. Microsoft just don’t have this appeal to the younger generation who are moving increasingly towards the Apple platform.

Using Bill Gates is a mistake in my opinion. Yes, he is rich, yes he is famous but does he make you want to use Windows? “Look kids! A giant security center!” Bleh! Seinfeld doesn’t really connect with the younger generation either. So when it comes down to it, Microsoft is failing to appeal to those who will be buying the PCs of Macs in the future. Apple succeeds in advertising their product so bluntly and unashamedly in the ‘Get a Mac’ campaign that everyone knows what they are selling and why they should buy it. For Microsoft to aim at countering these humorous yet effective ads, they need to do the same. They need to use the personalities of Seinfeld and Gates to create a tone of “Wow Vista is better then I heard it was” without making it looked forced.

In the end, this campaign will prove very little. At most it will prove that Microsoft feels compelled to compete with a certain company that is succeeding at swaying the personal computer buyer. What Apple fails at is what Microsoft excels at: business. So Microsoft, don’t try to sell the unsellable to those who don’t want to buy it, stick with what you’re good at and don’t feel pressured to fight Apple. Go with the flow and fix Vista, then you’ll sell computers regardless of an ad campaign. It’s worked before, right?

Running the Rumor Mill

It’s a common fact: Apple nearly always update their iPod lines around this time of year. And as is tradition before any Apple event, the rumors start to fly! This years rumors come from a tipster via MacRumors. Interestingly, there are no mentions of an actual iPod line refresh…

MobileMe, iPhone, iPod Touch
-Enable disk use 
-When enabled for disk use, iDisk folder accessible
-iDisk app
-Viewable formats can be opened, other formats grayed out
-Button to sync with MobileMe
-Photo syncing support via MobileMe
-October launch

iTunes Unlimited
-256 Kbps music; highest quality digital music subscription service ever
-50% of U.S. store available for iTunes Unlimited at launch, U.S.-only launch
-Available through iTunes or retail box a la MobileMe, funds applied through iTunes gift cards cannot be used towards subscription purchase
-$129.99 stand-alone or $179.99 with MobileMe, current MobileMe subscribers can add iTunes Unlimited for $99.99
-One-year subscription period
-Current a la carte options unchanged
-When signed in to subscription account, “Buy” is “Get”
-“Download and Play throughout iTunes Unlimited Subscription” or “Buy and Keep”
-“Buy and Keep” option available for downloaded subscription songs, purchased version replaces subscription version
– Late October launch with iTunes 7.8

Disk Use is a big feature that is already available on the rest of the iPod range but one not available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Disk Use would allow them to be used a USB storage devices just like other USB flash drives. I would be interested to see how Apple would (if they even do) implement this. The main reason they haven’t allowed disk use before is because it opens the door to hackers, people Apple have been determined to beat (although they are failing miserably). I don’t know about the likelihood of Apple opening up the device this much, but I wouldn’t be complaining if I had a 16GB flash drive.

Judging from the ‘rocky’ start to MobileMe’s life, one can only presume that Apple have a few new features to show off. iDisk support sounds something along the lines of what Apple would do considering MobileMe’s heavy integration with the iPhone already. I can see a simple app that allows browsing files as you would music. And as all your files are online, there is no need to open up the device as a flash drive, which is in Apple’s interest (see above). This doesn’t seam like anything major to implement and is what I’d say was the most likely to actually happen.

iTunes Unlimited would be a subscription service model allowing you to download all the music you want for the length of your subscription. Mind you, this is nothing that has not been rumored before. In 2007, CNN reported it and in March this year, the Financial Times reported on a similar model. I doubt this model would be popular among the younger population (including myself). Personally, I like to own my own music (however much DRM there is on it) and want to know I will always have it available. Also, 99c for a song is a lot more appealing that $129.99 for a year. Judging from the success of other subscription services, Apple might be tempted to release a service along these lines.

Who knows whether any of these rumors will become reality. After all, there are also rumors of a MacBook and MacBook Pro redesign and it is unlike Apple to bundle so much into one event. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Screencasting

 

Recently I have had to start doing screencasts (a video of you computer screen’s output) and with so many programs out there, which did I choose?. Looking around I came across the usual suspects of Screenflow (USD$99.99) and Snapz Pro ($69). These are renowned as excellent applications but what I didn’t like was the price. Being a student it’s pretty obvious why.

 

I then searched further down the list and came to two programs: iShowU (USD$20) and Screenflick ($29).

These programs are quite similar. Both have a similar feature list (although Screenflick had a few extra niceties) and a similar price tag. What made up my mind is quite simple; the user experience. While iShowU is a series of lists, Screenflick is modualed into four sections: Screen, Audio, Keyboard, Mouse. It presents to you the options in a clear way making it seam less daunting. A useful feature that iShowU lacks but Screenflick has raw footage capture. iShowU compresses you video as you record, making the framerate drop dramatically during recording. Screenflick compresses after you record and allows you to choose the compression settings after you have filmed.

What swayed me was the polish of Screenflick. The Cocoaness of it is very apparent from the use of a Quicklook style preview pane. It’s fast, easy and beautiful! For budget screencast applications, Screenflick has my vote.

MobileMe: ‘My Extensions Go On!’

Mobile Me Extension!

Today we saw the continuation in the saga of MobileMe, Apple’s consumer answer to Microsoft Exchange. Since it’s official launch there has been no end of trouble for some users. There have been sync issues, email outages and random times when nothing worked. But today, on top of the already promised one month subscription extension, Apple announced that current MobileMe subscribers would get another TWO months (that’s right, count them) on top of the previous one month extension.

 

I think it’s only fair to congratulate Apple on the way they handled this issue (the entire issue). From the moment problems were apparent they recognized them, and didn’t cover them up with the usual PR speak (ok, it was a bit PR-ish):

 

“We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge.” – 17^th July, 08

 

Transparency like this is rare from most companies. I’ve certainly had my complaints with my cable internet provider on several occasions. Times when they have blamed the problem on the fact I was using a Mac, blamed it on Internet Explorer, and even blamed it on Windows Firewall but never on themselves (who turned out to be at fault). I find it refreshing to know that some companies know how to keep their customers in the loop with problems.

 

From my perspective Apple’s reaction has been fantastic! I have been one of the lucky ones who have had no trouble at all with MobileMe. Not only have I had flawless service, but I receive another three months of it for free! 

Thanks Apple!