MacRumros is reporting that Apple has seeded another build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 to developers. This build (Build 10C519f), is 456.8MB in size, and reportedly makes 12 new changes, in addition to all of the changes made in the first build on Monday.
Apple is also asking developers to focus their testing on nearly 150 different areas. There are only four outstanding issues which involve video corruption, Core Data output, and System Preferences hanging.
Although it is early in the development cycle, increased build seeding is a fairly reliable indication that public release is right around the corner. As always, we’ll keep you posted.
Apple has seeded developers with a build (10C514f) of Mac OS X 10.6.2. This comes slightly less than a month after the 10.6.1 update was released to the public.
According to MacRumors, the build addresses many bugs in the following areas:
Address Book, AppleScript, AppleScriptObjC, ATS, ColorSync, Component Manager, Core Animation, Core Audio, Core Chinese Engine, Core Data, Core Graphics, Core Text, File Manager, Garbage Collection, Graphic drivers, Help Viewer, ImageKit, IOHIDFamily, Networking, NS Image, OpenCL, OpenGL, OSA, QT Kit, Speech Recognition, Sync Services, and Xtype.
The seed notes also include a warning regarding a optical drives. Supposedly the drives may not be recognized, the media may not eject, or DVD Player may hang.
Apple has sent an email to registered iPhone developers informing them of a new service Apple is providing to them. This new resource called the App Store Resource Center, is a site located in the iPhone Dev Center, and is only available to registered iPhone developers. This new resource is to aid developers in the app approval process.
We are pleased to introduce the App Store Resource Center, a single destination designed to make it easier for you to find details on everything you need to know about distributing your app on the App Store — from how to prepare for app submission to managing your app once it’s been posted.
Make sure you also check out the News and Announcements section of the iPhone Dev Center for tips on submitting your apps to the App Store, turnaround time for app review, new program features, and guidance on everything from development and testing to distribution and marketing.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has seeded a new build (Build 10B504) of Mac OS X 10.6.1 to developers. This build only has an incremental increase in build number over the first release of 10.6.1 about a weeks ago.
MacRumors:
Build 10B504 reportedly addresses only two documented issues, one related to crashing of Desktop Services in Finder, and a second related to excessive “dyld shared cache” Console messages. The dyld Console entries issue was the only known issue detailed in the seed notes of the previous build, and no such known issues are documented in Build 10B504.
What to make of this? Well, I’d say the new release couldn’t be too far out, due to the fact Apple is traditionally pretty quick about addressing bugs in their first release of software.
World of Apple has posted the seed notes associated with the currently unreleased Snow Leopard 10.6.1 (build 10B503) update. This update has only been released to a select group of developers, and details are limited. Here’s what we do know:
- compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
- an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
- some printer compatibility drivers not appearing properly in the add printer browser
- an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
- instances where automatic account setup in Mail might not work
- an issue where pressing cmd-opt-t in Mail brings up the special characters menu instead of moving a message
- Motion 4 becoming unresponsive
Snow Leopard was just released on August 28th, but Apple usually continues major development on their new operating systems after launch to ensure major bugs are worked out. In short, this update may not be far out for typical users. Also worth noting, this new build updates Adobe Flash to 10.0.32.18, covering any security concerns that may have arose from Snow Leopard downgrading Flash during installation.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has already begun seeding the first update to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. This update, 10.6.1, has been seeded to a select group of developers to gather feedback.
Those receiving the first builds are part of smaller, more exclusive seeding programs run by the Cupertino-based company. They traditionally operate on an invitation-only basis, unlike the Apple Developer Connection open all developers willing to pay membership fees.
The report also points out that traditionally when Apple seeds software to select developers, it usually takes a week or two before the rest of the community receives the same builds.
I would guess that this update may be available by the end of the month.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple is requesting developers to include keywords in their app submissions. This is an attempt to improve search results for applications. Developers are reportedly allowed 255 characters for their keywords, in actuality its 100 characters.
“It is important to enter keywords for all applications as soon as possible so your application can continue to be successfully located on the App Store,” the update from Apple reads. “Keywords can be updated with the submission of a new binary.”
This all follows announcements from last week’s conference call in where Apple officials stated that they were working on better categorization for Apps in the store.
Tuaw is reporting that Apple has now reinstated promo codes for iPhone applications that had received the 17+ rating in the app store.
As you may remember, Apple recently put an end to developers giving out promo codes for Apps with a rating of 17+. This new rule didn’t just affect apps with “mature” content. It prevented almost any app that came in contact with the internet from being promoted through these codes. These codes are a vital marketing tool for all developers and if the policy had continued, it could have hurt developers.
There has been no word yet on why Apple decided to reinstate the promo codes for these apps. One can only speculate some really nasty letters of complaint.
The App Store is obviously a huge success for Apple, this goes with out saying. With over 65,000 apps to choose from and 1.5 Billion downloads in the first year, Apple is smiling, with good reason.
Apple may be grinning from ear to ear, but that’s not the case for many developers. Granted, some have made a killing. Most have not, which brings me to an interesting thing said at Apple’s recent conference call.
Enter Mr. Charles Wolf analyst for Needham & Co. Wolf suggested in a question to Tim Cook COO of Apple, that there was a “race to the bottom” in the App Store.
What did Wolf mean by “race to the bottom”? In a word: Pricing.
With an unlimited supply at hand, and a series of developers that do this as a hobby and not as a living, they can afford to price their apps, which are often junky, at $.99. Developers looking to make substantial money are being deterred from charging more than a few bucks because they have to compete with crappy applications at low prices. This artificially dilutes the cost of applications of all calibers, because the public is too cheap to pay for better quality, and instead goes for the cheap stuff. This isn’t a fair fight.
Apple is simply bunching all of the apps together and letting them fight each other, effectively killing real competition. The best marketing tool an app developer can hope for is to sell enough product to show up on the “top 25 list” in the App Store. How do you get on this list? By selling the most, not by merit. Most of the apps on this list are $.99, meaning the chances of a $4.99 app grabbing a place on the list is almost non-existent.
This of course, is crap.
Mr. Craig Hockenberry, long time Macintosh developer summed up Apple’s view of the situation rather nicely in this tweet:
You may need 10,000 songs, but essential apps are < 10.
Exactly. Apple is running this show very similarly to how they run the music store. That approach works splendidly for music, not so much for apps. $.99 a song feels right. $.99 for a truly groundbreaking app feels cheap, and is cheap in any sense of the word.
This isn’t even considering the cascade of other problems the App Store has, like user/developer communication. You don’t need feedback from the music artist if you have a problem with a song, you do however need feedback from developers if you have a problem with an application. The same goes for developers, they need user feedback to continue to improve their apps.
So what is Apple doing to fix these problems? Nothing has been said yet on the communications problems, but back at the conference call, Cook did say that Apple had “some ideas” on how to improve the experience. So Apple is looking into the problem. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Wolf later wrote:
“In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric. More ominously, it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.”
This quote sums up everything I could hope to say about the App Store situation in far better language than I could ever conjure.
Clearly, the App Store is a success, possibly for the wrong reasons. Apple must address these pricing issues immediately if they hope to continue to see a growing thriving developer community in the App Store.
These are strictly my views and may not represent the views of other Mactropolis city counselors.
TUAW is reporting that developers can no longer issue promotional codes for any app with a 17+ rating.
When a developer publishes a new version of an app of to the App Store, they are issued 50 promotional codes to use as they see fit. The codes expire after 28 days, they can be used only one time, and developers can’t sell them. Even with these restrictions, the promo codes given to developers are an indispensable marketing tool.
The reason for Apple killing these promotion codes for 17+ rated apps appears to be that parental warnings are not currently displayed at the time they are redeemed.
This restriction doesn’t just affect the apps with “adult” content in them. This restriction affects any app that features an embedded web browser or provides access to third-party content. The reason being that these apps automatically receive the 17+ rating regardless of target audience. This means that relatively harmless apps like a Twitter client, or a Flickr client are affected. To get around this hurdle developers are having to send reviewers ad-hoc builds, or iTunes gift certificates as reimbursement for the cost of the app.
This is clearly a boneheaded move on Apple’s part. Now, I understand that Apple reserves the right to do whatever they see fit with the App Store, but this is a wrong move that could very well hurt development for the platform. If Apple wants to see the iPhone development community continue to thrive, they must stop this practice right now.
Recent Comments