I've been making my rounds across the web since Windows 95.
You can find me consulting on the next generation of social media, advising companies on the iPhone development platform and doing a spot of web design here and there.
I’ve have a MobileMe subscription for just under three years, and overall I’ve been pretty pleased with it. One of the most compelling reasons in purchasing and renewing, for me, was iDisk, Apple’s take on storage in the cloud. Though it hasn’t been without it’s bumps, I think the platform as a whole is getting there. Especially if your consider the release of their latest offering: iDisk for the iPhone allows you to remotely manage your MobileMe files from anywhere with a data connection, even enabling you to store up to 200 MB of local data helping to improve performance.
One of my favourite features has to be the ability to view a large handful of popular formats, right from the iPhone. Reading PDF reports just got a whole lot easier! If this going to push you over the edge into buying a MobileMe subscription for yourself, or is it just another gimmick? Sound off in the comments.
Back when Apple first launched the iPhone in June 2007, there were only a hand full of applications, these came pre-installed on the phone.
It's now been just over a year since the release of the SDK and we've seen ~65,000 applications hit the iTunes App Store, granted, most of these aren't worth downloading, but the 1% that make up the majority of downloads are what drive momentum for the platform.
I regularly check for updates to my library, probably more often than I should, but that comes part-and-parcel of being a geek.
It wasn't until today that I noticed something strange while I was putting together a list of applications that I have yet to review, I came across 'Critter Crunch', of the first iPhone applications I downloaded.
So, naturally I went to the App Store to rate the latest version, but according to Apple, I hadn't purchased the app, meaning I was restricted from submitting a review. That seems a little strange, considering that 'Critter Crunch' is sitting on my iPhone as I type up this post.
Knowing my way around the App store, I pretty much knew why iTunes thought I hadn't purchased this app.
Technically speaking, I haven't purchased 'Critter Crunch', from it's current owner anyway. Because you see, this applications, along with a few other note worth sales, such as 'Where To?' was purchase by another development company.
That in itself wouldn't be a big deal, but it's the fact that I'm no longer entitled to updates, which grates on me. If you're going to develop an application with the intention of selling it, the least you can do is protect your customers for future updates.
OK, so I don't know the circumstance surrounding this particular purchase, but the short and curlies of it come down to Capybara Games selling the rights for distribution to Starwave Mobile. I mean come on guys, it's not a lot of money, but there are certain expectations. I have no intention of repurchasing the same application, just for future updates.
If you've had this experience with another application on the App store, or have something to add? Sound off in the comments.
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