TapLynx

This morning marked the launch of an app we’re very proud of which was created with TapLynx for global intelligence analyst giant, Stratfor.  Part of our excitement is that such an important company used TapLynx; another part of our excitement as it marks the first TapLynx-created app that allows for in-app purchasing and one of the first-ever content apps available on the iTunes app store that allows for this. (You can check out the Stratfor iPhone app here.

Why is this important you ask? In-app purchasing allows for an entirely new monetization channel (as opposed to only serving up ads). In-app purchasing essentially allows for a premium subscription model. People can download the Stratfor app for 30 days from the iTunes store. Thereafter, they can upgrade to Stratfor’s full-service app that is $9.99/mo entirely from within the app. This option has only recently been allowed by Apple and it marks the first app we’ve built that includes this new monetization option.

I should also let you know that we’re going to produce a webinar with our friends over at Stratfor that should be very instructive for both content publishers and iPhone app developers. We hope to produce this webinar in fairly short order and we’ll let you know here on this blog when you can download the webinar.

As you probably already know, rumors around Apple introducing a tablet have been ramping up over the holidays. This article in particular gives us some confidence in those rumors: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-to-demo-tablet-in-january-asks-developers-to-get-apps-ready-2009-12

If this is true, the device will run the iPhone OS and therefore can run your TapLynx apps. It’s likely we’ll have to make a few changes to the framework based on the dimensions of it, but Apple is always good about helping developers prepare for new devices.

Think about it: with TapLynx you create rich content based apps. News feeds, tweets, picture galleries, video, all of these are perfect forms of media for a larger device. We’re really looking forward to hearing more about the Apple tablet this coming new year.

See you in 2010!

TapLynx makes it incredibly easy for you to build content-rich iPhone apps without having to know Cocoa, and now our friends at O’Rielly are making it even easier for you by offering a free online course: “Learn How to Build iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.”

This course, which consists of five online sessions of 90-120 minutes between January 5 and February 2, will help teach you how to:

• Build working web apps from the iPhone, using HTML and CSS web standards
• Learn what a mobile web app is and how it differs from a native iPhone app
• Create gestures and animation using JavaScrip and the iUI and jQTouch libraries
• Integrate your web app with several iPhone features
• Build simple native iPhone apps using the TapLynx library — without programming!
• Learn how to build your newfound iPhone web app development skill

What’s sure to be of most interest to TapLynx users, the 4th session — which is at 11am PT on February 2, 2010 — is all about TapLynx! Instructor Elisabeth Robson will teach you how to create both a video-playing app and an RSS-based app using components from the TapLynx library.

Best thing? All this goodness is totally free.  Sign up here today!

Earlier this month we sent out a survey regarding iPhone app development to people who’d expressed interest in TapLynx. Nearly 250 people responded and we’d like to share the information with you. Note, partially in response to the results of the survey, we will be making some changes to the TapLynx pricing and you can look for those in the near future! Here are the results:

What types of iPhone apps are you making?

1. Content (news, entertainment): 39.3%
2. Utility: 36.2%
3. Other: 14.4%
4. Games: 10%

How many iPhone apps are you making for a fee?

1. One every two to three months: 50.7%
2. I’m not getting paid to make apps: 30.6%
3. One per month: 9.2%
4. Two to three per month: 7%
5. One per week: 2.6%

How do you charge to create an iPhone app?

1. Fixed bid based on specifications: 28.8%
2. Not getting paid to make apps: 27.9%
3. An hourly rate: 26.2%
4. Other: 9.2%
5. Standard apps with set pricing: 7.9%

How much are you charging — on average — per app you create?

1. Less than $1000: 33.6%
2. $5000 – $10,000: 19.7%
3. $1000 – $5000: 19.2%
4. More than $20,000: 14%
5. $10,000 – $20,000: 13.5%

How many hours does it take you to build the typical app?

1. 50-100: 32.3%
2. 100-200: 29.3%
3. 200+: 19.2%
4. Less than 50: 19.2%

How much time (hours) do you spend building out capabilities like navigation, feed parsing, image display, integration with Twitter/Facebook, and ad insertion per app?

1. Less than 50: 48.9%
2. Quite a bit for the first apps we built but now we have reusable libraries for all those things: 24%
3. 50-100: 21.8%
4. 100-200: 3.5%
5. 200+: 1.7%

We hope that you’ll find the answers to this survey as helpful and interesting as we did.  Once again, stay tuned for upcoming pricing changes from TapLynx!

Advertising Age has launched an iPhone application that was built with the help of the TapLynx SDK. AdAge is an industry leader as far as marketing and media intelligence is concerned, and with their new app you can stay up-to-date on the latest headlines, strategies, and global and agency news.

Download it here (link goes to the iTunes store): http://htxt.it/x0yy

You can also read AdAge’s post on the launch: http://adage.com/article?article_id=140933

In other news, NetNewsWire Premium has been nominated for the Best App Ever, so go here to vote! http://bestappever.com/c/nwap/331598976/nom

The latest podcast from the Mac Developer Network features Scotty hosting an interview with Brent and I to talk about TapLynx. We give an overview of the SDK and talk about some of the best features. It’s a fun, casual interview. If you don’t already listen to the Mac Developer Network podcasts, please do so! They are intertesting and informative.

http://www.mac-developer-network.com/shows/podcasts/mdnshow/mdn013/

I just stumbled across an article on CIO.com titled “Five Qualities of a Great iPhone App.”  The article provides a bunch of of good advice for iPhone App developers.  While not all of the suggestions may apply to the specific app you’re thinking of building, or building, there are still a lot of useful pointers.

The headlines for the 5 tips they point out:

• Give ‘Em A Reason
• 1 out of 100,000
• Don’t Go Overboard
• Make it About Me
• What’s My Reward

Hopefully that’s enough to pique your interest into reading the piece.

Do you have other best practices for iPhone App developers to add?  Leave ‘em in the comments section!