QR codes have been around for a while now, but I’ve yet to see a great example of them in the wild. They mostly seem a marketing tool to send brochures or 20c off coupons. Tesco Korea have just experimented with a massive QR code installation in the subway. They’ve mimicked exact grocery store shelves with QR codes users can scan, so as they wait for the subway users can order their groceries and get them delivered to their house while they’re on the train.
The cynic in me wonders why they didn’t just create an app or a mobile website, but users seemed to really like the visual layout like a store, and changing waiting time (at the station) to useful shopping time.
It’s been incredible effective, with online sales increasing by 130%.
Once you actively skew your apps to reach the whole world, the App Store is great. How could we have possibly sold in 70 markets in two weeks with relatively limited marketing before?
Those clever folk over at Tap Tap Tap have released a lovely infographic to celebrate their 3 millionth download of Camera+
We’re suckers for a good infographic, and they’ve released some gems with this one. No surprise to see their highest sales day was Christmas, earning them a whopping $54,662 in the one day. Not bad for a 99c app. Also no surprise to see the cat to human ratio in users’ photos is over 11 to 1 (in favor of cats, naturally).
I love that the entire app was created / is managed by 8 people all working remotely. It reminds me of early days at pinch/zoom – I do not miss those 5am Sydney starts one bit. I feel for their poor lead programmer in New Zealand – I bet he’s the one who has either the earliest mornings or the latest nights.
It’s great to see Tap Tap Tap openly releasing statistics about their app – would love to see more of this.
This last weekend saw the official kickoff to summer with a celebration of the Solstice at the Fremont Fair. We opened our office for an impromptu BBQ and to hide from the rain and watch the parade – not many companies can watch one of their iOS developers hula-hooping down the street. Check out this video to see Amanda, one of our iOS devs in action.
We’re also hosting the Seattle Media Technology Group next Wednesday night. Come along and meet UX designers, software developers, product managers, and hobbyists/enthusiasts exchanging ideas, innovations and trends in mobile applications for video/film, streaming media, rights management, dedicated devices, 10’ UIs and whatever else seems right.
pinch/zoom iOS developers Scott Dierdorf and Amanda Shumack just returned from WWDC full of inspiration and excitement about the newest developments for everything iOS related. Join us for this special All-Nerd edition of The Context where Scott and Amanda talk about their experience at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference and get a developer’s-eye view of the keynote, iCloud, Newsstand and other new features in iOS 5.
When I first heard Ethan would be writing a book on Responsive Web Design (RWD) I was really excited. Surprised? While Ethan and I have had our public differences over RWD, and its application to mobile, there is no one better than Ethan at explaining this concept. After all it was Ethan who years ago got me to understand fluid grids and type. Yes, I’m fully aware it is his concept.
So I’m glad that after reading the book I wasn’t disappointed. Ethan explains with clarity and humor the tenants of responsive web design. For those who aren’t familiar with responsive web design, it generally encompasses:
Flexible grids
Fluid images and media
Media queries
As he walks you through each step, the concepts and techniques build upon each other. In the end you’ve taken a static fixed site and converted it to a fully responsively designed web page. One document’s layout and media adapts to changing viewports it’s viewed in. It’s not an easy task making such complex technique accessible and Ethan does it well.
The last chapter of the book touches on a few other topics around implementing workflow that supports responsive web design. From breaking points (what resolution to start changing the layout), mobile first responsive web design, to working in teams to accomplish a common goal.
It’s this last chapter where I disagree a bit with the esteemed author.
Responsive web design’s core is based in serving up one document no matter what device it’s viewed on, the “one web” philosophy. While I agree that the responsive web design approach has its uses for some sites, I don’t believe it’s a catch all for all devices. There are compelling reasons to serve up different content, such a creating an experience that matches the device and the context in which its viewed.
In the end though, this is a great book to get your head around responsive web design. How and if you should implement it is up to you, your business goals, user goals and what experience you are trying to create across multiple browsers. I’m personally looking forward to seeing what comes from this and how we start to tackle the growing issue of multiple devices.
Here at pinch/zoom we always get clients asking the same thing, over and over. This is by no means a bad thing, it just reaffirms our role as mobile educators and not merely designers and developers.
Every project is unique and each client has their own unique problem they approach us to solve on their behalf. The problem is, on each of these unique journeys, we hit a lot of very common and repetitive roadblocks.
What is the mobile ecosystem and why should I care? What is device fragmentation and will it cost me money? HTML5 is finally supported on the iPhone and will fix all my problems, right?
These questions can often lead to lengthy discussions with your agency or developers but it’s definitely handy to start with a small pocket of knowledge on each topic.
This is why we have created Mobile Bits , collective bits of knowledge about design & development for mobile.
Have a look and pass it around if you find it useful, we’ll be updating frequently (and ironing out a few bugs) with no shortage of mobile topics in the near future. Enjoy!
The sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke coined Clarke’s Three Laws, one of which predicted “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
The Magician Technologist Marco Tempest (that’s a mouthful) just combined both with “iPod Magic” (well, technically it’s iPhone Magic). I’m such a sucker for magic tricks, and this is a really gorgeous, well coordinated video.
For all you visual and illusionist types, Marco has generously made the application he used to sync the iPhones, MultiVid available for free so get cracking – go out there and make some magic.
My biggest gripe with travelling internationally is how quickly my smart-phone becomes a dumb-phone without access to data. International data roaming charges are absolute thievery from the carriers – I once loaded google maps on my iPhone when I was roaming and when I received my bill I had data roaming charges of $800 for about 4 screens of maps. For that I could have hired a limo and a couple of personal guides to show me the way.
The Open Mobile Summit has been on in London for the last few days, and international data roaming was on the agenda.
The consensus from panelists in the first major discussion of the Open Mobile Summit in London today was that mobile data access will increasingly be bundled with paid apps as operators push to develop more efficient ways of using an overstretched mobile spectrum. That might see Angry Birds, for example, available to use even on overseas roaming at no extra cost.
I’m not so excited about Angry Birds bundling data because it’s a game that doesn’t really require that much data (apart from the Christmas specials), and they can be downloaded before you leave or on Wifi. It’s more access to email, maps and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter that require a data access. Well, that and access to Words with Friends.
Deutsche Telekom’s senior vice president of mobile products, Dr Rainer Deutschmann, said the company has already introduced an easier to manage data roaming service which lets customers login online to buy day passes.
“There should be lots of innovation in the way we provide connectivity. That might include paying $5 to speed up one particular download, or like our roaming day pass, an alert that lets you know when you’re used 80% of that allowance.” Deutschmann pointed to Facebook Zero, a free, paired-down Facebook service that the social network has negotiated with local operators. “Freemium apps are not truly freemium because users still have to pay for access.”
“We need spill, entry-level tariffs for people who haven’t used a smartphone before, another tariff for advanced users and another for business. It’s not just about downloads, but about speeds for example, or getting a package designed to optimise games.”
I’m not sure why the networks haven’t done this already, but day passes are a great idea. At the moment I usually take two phones with me and buy a local pay-as-you-go usim for data access, but it’s a pretty clunky process. I’m happy to pay my carrier for the data, as long as it’s a reasonable cost and not $800 for 2MB.
Hopefully the wheels are in motion to make data roaming a little more accessible.
The Icelandic singer Björk has always been light years ahead of her time (nobody would look twice at that swan dress if it were on Lady Gaga today). Technology is no exception, with her new album, Biophilia, to be released for iPad as a series of apps rather than a CD with a series of tracks.
Biophilia for iPad will include around 10 separate apps, all housed within one “mother” app. Each of the smaller apps will relate to a different track from the album, allowing people to explore and interact with the song’s themes or even make a completely new version. It will also be an evolving entity that will grow as and when the album’s release schedule dictates, with new elements added. Scott Snibbe, an interactive artist who was commissioned by Björk last summer to produce the app, as well as the images for the live shows (which will combine his visuals with National Geographic imagery, mixed live from iPads on the stage), describes how Björk saw the possibilities of using apps, not as separate to the music, but as a vital component of the whole project.
I’m really excited about this as I’d love to see music really pushing the boundaries of what’s technically possible. It seems the perfect medium to explore on iPad, with such beautiful visuals and user interaction – can’t wait for the new album, which I believe will be in the iTunes app store towards the end of June.
