2.x apps on 3.0

May 5th, 2009

Since the release of the first beta of the 3.0 SDK I’ve been checking if apps built for 2.x can run on it. Clearly this is something which Apple really should do, but a hint in the latest (beta4) release notes says this:

FIXED: Previously, the compiler incorrectly allowed synthesis of ivars belonging to a superclass. This caused crashes or other undefined behavior when the size of the superclass changed (such as running an application compiled against an older OS on iPhone OS 3.0.) The fixed compiler now generates an error when it encounters this condition. If you have shipped an application to customers, Apple recommends compiling against the 3.0 SDK and updating your existing application if the problem exists.

Now, does that mean that you’re going to have to release an update for apps which exhibit this problem for people on 3.0 to be able to use the app? Surely that cuts out people who upgrade, and if you update your app then it cuts out people who don’t upgrade? Lose-lost situation?

I started using the lovely json-framework for the iPhone but then suddenly found that if I compiled for anything greater than 2.1 for a device, that it would pop up with:

Codesign error: “object file format invalid or unsuitable”

It took me a long time to figure out what was going on, but thanks to a blog post, the fix is this:

On the project settings, on the build tab, search for “Code Signing Resource Rules Path” and set “$(SDKROOT)/ResourceRules.plist” as its value.

I’m not sure how it works as it looks like that is the path it already has, but hey, it seems to work!

Target Reached!

April 25th, 2009

Today I reached my target for what I had in mind when I created Subnet Calc Pro! I won’t disclose how much this is, but I can say that it’s more than I initially expected, but not enough for a monthly wage! It took me just under 3 months of sales to reach the target which in my opinion is pretty good.

My experience at getting from a non-iPhone developer to successful application selling on iTunes has been an interesting ride which I have enjoyed very much. It’s exciting to be part of what seems to be a great technological revolution.

My current efforts have been focussed on my new app, BeerMap which I am hoping shall be released soon!

WhoseRound: v1.0 Released

April 18th, 2009

Over the weekend my new application, WhoseRound, was released. This is a fun application which allows you to draw straws for deciding quite literally anything. Basically, whoever ends up with the red fingerprint is the person who has been chosen!

iPhone OS 3.0: My Thoughts

March 17th, 2009

Ok, there’ll be plenty of these kind of post floating around, but I wanted to get my thoughts written down anyway.

Before the iPhone event today, my thoughts on iPhone OS 3.0 were that it would be a worthwhile upgrade and I was excited to see what new features Apple had in store (you can ask anyone at my work and they’ll say how excited I was!). But it turned out that Apple went far above and beyond what I had expected…

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Subnet Calc Pro has now been out for just over a month and I can safely say that it’s had a lot more uptake than I thought it would! It’s not been massive in sales, but the best thing is that it has been steady. It’s not going to mean I can quit my day job, but it has meant I feel rewarded for my hard work of learning a whole new programming language, fighting through Apple’s tax forms and releasing an application.

I hadn’t had any reviews of Subnet Calc Pro, but I was using AppViz today and I noticed a review! I thought, oh it’ll just be a short one, but no, it was a full blown review! Awesome! And better still, it’s a glowing 5-star review which I thank you (whoever you are) very much for :-D .

The funniest bit of the review was where he says:

The only con I can see is “Organizer” is misspelled as “Organiser,” but no big deal. The concept is still there.

And if the only con is that I’m English and therefore, speak English, then woo!

Here is the review in full:

I must admit, I was initially skeptical when I saw this advertised. I immediately thought “oh, another subnet calculator, how novel.” Upon downloading and trying it out, I was amazed at it’s capabilities.

Pros:
1) Organizer – solid understanding of the radix (or binary if you prefer) tree when creating the subnet entry. Also the ability for it to calculate and display the host portion of the ip address so you can add a hostname and a description to each is a very nice touch. The use of the iPhone’s memory is also very efficient.

2) Finder – finally, an application that can aggregate! This excited me the most and it does work and give you an accurate prefix. Now, granted, any network admin is able to create a prefix summary in 2 seconds, but this is actually nice and convenient. In addition, you also get other useful info such as network id, broadcast, usable range, etc.

3) Calculator – handy feature to quickly help you break down any ip address with your cidr selection into the same useful information such as network id, subnet mask, usable range, maximum number of hosts, etc. Even better is you can see the addresses broken down into both binary and hexidecimal addresses which are both handy in their own rights.

4) Email data export – handy when you want to send a summary of what you had added in the organizer section.

The only con I can see is “Organizer” is misspelled as “Organiser,” but no big deal. The concept is still there.

Future suggestions (if the developer is taking any):
-calculate binary and/or hexidecimal to decimal format.
-Add screenshot to show off the Finder selection when advertising within iTunes.
-shorten the application’s name on the iPhone home screen. Currently, it shows as “Subne…cPro.”

Overall, a very nice job!

So, I immediately jumped on the review and I’ve changed the screenshots around to show the finder, which I had previously omitted from the screenshots (you only get chance to put a total of 5 up and I didn’t have room, but now the finder has taken priority over another one). I know I should make the application name shorter, but I didn’t know how I could shorten it really – any ideas? SCPro maybe?

SQLite Persistent Objects

February 12th, 2009

I have been playing with SQLite recently and toying with the idea of creating some kind of framework upon which I could build persistent data objects, much like the Zend way of doing things in Zend Framework for PHP. That was, until I came across SQLite Persistent Objects

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A few weeks ago, Softpedia reviewed Subnet Calc and classed it in their freeware picks section. So when I released Subnet Calc Pro I thought I’d let them know. They have kindly responded by reviewing Subnet Calc Pro.

Hopefully this will be the start of something more with respect to iPhone apps. I’ve got plans for others, which I will be starting work on one of them soon. It’s quite an interesting app which uses the GPS function of an iPhone which should be fun to try and play with!

How to market an iPhone app?

February 4th, 2009

Since releasing Subnet Calc Pro three days ago, I have been checking my sales stats each day. I released it at £2.39 / $3.99 because I figured it’s quite a niche application and there’s plenty of 59p / 99c ones out there which are just a copy of Subnet Calc – i.e. not including all the extra features of Subnet Calc Pro. I’m not really sure where to go with the application because I have sold 6 copies in 2 full days of sales and I know it’s very early, but this is kind of what I expected to be honest. I’ve done absolutely no marketing so I am just going on people finding it themselves on the App Store.

So I’m now considering what I should do regarding marketing… should I do some advertising? Subnet Calc was reviewed by Softpedia as an app which “you’ll have remorse not paying for”, so perhaps I should contact them. Or maybe even I should use promotional codes to try getting some decent reviews.

Any comments, ideas, advice anyone?

First sale!

February 2nd, 2009

I’ve checked my reports on the iTunes Connect page and I noticed that one person in the US has bought Subnet Calc Pro already! Many thanks for the purchase if you are reading this.

I really hope that people like it…

I feel that I worked extremely hard on it and it was at a stage where it was ready to be released. However, I do plan to release updates in the future as and when I implement new functionality. I do have some plans, but any feature requests are much appreciated – simply pop over to the application page and submit a comment saying what you’d like to see.