Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I don’t have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do — they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just don’t (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. I’ve been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I can’t say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there’s another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We’re not talking a work reason here (I don’t think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac — though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS — that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new “GameCenter” in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I don’t have a need myself, and I’m certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about “CrossOver Mac,” here’s why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter.  She’s also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I’d help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called “Parallels” and “VMware Fusion,” either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think).  And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn’t like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month — plus a friend, Steve Borsch, told me Windows doesn’t really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another local friend, Gary Doan, said, “Wait, what about Boot Camp? That won’t cost you anything.” Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk — and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry’s here in MN). You can’t even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter’s Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1G to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2G. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didn’t want to do. I thought, wait a minute, we’re getting close to $200 here — for something we really don’t want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend’s tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her I’d gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldn’t have to invest any time at all if we went with this option.  Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, we’re both happy.

Which brings me to the subject of my post: there’s a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac — and it might just work for you.  I wish I’d have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money).  It’s a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

CrossOver Mac integrates seamlessly with Mac OSX. There’s no need to boot a separate Windows partition, or move files back and forth between two separate environments. It lets you work natively in Mac OSX — you run your Windows apps directly in OSX and save all your work files there as well. And here’s a key point: running just one operating system means faster performance as well. (Yes, that means better than Parallels and VMware Fusion.) Running on OSX also means that even if you’re running virus-prone applications like Outlook and Internet Explorer, you’re completely protected. But here’s the best thing of all, you need no Windows OS license! That’s right: you don’t need spend that additional money; you just pay for the very reasonably priced CrossOver program.

It comes in two versions: Standard at $39.95 and Pro at $69.95, and both are of course downloadable. And, yes, there’s a free trial. The system requirements to run CrossOver are really pretty simple.  And check out the list of supported Windows apps near the bottom of the product page — all the major ones you would expect.  But what if you want to use a Windows app that isn’t listed in their database? Does that mean that it won’t run under CrossOver? Here’s what CodeWeavers says: “Not necessarily. Many applications work perfectly under CrossOver without any modification whatsoever. However, we may simply not be aware of them. So, just because an application isn’t in our database doesn’t mean that your application won’t run. You might consider downloading the trial version of CrossOver to see if your application works. And if it does, please consider submitting it so that it makes it into the database.”

For more resources and links on CrossOver Mac, check out this nice video, and the company’s online  Support Forums are quite active.  You can also follow CodeWeavers on Facebook or on Twitter.

I learned at a recent business seminar at my local Apple Store that CrossOver Mac is available in pretty much every one of Apple’s stores. You may have to ask a staff member for it, since they may store it in the back room, but it’s there, according to James Ramey, the company’s head of sales, who gave a talk at the seminar. The title on his business card:  “Minister of Greed”… hah!  You have to admire a company with some seriously good products, but also a sense of humor — and not afraid to put it out there. Check out this news release they put out a few weeks ago:

CodeWeavers CEO Names Himself “Employee of the Month” for 175th Consecutive Month
Software Developer CodeWeavers Leader Calls Feat “Jack Welchian” as He Awards Himself Honorary Plaque

The only Codeweavers press release funnier than this one was from July of 2009:

Codeweavers to Overtake Microsoft by 2018
Current Sales Trend Indicates Gadfly Open Source Developers Will Be Nation’s Largest Provider of Windows Technology; Microsoft Imperiled CodeWeavers Offers to Buy Microsoft Campus “On Credit”

The company manages this unique approach to publicity under the guidance of Minneapolis PR firm Haberman & Associates, one of the best (and most unsung) here in the Twin Cities. As a marketing advisor to tech firms, I take my hat off to them.

And I thank CodeWeavers for helping massive numbers of people (me included) to avoid buying Windows.

One more thing: I forgot to mention CrossOver Mac is based on the Wine Project. Thank your local Linux geek for that!  Also note that CodeWeavers has two other very popular products: “CrossOver Games” and “CrossOver Linux.”

(Note:  This post appeared first at Tech~Surf~Blog.)

MN Company Lets You Run Windows Apps on a Mac – the Easy Way is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

St. Cloud-based W3i is in the app distribution business — in a big, profitable way (33 successive quarters thereof).  But till now that business has been all about desktop apps, and Windows only. Well, mark down yesterday as the day they entered the world of mobile, with this bombshell: W3i Launches New Incented Mobile App Distribution Service for iOS App Developers.  A separate version of the release, for consumers, gets more to the benefit: Consumers Can Now Earn Rewards for Installing Apps.  Those rewards, my friends, would be cash — for consumers who register at a W3i site called Apperang.com.

Naturally, app fanboys and girls everywhere loved the news — after reading about it on some of the sites they frequent the most.  TechCrunch (MobileCrunch) ran this story: Apperang Pays You Cash to Download iPhone Apps… Ka-Ching! And VentureBeat (MobileBeat) ran concurrently — amazing how that happens — with their take: Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang.  Numerous other sites and blogs picked up on it immediately, and Twitter was going crazy on it (just search on hashtags #apperang and #w3i).  [Oh, sure, there was a story in the StarTrib last week, too, but that didn't light up much of anything... <rimshot>]

I asked the CEO of a local app development company for his reaction to this W3i news, from a business perspective:  ”The model and integration W3i has developed for desktop distribution has been a huge success in the past, so I wouldn’t bet against them on making their mobile version a success,” said Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp Inc. “For developers wanting to get a core base of users fast, it makes sense to use this service. The key will be how long those users keep your app, because that’s where the return on investment is.”

I also asked one of Minnesota’s most experienced iPhone app developers for his reaction: “Will app publishers readily jump to use this type of service? Small developers, maybe,” said Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. “But small developers may not have budget to support this type of promotion… Will it be enough to hit the tipping point for more organic sales because of a higher App Store ranking? Well, ultimately, it would depend on how much a company wants to spend to buy a ranking.”

But, actually, W3i signed on some pretty successful big developers for its private beta before the announcement yesterday (the service is now in public beta).  That list of launch advertisers — just those that let W3i use their names for PR purposes — includes these firms, with the name of their app in parentheses: Big Stack Studios (Sigma), Inert Soap (FingerZilla), Booyah (MyTown), Gist (Gist), Thinking Ape (Kingdoms at War), Flixster (Movies), Slacker Inc (Slacker Radio), xCube Labs (My Health Records – Health n Family), and infinidycorp (Zombies vs. Aliens).

I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a lot more, as W3i tells me they are crazy-busy now following up with other app companies who are inquiring.

(Disclosure: the author has had a consulting relationship with W3i for providing PR services.)

W3i Lights Up the ‘Net with Its Latest App News is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

We revisit Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) through Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s experiences talking about the new iPhone 4 and his reliance on the iPad and HTC EVO 4G on his trip. Many other related subjects are explored to their logical conclusions.

Show Hosts: Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Steve Borsch was away this week).

Music by AjT “Apple Chunk Guitar” from Music Alley.

Discussed during the podcast:

iPhone 4 live blogs: Engadget | gdgt

Julio’s impressions of iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO 4G  on Your Tech Weblog

Simplenote app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Reeder app for iPhone and iPod Touch

Read It Later

Instapaper

Pulse News Reader app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Readability

Safari 5 Extensions blog

Xmarks extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari

Apple TV Rumors at Engadget

Julio’s “Twitter Means Business” book website

Julio’s latest TWiT appearance

Events:

Social Media Breakfast, Twin Cities

fontconf

Unsummit 2010

MIMA “Crowd Source/User Generated Content with John Winsor” Event

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 82: Vicarious WWDC is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

As Minnesotans continue to embrace the always-on and always-connected online world — and mobile startups here continue to clock millions of app downloads with their offerings — there is no question that our ability to richly communicate with one another, be more productive, work when and where we want to, and have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips (provided our mobile carrier connection is operational!) took a big leap forward today with Apple’s introduction of iPhone 4.

Taking the stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) Monday, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone, a product we unfortunately had already seen in some detail due to April’s leak at tech site Gizmodo, but still eagerly anticipated.

Priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (same as the previous generation 3GS now priced at $99) iPhone 4′s features are impressive: a 5 megapixel camera (which Jobs pointed out was technically far superior to other smartphone manufacturers with even more megapixels); a camera in the front for videoconferencing and one in the back for photos; the rear camera lit with an LED flash; and recording software for HD video capture; and a 960 x 420 display that’s roughly twice the resolution as the 3GS model, now rendered permanently inferior to this new model with its cutting edge features.

The operating system driving this new phone, dubbed “iOS4″ instead of “iPhone OS 4″ since it will also be available to run the iPad come Fall, adds multitasking, clustering apps in “folders” and more. These features are key to keeping up with competitors — like that of Google’s Android operating system running devices such as the recently shipped HTC Evo 4 — but many pundits and bloggers are dissecting Jobs’ keynote and some are wondering if this new hardware and software will be enough to stave off competitors (like Google) and keep the iPhone sales momentum going?

According to analyst firm Nielsen in their “iPhone vs. Android” report, “As of Q1 ‘10, Nielsen data shows that 23% of mobile consumers now have a smartphone, up from just 16% in Q2 ‘09. Between Q4 ’09 and Q1 ’10, Android and iPhone’s share of the smartphone market grew by 2% each. At the same time, smartphone leader Blackberry lost 2% share to fall to 35% of all smartphones while Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS also lost 2% to fall to 19%.”

While this data certainly indicates that Google is accelerating and iPhone sales continue to grow — though this data was compiled before today’s iPhone 4 release as well as Friday’s introduction at Sprint of the HTC Evo 4.

About the Sprint HTC Evo 4 release — a smartphone that runs Google’s Android operating system, Fortune magazine wrote Monday that, ”Friday sales of HTC EVO 4G marked the largest quantity of a single phone sold in one day ever for Sprint – the record was previously held by both Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre. In addition, the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined.

So, take the two previous record holders, tally up both of their sales for their first three days. The EVO sold three times that total in just one day. Estimates were for 50,000 to 100,000 Pres at launch so that would put EVO somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000 units.”

Pretty impressive numbers and it shows that the iPhone — the now “old” 3GS or this new iPhone 4 shipping June 24th — has good competition from Google and the handset manufacturers who’ve opted to leverage the Android operating system. Though Google’s debut in the smartphone OS space is intriguing, counting out Microsoft, RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (and what HP might do with their recent acquisition of Palm) would be a mistake since each has strengths that will likely see each of them growing market share in the mobile arena.

Is iPhone 4 enough? That’s an open-ended question without a specific answer, but suffice to say that the dozens of heavy use iPhone users I know are all going to upgrade to iPhone 4 (as am I). Using the HTC Evo 4 last evening at a Best Buy store it was clear the operating system is nowhere near as elegant and responsive as the iPhones, though I’ll admit it had a better display, camera and was faster than the iPhone 3GS I had in my pocket.

Comparing the brand new HTC Evo 4 (currently state of the art in Android phones) with my “old” 3GS version isn’t a fair comparison. A better one would be comparing the HTC Evo 4 with this new iPhone 4. Doing so will demonstrate that Apple just made another quantum leap forward in a smartphone experience which is likely to continue to accelerate Apple’s sales of iPhones within the globally growing mobile category.

iPhone 4: Is it enough? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This past week, I thought it would be an interesting little project for me to do a survey of sorts as the basis for this blog post. What I did (totally unscientific, I admit) was ask all the Twin Cities-area mobile developers I happened to know just how many apps they have on the two major platforms, Apple and Android, and how many users have downloaded their apps to date.  It turned into a bigger project than I thought!  It required a lot of back-and-forth emails to clarify all their current offerings.  But I’ve sorted it all out as best I can, and you’ll see the results of that survey in the second half of this post.

The two most-experienced mobile app development firms in Minnesota I have known quite well for some time, having been a consultant to both in the past: DoApp and CodeMorphic.  These two firms began developing for the iPhone platform as soon as Apple released the SDK in March 2008, and had their first creations in the App Store from the get-go, in the case of DoApp (July 2008), and CodeMorphic soon after. So, it was no surprise to me, then, that these two have the largest numbers of downloads locally. But many more Minnesota developers jumped in after them, and still are jumping in. In fact, I learn about a new one almost weekly. Some publish apps in their own name, some only for clients, and some do both. (For apps developed for-hire for client companies, developers cannot track ongoing download numbers in real time — only their clients know, unless they tell them or otherwise publicize the numbers. But the developers can certainly make educated guesses, which some of them did for me for my survey.) What triggered this idea for a post was a news announcement one of the two big local development firms just put out …

DoApp Inc. Announces One Million Downloads of Its “Mobile Local News” App

Actually, it’s not one app; there are more than 100 of these DoApp “MLN” apps out there, because that’s how many customers (media outlets) have signed up with DoApp to date to use what is really an “app platform.”  It allows DoApp’s customers — TV news stations, newspapers, online publications, and radio stations — to easily brand the app for themselves and deliver their content via smart phones and other mobile devices, including the Apple iPad.  (DoApp has not yet submitted to Apple an app designed specifically for the iPad, though its many iPhone apps do work on that new device.) In its recent announcement, DoApp counted downloads for all its locally-branded Mobile Local News apps, including both Apple and Android downloads, in saying they have surpassed the one million number. The company first made the Mobile Local News app available in April 2009. For more about all of DoApp’s products, see the company’s web site.   (In the photo: Joe Sriver, center, Founder; Wade Beavers, left, CEO; and Dave Borrillo, VP-Software Development.) I conducted an email interview with DoApp founder Joe Sriver to learn more about the current status of his company’s Mobile Local News app business, which follows….

First, here’s a map showing U.S. coverage of DoApp Mobile Local News apps. Click on it to go a page that also lists, below the map, all the media properties throughout the country that have the company’s app.

Minnov8: Just out of curiosity, Joe, what percentage of the one million downloads you’re announcing for Mobile Local News are iPhone vs. Android?
Sriver: “Currently, the breakdown is about 60/40 in favor of the iPhone. Android has really been gaining a lot of ground in the last year. 2010 is a big year for Android.  We are seeing over 49 different brands of Android phones that are tapping our MLN app — a challenge to maintain.”

Minnov8: How many of your existing customers for this app offer both iPhone and Android versions? Does our local WCCO-TV, your first customer, offer both?
Sriver: “Our platform offers the native iPhone and Android versions for all our media outlet customers — WCCO included. We will also have a Blackberry WAP version debuting in the next month.  We’re seeing a new influx of iPad users accessing the news, too, so let’s just say we will have an iPad solution soon.”

Minnov8: Most all your customers for this app appear to be TV stations. Are any radio stations or newspapers signed up yet? Do you expect more of the latter two?
Sriver: “We have been signing newspapers as well.  In the last few months, we signed Journal Communications, which includes Milwaukee’s Journal-Sentinel, and the Los Angeles News Group, which includes several newspapers in the LA area. Our SBT News app serves the newspaper in South Bend, Indiana.  We have also signed Swift Communications, whose properties include many newspapers in the western and northwestern U.S.  With our recent announcements, a flurry of radio stations are contacting us, and our first radio station app will be out in the first week of May.”

Minnov8: How much are you seeing media outlets developing their own custom, native apps for mobile devices — as opposed to simply skinning your app and configuring it for use with their local audiences?  What’s the difference in time and money with your approach?
Sriver: “We’ve talked to many media outlets. A few of them have decided to do development in-house. Many of them call us back a few months later after they realize all the development requirements for iPhone and Android. They tell us our Mobile Local News solution is the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient method to bring their content to mobile. The money difference is huge for them because its the support that kills them, and we have a solution that fits to scale.  We’ve done nine major enhancements in 12 months already, and for a property to do so is a huge resource drain.  It’s just tough to keep up with technology.”

Minnov8: How does DoApp Inc. make money from this app — licensing?  Revenue share? Where does your “Adagogo” ad platform fit in here?  What portion of your customers for this app have ads appearing on it?  What revenue do you make from ads that appear on the app?
Sriver: “We offer a subscription model where stations can receive 100% of revenue from advertisements, or an advertising revenue share model, where news organizations pay a small set up fee and then share advertising revenue with DoApp.”

Minnov8: Are all current customers for the app in the U.S.? If so, any plans to pursue business in other countries?
Sriver: “Yes, all current news entities who use Mobile Local News are in the U.S.  We do have plans for news organizations in other countries. We can support translations right now, and we are working to reach out to the growing Spanish-speaking consumer market.”

Minnov8: Your original partner for the Mobile Local News platform was Inergize Digital Media of Minneapolis — and I remember having the initial discussion with them on your behalf in the fall of 2008. What role do they play? What percentage of the media outlets that have signed up to use your app were existing customers of theirs?  And what revenue split does Inergize get from this partnership?
Sriver: “Inergize brought many of their existing stations who used their web solution to the mobile platform via DoApp’s Mobile Local News. We’re working to establish other relationships and also extending our direct model to TV news/radio/newspaper properties.  The relationship works like this: DoApp provides Inergize’s partner stations with the DoApp Mobile Local News mobile publishing solution. A percentage of ad revenue goes to the station or newspaper, Inergize, and DoApp.”

Minnov8: What does 2010 hold for DoApp? What portion of your overall revenues do you expect will come from the Mobile Local News and Adagogo combined?
Sriver: “We will continue to build our base of news entities who use Mobile Local News.  MLN is the most popular platform for mobile news delivery in the U.S.  Our Adagogo ad platform is currently being used on all Mobile Local News apps. We will continue to grow Adagogo as well. DoApp is also focusing on mobile real estate. We have created what is arguably the most advanced real estate solution, combining cost savings capabilities for agents with simplicity for their clients — allowing mobile access anytime, anywhere via smart phones and other mobile devices.”

So, what about DoApp’s total stats, for all their apps?  Here are the numbers I got from Joe:

-What is the total number of apps DoApp has had accepted into the App Store? iPhone: 125 (all but about 15 are Mobile Local News apps). Android: 110.
-Paid vs. Free? iPhone: 4 are paid apps, the rest are free. Android: all are free.
-What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? iPhone: 4.5 million. Android: 600,000.  Total= 5.1 million.

So, where do other Minnesota developers stand as far as downloads?  Well, here’s that unofficial survey of mine, with respondents in alphabetical order, by company name.  The first happens to be the other large player in the iPhone market I referred to earlier, who may in fact have the largest number of downloads of all, although that cannot be verified:

CodeMorphic – Bill Heyman, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 50. (All under the names of clients.)
-Paid vs. Free? 20 paid, 30 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? CodeMorphic provided a conservative estimate (because its clients have the download figures): 3-5 million.  The most popular of CodeMorphic’s apps has been the NPR Public Radio Player, which the firm said had 2.5M downloads as of two months ago. It also did MPR’s app. Its other popular apps include the “Smarter Agent” real-estate app. Some national brands CodeMophic has done apps for do not allow the firm to publicly disclose them as clients, but these apps have broad reach, too. To see a selection of some of  CodeMorphic’s apps, see the firm’s portfolio page.)
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None yet.

Mentormate – Bjorn Stansvik, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 1 (“MigraineMate”).
-Paid vs. Free? Free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 858.
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None yet. (“LocationMate app to be launched, for both iPhone and Android.”)

Mobile On Services Inc. (BuildAnApp.com) – Scott Pearson, VP-Business Development - UPDATED
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 22. (“We’re still in beta.”)
-Paid vs. Free? All free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 4,000 iPhone, 500 Android. (“Will be a much different story in a couple of months.”)
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? Yes, 12.

MobileRealtyApps.com, and Performant Design LLC – Aaron Kardell, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 4. (“Soon to be 5.”)
-Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 2 free. (“Soon to be 2 paid, 3 free.”)
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 20,000.
-Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? No. (“But coming soon.”)

Mobile Roots – Lynn Smith, CEO/Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 5. (Three are under Lynn’s name; two apps were developed by Mobile Roots for clients: “Margaret for Governor” and “Brazelton for House.” Two more apps are in development for political candidates.)
-Paid vs. Free? 1 paid (“What the Funkytown!” – $0.99), 4 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? 3,270.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (“But releasing our first next week.”)

Recursive Awesome – Justin Grammens, Cofounder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 7 public apps in the App Store; also 5 private apps for one client, which are installed using the limited “AdHoc” distribution method, whereby each app is manually installed on individual Apple devices.
-Paid vs. Free? 1 paid, 7 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? Estimate provided: 850,000.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Yes, 6 — 1 paid, 5 free, and 1 in private development. Estimated total downloads for these: 60,000.

Refactr – Ben Edwards, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 2. (“And 2 more submitted.”)
-Paid vs. Free? All free to date.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps? One app built for Mayo Clinic: download number not known. The firm says its own app, “Flashbang,” has been downloaded about 20,000 times.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? None yet.

Tiny Mission – Bekki Freeman, Founder
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 3.
-Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 1 free.
-What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps to date? 1600.
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (But “working on it as fast as we can type!”).

One thing that occurred to me as I was working on this survey over the past few days: it isn’t just software development firms that doing mobile apps — many of those being firms that do development-for-hire, and some of which are doing self-publishing of their own apps.  But there are also other types of local firms that are developing their own apps, some in-house, including startups whose initial product is a mobile offering, or has a mobile version. One such startup I just learned about is this one, based in Stillwater:

Nibi Software – Troy Peterson, CEO
-What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App Store? 1. (“An educational app called Nibipedia, which mashes all the educational Youtube channels with Wikipedia articles — so that, when reading an article, the app recommends relevant videos. It also tracks your research path for you so you can review later. We have several other apps in the queue. Apple makes taking an idea from conception to market so much easier than with traditional web apps. We’re stoked.”)
-Paid vs. Free? Paid – $1.99. (“But we’re offering it to teachers in our Facebook Group for free.” Presumably, that would be via the AdHoc distribution method.)
-What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? No specific number reported. (“It was just released, and has not been promoted. But we’ve had several hundred downloads already from people who became aware of it in the educational marketplace. It’s really designed for the larger display screen of the iPad, so we are setting to work to promote that in the next few weeks.” Presumably, that would mean an iPad-specific version of the app is coming.)
-Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Not yet. (“But we’re going to, for sure.”)

A footnote: I only contacted firms that I know to be developing for the Apple or Android platforms, but I make no claims that this is a complete list. One firm I contacted that chose not to report its numbers at this time was Handcast Media Labs, creators of the “SparkRadio” app (one of my personal favs), which is available for both the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad platforms. Another developer I contacted did not respond: Dan Grigsby, who was head of MobileOrchard.com, a company he announced recently he was shutting down.

Now we want your input: Who have we missed? Are you a developer doing mobile apps? Do you know of a Minnesota company that has released iPhone or Android apps?  Is your mother doing iPhone apps? How about firms based outside the Twin Cities? If so, please tell us in the comments!  Also tell us what apps you like.  And, lastly… is the iPad better than sex?

MN Mobile Developers Clocking Millions of Downloads is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music by George Fletcher’s Bourbon Renewal with the The Tequila Mockingbirds and the tune is “Rumble Groove“. Brought to you by Music Alley

DISCUSSED DURING THE SHOW NOTES:
+ FiRe: local iPhone audio app made by Audiofile Engineering in Minneapolis and used for last week’s podcast
+ Blue’s Mikey microphone for iPhone/iPod (Note that FiRe is available with this mic)
+ Comcast FCC ruling
+ Julio’s book called “Twitter Means Business”
+ MinneWebCon
+ Apple iPhone OS 4
+ Dan Grigsby @ Mobile Orchard shutting down
+ Adobe backlash (e.g., ”Go screw yourself Apple“)
+ Quit Whining About The iPad Interface
+ Twitter Acquires Atebits, Maker of Tweetie
+ ComicTwit
+ Minneapolis CrowdPitch
+ BusinessCard2 @ AlwaysOn
+ Sh*t My Dad Says (started on Twitter, now with its own site, soon a TV show with William Shatner)

Minnov8 Gang 74: Innovation is Driving Passions is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Here we go, then — five experienced Minnesota mobile app developers tell me, straight up, what’s up with iPad as relates to them.  And, after that,  I include some great insights from a couple of them about iPhone OS 4 — coming this summer for the iPhone, and soon after for the iPad. (Bring it on, Uncle Stevie!)

Joe Sriver, Founder, DoApp Inc. Joe, will your company be developing iPad apps?

“Yes, we do have plans for the iPad, first for our real estate product, then our other products. No ‘made for iPad’ apps are in the store from DoApp on day one, though.  But I did preorder an iPad for the team.”  In a story our friend Julio Ojeda-Zapata wrote in the PioneerPress on April 2, we learned that DoApp was frantically at work on the iPad version of it’s “Home Kenex” app, which is for home buyers and real estate agents.  Maps can be positioned alongside lists or photos of homes to make navigation easier and more intuitive than the cramped iPhone screen allows, said the story, facilitating better house comparisons.  iPad becomes “a coffee table-type of thing, with people in their agents’ offices cruising for properties on the device,” said the story, quoting DoApp’s Wade Beavers.  GPS capability will be added in an upcoming version of the iPad, so home buyers or agents will be able to pull up listings in their vicinity and “drive effortlessly towards them using satellite navigation.”

Bill Heyman, Founder and Lead Developer, CodeMorphic. Bill, what apps are you doing for iPad?  Redoing any of your existing ones?

“No existing apps.  What we’re doing are new ones for various clients.  Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say what they are.  I’m also working on a new game app I’m publishing myself, but I’m not ready to submit it yet. I’ll let you know when it’s getting close.”

I assume you now have an iPad in your possession? “Yes, I had one delivered to me while on vacation in Arizona this week.”

What are you finding in regard to how well your iPhone apps work on iPad? “They seem to work fine.
”

What about landscape mode?  Are you concerned that apps should work either way on iPad? “Apple has basically told developers that they MUST support rotation in their iPad apps.  Unfortunately, it can be a major PITA to support it well, but developers are going to have to bite the bullet now.
”

Any other comment? “I think iBooks is the killer feature of the iPad.  There’s been talk about the iPad developer gold rush, but no discussion about the author and independent content provider gold rush.  It’s going to happen — and I think it could be every bit as exciting as some of the apps.”

Matt Bauer, Founder, PedalBrain. Does the iPad fit in at all regarding your app? “Yes, it does — from a coaching or team director standpoint, to track athletes.”

I guess iPad isn’t too “mobile” as relates cycling, huh? “It will be a new application than what we have.  Likely a different app that we will charge for — probably like $20 or so.  I really see iPad apps being sold for quite a bit more than for the iPhone.  It won’t be till late summer we will think of doing an app.”

Your current app, of course, would work on the iPad, right? “App, yes — but hardware, no.  Apple hasn’t given the okay for iPad accessories from third parties yet.  Once they do, our hardware accessory will work.”

Terry Anderson, Founder, Handcast Media Labs. What’s up with you and iPad? “We also got our first iPad on Saturday.  We’re within a few days of having our next release of the SparkRadio app, which will work on either iPhone or iPad.  In the future, we will optimize a version for iPad that takes advantage of the increased screen real estate in a cool way, but that’s further out (maybe 45-60 days).  The visualizer screens on the iPad are stunning in full screen mode.”

Did I hear you dropped your price for SparkRadio on the iPhone from $5.99 to $1.99? “The price drop is temporary and is part of our experimenting with promotional tactics and pricing to see the effect on demand.

“Ultimately, we’re likely to end up with this scenario:  A free version called Spark Radio Lite that will be full featured, but will only stream 200 selected stations (maybe two weeks away)
…  A full version that will sell for between $5 and $6 (ultimately 30,000 stations) – so the price drop is temporary…  And note that both versions will support iPhone and iPad equally –  the software will detect the device and will load the appropriate interface… And we may come up with an enhanced iPad version, which could be sold as a separate product, but that’s down the road and still undecided.  Now that I see SparkRadio on the iPad, I can imagine a scenario where the iPad is docked in a stereo (many companies make them for iPhone and I assume we’ll see them shortly for iPad), and Spark is streaming audio and providing a pretty cool lightshow.  We think this will be a great way to expose the product and the graphics to a larger audience.  Very excited.”

Bekki Freeman, Developer, TinyMission. Please tell us about your firm’s experience, what kinds of apps you do, and what types of clients you work with.

“Tiny Mission started as an iPhone app development company.  Because of the high demand for applications, and especially integration between web apps and mobile apps, we’ve expanded to other mobile platforms, including iPad, and are eager to integrate these with enterprise systems.  Two of our clients are On Impact Productions and Fraser.  We work with both small and medium-sized companies, writing apps to enable their corporate and customer visions.”

How many apps have you published, and in what categories, for iPhone and other platforms? “Tiny Mission has published one iPhone application for On Impact Productions, and is preparing to submit a second for them this month, in addition to a BlackBerry and Android application.  We are submitting two iPhone applications for Fraser this spring, and are part way through development on an enterprise application that will be centered around the iPad.”

What are your plans for iPad apps, and what do you see as being different or challenging compared to iPhone? “We are very excited for the iPad because of the endless possibilities for very feature-rich applications.  The iPhone has been great for enterprise, but it is just too small to do complex business tasks.  We plan to bring web apps, smart phones, and the iPad together to fully integrate our clients’ business applications.  Our vision is for our clients to answer all of their customers’ questions and needs without ever going to a desk.”

——-

So, enter the Apple sneak-peek media event yesterday. CEO Steve Jobs outlined what’s coming in the next version of the iPhone operating system, called OS 4.  He highlighted seven new features:
•    Multitasking
•    Folders to organize apps
•    A unified inbox
•    iBooks is coming to the iPhone
•    More features for the enterprise
•    A social network for gaming
•    Mobile advertising with iAds

I asked Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic, What’s your reaction to the iPhone OS 4 sneak-peek announcement yesterday? “Multitasking is a great feature, of course, but still keeps the iPhone OS in control — to prevent bad apps from monopolizing the feature. It’s probably not enough for real-time, time-critical apps for the iPhone, but it’s a step in the right direction. Apple’s drawn a line in the sand for how apps are developed — Adobe Flash, Corona, and other platforms appear to be screwed, as they’re currently architected.  Basically, Apple wants native apps to use native code (Objective-C, C++, C, JavaScript).  So, for these other development platforms to survive, they’re going to have to ultimately be code generators for code types that Apple approves. I suspect Apple is following up the release of the iPad with the new iPhone OS to maintain momentum and to blunt criticisms of the iPad (and iPhone) as new Android-based tablets and phones start to appear in the next few months.”

I also asked Bekki of TinyMission, What are your impressions of iPhone OS 4? “Obviously, multitasking is huge.  We’ll be able to offer our clients’ users so many more options for delivering functionality, such as location-based notifications. Local notifications will give many of our small business clients the ability to offer reminders and user-specific content without having to manage external servers and user databases.  We believe our clients will really benefit from the new enterprise features.  The agility and flexibility of wireless enterprise app distribution and the improved data encryption are very exciting.  By breaking down barriers to enterprise deployment, Apple is opening up a whole new market segment with opportunities for companies like Tiny Mission to expand into.”

Finally, I wanted to ask Joe Sriver of DoApp about the *other* announcement that came out at Apple’s media event yesterday — that being their “iAd” platform — in light of DoApp having its own such platform, called “Adagogo.”  Joe, what’s your reaction to Apple’s “iAd” announcement?

“iAd sounds like a good product.  I haven’t delved too deeply into it.  It’s another network that we will look at adding to our Mobile Local News platform.   I guess I don’t see it as a big competitor to Adagogo, since Adagogo is built into our products by default.   It will become more of a competitor if we release an Adagogo API for developers to add Adagogo ads into their apps.  Obviously, it’s a potentially big threat for Google and Admob — or both together if that deal ever goes through.  Google has the resources to compete, so I’m not going too worried about them!”  Nice touch, Joe — spoken as a loyal former employee of Google…

Minnesota iPhone App Developers Talk iPad and OS 4 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

I grabbed it the day it came out and have used it multiple times since, in a variety of situations — at home, on a road trip, even in a foreign country (Iowa) — and I must say I’m impressed.  Right now, I’m listening to a great station that’s all Grateful Dead all the time, which I discovered via the app. It’s called RadioIO Dead, and “Big Boss Man” has been my favorite track so far.  I’m on wifi in my motel room at the moment, and the sound is perfect — and I’m not even using an external speaker.  On the way down here to Des Moines, I used the app via my iPhone on AT&T’s 3G network (note: I was in the passenger seat!) to tune in multiple stations, including WSL in Chicago, and the sound was way better than any station I could tune in on the car radio.

Spark Radio not only gives you tons of station choices and social media features designed to make radio listening more interactive, but it also features visually stunning animations. Far out, huh? Its robust, visual radio tuner uses the guide from a company called RadioTime.com to give you access to more than 10,000 terrestrial and Internet-only radio stations worldwide.  Handcast says it’s adding new stations to Spark Radio daily, and will support more than 30,000 stations by April.  You can listen to precisely what you want to at any given time — music, talk radio, sports events, public radio, or special programming from around the world.  Its elegant interface lets you search for stations or programs by keyword, location, or the station URL, and you can browse programming by genre or location. (I’m still looking for two of my fav genres: rockabilly and surf.)  A GPS component lets you find local stations in any given city based on current GPS coordinates.

I took the opportunity to dial up the founder of Handcast Media Labs, Terry Anderson, whom I’d met in 2008, to ask if he’d be up for an interview. That follows.

Minnov8: Terry, I know you’re no newcomer to interactive and Internet marketing here in Minnesota. Give us a synopsis of your background.

Terry Anderson: Well, I’ve been involved in technology for almost 30 years now.  I founded e.Media group in 1995 and we were one of the early interactive agencies in the Twin Cities, with a lineup of really great national clients.  That was incredibly fun.  I sold that agency in 2004 (it’s now known as Idea Park) and have been involved in entrepreneurial ventures since.  I got energized by the iPhone platform in 2008 and have been working in that sphere since then.

Minnov8: How did you come to start Tiny Wonder Studios, and then Handcast?  And tell us about the rest of your team.

Terry Anderson: Tiny Wonder is a division of Popular Front, an incredible interactive agency here in the Twin Cities.  I’m involved as a consultant and helped form the new entity and create Pixi, their first iPhone app.  I’ve been close friends with Laurence Bricker of Popular Front since we were young. Laurence is a true visionary in the interactive world and it was great to collaborate with him once again.  HandCast Media Labs is my own startup, specializing in iPhone applications.  I needed a place to pursue my own ideas, so started HandCast in the spring of 2009. We’re trying to push the limits of technology and creativity.  There are a number of people involved, but the nucleus includes Greg Sharp, a visionary and longtime partner of mine, and Jesse Hemmingway, who is simply the best developer I’ve ever worked with.  It’s an incredible group and we’ve been collectively pushing the boundaries for a long time now.

Minnov8: I grabbed that first app from Tiny Wonder, the Pixi drawing app (see screenshot), right when it came out.  Refresh my memory — when did that hit the App Store?  And how has it done since then?

Terry Anderson: Pixi was developed as an experiment and hit the iTunes store about a year ago. (It’s available for $1.99 at this link on the App Store.)  We wanted to learn the intricacies of iPhone development and start figuring out what it would take to successfully market an app on iTunes.  It’s a beautiful and highly creative application.  It continues to sell moderate amounts on the store, but we never really put enough marketing energy behind Pixi.  We get comments all the time that Pixi is the best app on the store and we know we have a significant audience if we can reach them.  Look for a Pixi re-launch in the upcoming months.  We have some very exciting things planned.  One thing we’ve learned is that iPhone apps need a formal marketing plan, just like any other consumer product.  There are simply so many applications available on iTunes that you need to find a way to become visisble.  We’re excited about the future of Pixi.

Minnov8: Did you develop any other apps after Pixi, either for the iPhone or other mobile platforms?

Terry Anderson: Before we began work on Spark Radio, we began a prototype of what I’ll describe as a geo-spatial game.  That project has been put on a back-burner for now.  I believe if we can make it work, it could be a mega-hit.  But the scope is very substantial and we decided to focus on titles we could get completed in a reasonable period of time.  Stay tuned.

Minnov8: So, let’s talk now about the Spark Radio app. What made you decide to do a radio app? What did you think you could bring to this category that others weren’t doing already?  Aren’t there tons of streaming radio apps?

Terry Anderson: When we launched Pixi, we were overwhelmed with the number of people who asked if the Pixi animations could possibly interact with music from the iPhone or iPod.  It turns out that Apple has made that impossible.  We began looking at other ways to make that happen and came up with the idea of streaming radio, where we have control over the audio stream.  We knew that including graphic visualizers would give us a point of difference from the competition.  We also got very excited about the idea of global radio, and decided to include some social features to support that idea.  I think it’s fascinating that someone in South Korea can listen to a hip-hop station out of Paris.  We’re in love with that idea.  The decision to do a radio app was fairly pragmatic.  My research showed that this was a very lively niche within iTunes and that people were looking for quality.  While there were a number of products out there already, we felt that nobody had really developed a robust product with an elegant user interface.  We knew that if we made the experience more fun for listeners, we could succeed.  We launched two days ago and are already #32 on the iTunes list of best sellers, so I think we called that one correctly.  We’re very proud of the product and have some great enhancements coming.

Minnov8: How long did take you to develop Spark?  And do you have plans to do versions of it for any other platforms?

Terry Anderson: It took us eight months to develop Spark Radio.  That was complicated by the fact that our lead developer broke his collarbone somewhere in the middle of the project!  He took a bad fall on his bike one night and it was impossible to have someone take over his part of the project.  So, say seven months if you eliminate the injury.  That was a tense time, but it all turned out well.  We have always planned to do an Android version of Spark Radio.  We’re very excited about Android and hope to support it in parallel with iPhone.  We have some concerns about the graphics performance on Android, but we’ll figure that out as we go.

Minnov8: Being a longtime promotion guy, you have a pretty cool giveaway going on now for the Spark Radio app.  Tell us about that.

Terry Anderson:   I hate to call it a promotion.  We’re simply giving away 500 iTunes gift certificates ($10) to friends as a celebration of our launch, so they can download Spark Radio for free.  If your readers want to participate, they can email us their name & email address and we’ll send them the gift certificate.  It’s a way for us to show appreciation for all the great friends who have supported us over the years.  They can send their info to sparkgift (at) handcastmedia (dot) com.

[Blogger's note to the FTC: no freebie coupon here -- I bought my own app!]

Minnov8: So, Terry, what’s next for Tiny Wonder and Handcast?  What growth plans do you have for your ventures?

Terry Anderson: As I mentioned, we have great plans for Pixi, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it on the bestseller list by summer.  The success of Spark Radio has been overwhelming, but we’ll keep working until we get to the top of our category.  HandCast will be developing a new title soon and we’re also pitching some ideas that are too large for us to execute on our own.  Given the success of Spark Radio, we’re being contacted for some very interesting contract work as well.  It’s all good.

———–

Thanks, Terry.  A company that develops apps “designed to entertain the senses” can’t be all bad.  And I like how Handcast further describes its vision as “empowering users to explore their own creativity by meeting their entertainment-on-the go needs.”

You can learn more at the Handcast Media Labs web site, and you can follow Spark Radio on Twitter and on Facebook.

Minnesota Startup Launches ‘Spark Radio’ iPhone App is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Here’s an excerpt:

“After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad, CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.

This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there… And the absence of Adobe Flash support on the iPhone for three years and counting, and now on the iPad, is either celebrated by users as a poke in the eye of one of the web’s most dextrous tools, or the most over-rated and overused crutch for decent design.

Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.”

I decided to ask three local observers with a special perspective on Apple for their reaction. Two of them are former Apple employees, the other a 26-year user of both Apple and Adobe technologies.

First, I asked Curtis Juliber, a 16-year Apple business development exec, about what it was like on the inside, and also his take on the latest flap.

“I’ve been in employee meetings in Cupertino. Yes, Steve can be very forthright on a variety of topics. People did get up and ask questions. Usually, they were pretty well thought-out in advance — because, if Steve thought something was bullsh*t, he didn’t hesitate to say so.

“Apple has been pushing HTML5 for several years now. I remember hearing it discussed at WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) several years ago. But the market has been slow to adopt it. Whether or not Flash will be killed by the time it *is* adopted is still up in the air, in my opinion. The longer a technology is in the marketplace the harder it is to go away.”

What about Google getting into the phone business?

“I do see Google wanting to be in this market in a big way. Phone ads, and whatever patents they may own on the work they did, will generate great revenue streams.”

Next up, I just had to ask my Minnov8 colleague, Steve Borsch, about his take on the latest developments. Steve was a sales exec for Apple for several years in the 1990s.

“I was never actually in an Apple employee meeting with Jobs. [Steve was based here in the Midwest for Apple.]  My only personal contact was at a Macworld, where we had a partner who’d created a Mac-based digital sign that we thought we had management approval to have in the booth.  He walked in, saw the huge digital sign right on the end where the crowd walked in, and said to his underlings, ‘Get that out of here, NOW!’ We were all taken aback at the time, but on further reflection realized that, once again, he was right. The sign detracted from the message of the booth and was inappropriate.”

I asked Steve for his quick reaction about the Flash issue touched on in the WIRED post.

“At our company, we have several machine ‘footprints’ of Adobe stuff, and we invest several thousand dollars per year on their software. I find PDF, InDesign, and other apps mission-critical and invaluable for our business.  While Flash is ubiquitous, it is a resource hog, is mostly proprietary, and I would rather vote for an open web standard — that is, HTML 5 — versus continuing down the path with Flash.

“Case in point with it is the difficulty — and lack of tools from Adobe — to create Flash-based *anything*! I’ve been puzzled for years why they haven’t come out with tools that enable normal humans — meaning designers, not coders — to create and deliver Flash output.  And, no — Flex isn’t it, and the output in InDesign is a joke.”

(For some additional perspective on the Apple/Flash/Adobe situation, check out these recent posts:  Daring Fireball: Apple/Adobe/Flash and Scobleizer: Can Flash Be Saved?)

Finally, I asked Randy Geise for his perspective — and he offered up a lot. Randy is an accomplished graphic designer who began using Apple and Adobe technologies in 1984. He tells the story of calling for Postcsript support in those early days, and having the founder of Adobe himself (John Warnock) get on the phone with him.

“Flash has always been a big resource hog — worse on Mac — but Adobe didn’t really worry about it, as we’d been in a GHz race in the PC industry.  Everything was getting faster, so why worry about putting resources into making Flash (or any Adobe products) more efficient, when the horsepower kept going up?  And all that browser-crashing going on is mainly on the Mac, and what kind of share does it have?  Adobe sat on their laurels – as Jobs has said – got lazy.

“Then two things happened: the Mac share started climbing, and all that crashing — and the fact that Adobe wasn’t using any of the great native, core OSX tech in their Mac apps — pissed Jobs off. Then the mobile web took off with the iPhone — the first phone with a really capable browser — and Adobe didn’t have an efficient version of Flash to go with it.  They still don’t.  Mobile is huge, the iPhone is huge.  The iPad will be huge.  HTML5 is finally coming onboard.  You have the H.264 standard for video.  Everything is changing, there’s less need for Flash (or will be), and Adobe has missed the boat.  They blew it, they were arrogant and lazy.  They used to be able to claim a 99% plugin penetration — the plugin was everywhere.  One could feel fairly confident using some Flash on a site — it would play. Now, you can’t be confident, and the penetration rate of Flash is going down with every iPhone, iPodTouch, and soon iPad sold. A crack has developed, and it’s growing.

“Some say Google will save Flash when they put it on Android.  It won’t — the ubiquity is gone. It’s not safe to use Flash, it’s not everywhere.

“For all those Flash games out there, some say Adobe is about to introduce a version that allows you to develop in Flash and compile it to native apps on various mobile platforms, and that this will save the Flash developers.  May help some for certain things, but it doesn’t really create a true native app using native controls/features.  It’s kind of like Java — write once, debug everywhere, and still a slow runtime.  And the Flash games will still have to compete with all those native games already on the iPhone and other platforms. Good luck.

“Adobe and Flash aren’t going to go ‘poof’ overnight, but I think the writing is on the wall: the Flash era is over.”

I asked Randy if he thought there was any possibility that Apple or Google would support Flash.

“Neither will. They’re both moving a breakneck speed and don’t want to have to slow down and wait for an update to Flash. They’d be hamstrung by any third party. And Adobe doesn’t have a good track record for quickly getting new stuff out — no 64-bit versions for either Windows or OSX, for example. Both Google and Apple are into efficient code. Adobe hasn’t been.  OSX-SnowLeopard for example was all about rewriting for efficiency.  Neither company wants or needs the bloat that is Adobe.  Both Google and Apple need the web to run on open standards.  We’ve just barely gotten out of the era where IE was holding us back on all things new.  Google and Apple are not going to let Adobe/Flash become the new IE.

“Since Android is open, and Google doesn’t really control what apps gets installed, Adobe could make Flash available but installed by the user. That depends, however, on if the Android web browser allows plugins.  And there’s the wild card of Google partners adding it — so it could be somewhat the ‘wild west’ on the Android side.  But Flash won’t be ubiquitous, so one won’t be able to count on it. And that is the death sentence.”

(Randy added that, for those who want to read more, there was a lot of Flash discussion going on today in the comments on this Robert Scoble post: Google Will Save Flash, a Developer Who Uses It Says.)

So, will Apple win?  Is Adobe and its Flash flagship doomed?  And, furthermore….is Google evil?

Minnesota Apple Watchers React to Steve Jobs’ Rant is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

As you probably already know, Julio writes a Tech Test Drive column about gadgets, apps and social media (among other things). He is the author of Twitter Means Business, one of the first books about Twitter. He is also a sometime co-host of the Minnov8 Gang podcast (and will join us this Saturday to discuss this Apple event in more detail) and focuses his commentary on tech trends. See his Posterous geekstream. Contact him by e-mail or follow him on Twitter.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Duane Andrews and the tune is “Mr. Butler”.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Like to see the iPad Nano?
+ Mary Meeker’s Web 2.0 Summit presentation (PDF) & we referred to slide #38
+ Video of Walt Mossberg at the iPad launch, a portion of which he’s talking with Steve Jobs
+ Bill Heyman of Minnesota-based Codemorphic (mobile app developers) post on the iPad
+ Steve Borsch’s article on MinnPost about the iPad & his Apple A4 chip post and another post on Apple opening up VoIP
+ Leo Laporte head of TWiT and tech journalist Natali Del Conte
+ Stanza was acquired in 2009 by Amazon & The Wall Street Journal’s take on Apple vs. Amazon
+ Hitler’s response to the iPad

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 65: Talking the Apple iPad is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

It’s unlikely that Apple will name the rumored tablet being announced tomorrow the “iJulio”, but it’s about the only name that hasn’t been floated up as a possibility! There is so much anticipation about what it will be — even though the McGraw-Hill CEO sticking his foot in his mouth and chewing soundly pretty much confirmed the tablet is a reality this afternoon — it will be fun to observe the announcement.

But alas, none of us will see it in real time. Unless, of course, you write for a news daily that sends you to the Apple event!

Julio Ojeda-Zapata is the Pioneer Press’ consumer-tech reporter and he will be live tweeting and posting photos which you’ll see on this page (http://minnov8.com/tablet/) throughout tomorrow’s event beginning at 12pm CST on Wednesday, January 27th.

As you probably already know, Julio writes a Tech Test Drive column about gadgets, apps and social media (among other things). He is the author of Twitter Means Business, one of the first books about Twitter.

He is also a sometime co-host of the Minnov8 Gang podcast (and will join us this Saturday to discuss this Apple event in more detail) and focuses his commentary on tech trends. See his Posterous geekstream. Contact him by e-mail or on  Twitter.

Will the Apple Tablet be called the “iJulio”? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Endlouz and the tune is, “Bad Advice” (Disclaimer: This was NOT chosen as an indictment on the commentary by the Gang!)

Discussed during the show:

+ Clove (by Spice Apps)
+ Analyst Noise on the Apple Tablet
+ IDC predictions for 2010
+ Minnebar
+ Mary Meeker’s Internet presentation at Web 2.0 Summit (video)
+ Jolicloud, Google Chrome OS
+ Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP)
+ Don Ball and his new collaboration workspace concept (announcement; pictures; pricing)
+ Overnight Website Challenge (please note the AWESOME faux dot matrix printer feed on the page…nice job nerds!)
+ Chuck Olsen (@Chuckumentary) in Copenhagen and here is TheUptake
+ 91st PGA Tournament at Hazeltine in Chaska and hundreds of Tiger Woods jokes.

Minnov8 Gang 60: Staying Ahead of the Storm in 2010 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Social Media Breakfast-Minneapolis St. Paul (SMBMSP) and these items: Julio’s image gallery and his use of PicPosterous; Graeme’s video; Hart Van Denburg’s article in City Pages

+ Apple’s Snow Leopard: Steve’s experience post; getting ready for the upgrade using Onyx; The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg review; the fabulous screencast creation tool that both Phil and Steve use called Screenflow

+ Screensharing: Adobe Reader 9; Mikogo; Dim-Dim; Skype screensharing

+ Other: HTML 5 article; Forrester analysts start own firm; Microsoft’s Office.com; Free Agent Nation by Dan Pink; Rainmaker’s Conference; MIMA Summit; Steve’s blog for Scholastic, the K-12 publisher.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast #49: MN State Fair & Snowy Leopard is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ The Pushbutton Web, a concept article by Anil Dash about a ”publish once, distribute everywhere” model:

• Steve Borsch talked about this at his SMBMSP #16 preso at Deluxe)
• Services: Posterous, PixelPipe
• WordPress plugins & themes like tWPter — along with hemes appearing like P2 that turns your WordPress blog into a Twitter-like tool
• Announcement by Typepad that they’re enabling microblogging
• PubSubHubBub at Google
• Google Insights, Trends & Alerts

+ Upcoming Microsoft retail stores and that they’re hiring for them. Also, the Gizmodo ‘leak’ of a presentation/plan done for Microsoft on the store concept

+ Google Voice, Apple & AT&T controversy with the Federal Communications Commission asking for clarification on Apple disallowing Google Voice in the iPhone App Store. Apple’s, Google’s and AT&T’s respective responses.

+ MIMA Summit; and the Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP) next week at the State Fair.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast #48: Pushbuttons & Voice is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.