iMoses iTablet

One thing about my long delay has been an expansion of the market. Looking at my positioning from a marketing point of view it is kind of interesting. My app has taken 8 months to get to market. During that time they came out with the 3GS phone, sold millions of iPod Touch devices, opened up in China, and finally made it available on the UK Orange Network. Believe it or not, over 6.5% of adults over 18 have an iPhone in the US. 85% of these people have jobs. 100% want to hit their boss in the face. So I will be coming out with a game where you can take out your anger on the corporate world during a time of double digit unemployment.

The next gold rush has not started yet. When Flash CS5 comes out and with other tools available there are going to be so many apps your head will spin.

Marketing apps is the next frontier, the App Store is going to have to expand their categories and find a way to warehouse the glut that is about to hit. My original goal was 100,000 downloads. I believe that is attainable in the above mentioned atmosphere. If I come out hot and continue to reinvest in advertising I could surpass that number.

Tomorrow Apple will announce their new iMoses device. It is supposed to be a great game player. A question it brings up for me is how will games designed for a mobile phone going to play on a 10" screen?

Will we have to create a tablet version? Will we play small games on a bigger screen?

This should be interesting.

G-rated rejection #1

When the flood hit the other day I found myself running in place like Barney Rubble. I was even making the skidaddle coconut noise. Minor brain lock, panic decisions were made, I was lucky. Today, I was caught by surprise a little bit.

I just received an e-mail that my app had been rejected by Apple for having obscene material or excessive violence. They also included a few screenshots that I submitted. That's it, no other directions. They give you a wide variety of reasons, so you have to play detective. E-mail is your only communication.

Really looking at it, it is my own fault. Not paying attention to detail. One of the things you have to do is rate your app. I had it rated 4+? That is a G rating. This is probably the reason the screenshots were rejected too. They show fighting...my bad.

I did a minor skidaddle and called Lenny at Apalon. Olga tweaked the descriptions, we changed a few screenshots and Mahesh uploaded the new binary. My mistake was rating the game too low. A more adult rating and a few tweaks may get it through. We'll see.

Is the iTablet the next Segway?

All the talk these days is about Apple's new tablet device. One thing I know, is that I won't buy the first version. Apple is notorious for hyping big and screwing the early adopters. I am typing this post on a laptop that has a physical defect that is well known. Apple fixed it by changing the next model. I am an Apple fan but I didn't drink the Koolaid. Every device they make is supposed to change the world, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. iPod yes, iPhone yes again. Tablet?…we'll see. Remember the Newton?

A number of years ago we were told by an inventor named Dean Kamen that his Segway would revolutionize transportation. I live in a tourist area where there are Segway rentals. I don't see them that much. Dean made a cool device but there are limitations. You can't drive it on the street, it overwhelms the sidewalk, blocks the bike path and you can't carry anything. Dangit!

The new "iTablet" is kind of a computer Segway, somewhere between a laptop and a cellphone I have heard. I am curious to see if the public really likes it or just gets caught in the hype. The answer will be a few months down the road.

In the beginning, most new toys are at the forefront. Kind of like kid's and Christmas presents. What will be interesting to see is if after owning an iTablet for 3 months, will you reach for it, grab your cellphone, use your laptop or sit down at your desktop and peck away. If you are old-fashioned you may turn on TV, ancient read the newspaper. We forget that there is an alternative…silence.

Sometimes I turn off everything and lie back in quiet. Yes, this makes sponsors mad, but soon they will be advertising to us in our dreams.

Are you planning on buying one? How would you use it?