May 11th, 2009
I am still amazed that how many people still refuse to place enough emphasis on getting customer feedback, or just outright refuse to get any feedback from their customers who will be the ones who are paying for their product. This is the worst way to go about developing a product or game since you are essentially working in the dark with your arms in a straitjacket. Of course, 1 can still succeed, but the chances of that happening is almost as good(or as bad) as striking the lottery.
After downloading and listening to Eric Ries’s interview on Mixergy. I really have to agree with him about engaging your customers early.
Therefore, I have some promo codes for my recently released iPhone game “Piecehunters“, these promo codes allow you to download the premium game for free and in return, all I require is that you just send some feedback about the game and your initial views about it to my email address gibtang@gmail.com. Good feedback is great, but bad feedback is even better as it tells me what I need to do to bring the game up to a entirely new higher level.
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Tags: app store, apple, eric ries, iphone
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May 8th, 2009
Firing up the ole XCode to do some more development on my game, I then encountered the need to concatenate 2 NSStrings together. So I decided to use the stringWithFormat function to do it. So after a few taps of the keyboard, I decided to put a breakpoint directly after the concatenation and see if everything is ok.
So when I started up the game, to my horror. The resulting string of the stringWithFormat function was invalid which meant something went wrong somewhere. So I started to google for alternative methods of string concatenation and all examples also showed the resulting string as invalid, even the code example from Apple’s website. I then dug up all the documentation I could find on NSStrings and read each of them feverishly and then tried their code examples which yielded the same result. All these cost me a few days of work.
Then 1 day, I decided to just use NSLog on a whim to see if I would still get the same invalid result. If so, then I could proceed to smash my Macbook Pro against the wall, followed by my head and leaving a nice bloodstained wall. Just when I was about to be plunged into the utter depths of despair. NSLog showed that the result string was not invalid and it was showing the correct text although my mouseover the debugger still showed the resulting string as invalid.
Finally, a glimmer of hope dawned and I then googled for a reason as to why this strange happening occurred. This site gave me the answer that I so desperately needed. I looked at my XCode “Active Configuration” and it was set to “Release”, I then set it to “Debug” and voila, when I did a mouseover the offensive string, it showed the result that I wanted and I proceeded to get up and do the dance of joy.
All this just tells me that sometimes, the biggest problems can be caused by the simplest issue. Excuse me now while I bash my head against the wall.
Tags: apple, cocoa, concatenate, invalid, iphone, NSString, objective c
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May 7th, 2009
In case you haven’t heard the news. May 17 is going to come and go and the much discussed arrival of the iPhone in China will not happening. Yup, you heard it. No iPhone for China right now although, curiously, iTunes has a China App Store. Just scroll through the list of countries at the bottom and you can see “China” listed in there.
This news is quite of a disappointment to me as I am very curious to see how well the iPhone will perform in China. Will there be boxes of iPhones left unsold, as happened in Japan? Or will people line around the block to get one?
Frankly, the notion that the iPhone would be out on May 17 is a bit of a longshot due to multiple reasons which are
- The iPhone’s cost is out of reach of many middle class citizens
- China Mobile wants to offer apps through it’s own app store in addition to Apple’s App Store (Fat chance Apple will let that happen)
- China is only rolling out it’s 3G technology this year
- China’s telecom rules states that Wifi on phones are a no-no (I expected Apple to roll out a Wifi-less iPhone just for this)
With 1 country that has a habit of regulating a lot of things(An example would be that big companies wanted to enter the China market has to do a tie-up with a local Chinese firm) and a company that thrives on it’s tight grip over it’s technology. It is inevitable that both parties will not see eye to eye so easily.
With the news that Lenovo is due to launch their Android oPhone in May 2009 and gaining an early entry advantage in the China market(Plus, Android does not have any licensing fees, so the oPhone should be cheaper than the iPhone). I think maybe Apple should be looking anxiously to see how the oPhone performs in 2009 and then try to modify their iPhone strategy to gain a better advantage when it tries to enter China again in 2010. At least, that is if China and Apple can come to an agreement.
So will Apple enter China in 2010? Or not, when?
Tags: android, app store, apple, iphone
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May 3rd, 2009
Picture taken from
http://images.intomobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/lenovo-ophone-china-mobile.png
According to this report, China is expected to launch it’s own app store named Mobile-Market (which operates very similar to Apple’s App Store), through China Mobile. But since Lenovo is rumored to launch it’s Android oPhone in mid 2009. I wonder how does that stack up against China Mobile’s Mobile-Market? Would Lenovo modify oPhone’s Android OS to disable any link to the Android Market? Or will it be allowed to compete against China Mobile’s Mobile-Market?
Given that China Mobile is bent on replicating the success of Apple’s App Store. My bet would be that Lenovo would modify Android to remove the access to the Android Market, after all, why let Android Market cannibalize your profits? Besides, this would also mean that China Mobile would have tighter control over the apps that people download via the oPhone and as news about China Mobile’s oPhone is sparse, I can’t say for certain if they will implement a review scheme similar to what Apple has for the App Store. But my gut feeling tells me that a review scheme would be part of the M-Market.
If so, then this means that the fragmentation of Android just gotten worse.
Tags: app store, apple, iphone
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May 2nd, 2009
Photo taken from
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2764199254_5dcf35168a.jpg?v=0
Following the twits of Bernard Leong of Thymos Capital and Ray Valdes of Gartner Research on their trip to the Nokia Developer Summit in Monaco a few days ago. An interesting fact that came from both their twits was that social network use is highest in countries with lowest broadband penetration which was reported during the Nokia Developer Summit. This was a surprise to me since I have always assumed that social networking relies on fast internet connection which only broadband can provide.
The first thing that came to my mind was Cyworld. According to this list, Australia tops the world broadband penetration rate at 72.9% while South Korea is not far behind at 67.1% and more than one third of South Koreans are on Cyworld (which is their premier social networking site) and that is a staggering 18 million users which is pretty good for a country with a population of 48 million. Compare that with Facebook and their 19.55%. This stands out as an anomaly since South Korea has a high level of broadband penetration along with a high percentage of Cyworld users. Why is South Korea such an anomaly? I can only think of 1 reason.
After suffering the crippling Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, South Korea made the Keynesian move of spending lavishly to upgrade it’s own internet network and hooking up broadband for the entire country along with generous broadband subsidies for the South Korean households. With this, came the development of Korea MMORPGs such as Maple Story, Ragnarok Online etc which are taking countries all over Asia Pacific by storm and are being churned out in a frantic pace over there. Then Cyworld came into the picture in 1999, by then, the entire country was hooked on broadband.
Social Networking Sites are not like MMORPGs where you need that fast internet speed which determines if you live or die in your game world. Social networking users can use a slower connection and won’t kick up much of a fuss if the pages are slow in loading. So there is no overwhelming urge to upgrade to broadband just to make your MySpace page load faster. For South Korea, social networking took root only after the advent of broadband in the country while it is the inverse of other countries such as China, Singapore (where I am based), USA etc.
So, the moral of the story is, focus on building a good infrastructure and make it friendly and open for people and then, they will move it and help you to pile value on top of that infrastructure.
Does anyone have any other reason why South Korea stands out as a social networking/broadband anomaly? Post a comment here and let’s discuss.
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April 30th, 2009
Motorola just announced an upcoming Motorola Phone titled “Ironman” (cue the superhero joke) and from the picture in the link, it looks just like a Blackberry. Maybe Motorola is banking that consumers will pick this up by mistaking it for a Blackberry? No one knows.
The last breakthrough phone from Motorola was the Razr and while it looks good on the outside. The OS powering the phone was less than adequate and I still wake up screaming at night when I dream about porting perfectly normal J2ME games to run on those Motorola phones. That is how bad it was.
But now that it is using Android, I hope this will make things better for developers since the key to winning the minds of consumers are great apps, which is turn are created by developers. After all, Apple’s App Store did not get it’s 1 billionth download by locking developers out from the iPhone platform.
So, if Motorola gets this right. This could be the resurgence of Motorola in the handphone market and their 2nd “Razr”. Now, if only Sony Ericsson would join the the Android party and do the robot dance together.
So would Motorola be better off improving it’s own handphone OS? Or adopting Android which seems to be their current development strategy?
Tags: android, app store, apple, motorola
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April 30th, 2009
Jarrad Woods is a game developer formerly from 2K Australia who decided to turn in his resignation via a very novel way. He chose to do it in a way that would utilize the most out of his coding skills. And he did it by mashing together Super Mario Brothers and Polychromatic Funk Monkey into a resignation game which he sent to his boss. This is the first time I have encountered such a thing and I must say that I am pretty impressed by the creativity and the buzz that it has created.
With such a novel idea, Jarrad Woods has also managed to attract people to his site just to see what is the buzz about and this provides exposure for him, which he needs when he embarks upon his independent game development path.
So, for tech companies that operate on a shoestring budget or do not have the resources for a large marketing budget. File this in as a case study on what you can do to create marketing buzz based on 1 coder and oodles of creativity.
So game companies can maybe create a so-bad-till-it’s-good version of their game and post it on Youtube which pokes fun of their game and then drive players to the website where they can download it to see the so-bad-till-it’s-good version of the game. Then, days later, the company can post an actual good version so that players will not be misled and think that your company only produces bad games.
After all, the worst kind of attention to get is not BAD attention, but rather NO attention as no one knows you exist unless you tell them. But this is not an excuse for companies to consistently churn out shoddy products to get attention as you can’t milk the Bad Attention Cow forever before it collapses on you and leaves you stuck with the lousy-games tag.
Want to see a so-bad-till-it’s-good video? Click here.
Click here if you want to play the game that he sent to his boss. No downloads necessary as this is a Flash game. While you are there, hang around and check out the game Fishie Fishie which is pretty good, in my opinion.
Tags: game, jarrad woods, marketing
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April 29th, 2009
1 month ago, the japanese casual clothing company Uniqlo opened it’s 1st store right here in Singapore. Needless to say, there was a big hype over it since this was a first for Uniqlo and Singapore. Anyway, as a way to keep customers coming back to it’s store. They have created a sneaky viral website titled Uniqlo Surprise.
I was not aware of this website until I am surfing around some local forums and discovered the link. The Uniqlo Surprise website is a website where there is a minigame which entitles you to some ho-hum prizes such as Uniqlo ringtones or desktop wallpapers, but the top prize will be a 10% or 50% discount voucher which are in limited numbers every month.
To play the minigame. All you have to do is to just click on any of the vending machines and claim your prize. And this is where the smartness comes in. After you click on the vending machine, a card unfolds and tells you that you have won a prize. But you must register with your email address in order to claim it. See how smart it is? The website does not ask you to register before you click on the vending machine. No no no, it only asks you after it tells you that you have won a prize so that the thought of claiming an unknown prize which could be a 50% discount voucher will subtly and insidiously influence you to register and type down your email address.
Next, the discount voucher is emailed to you and you can download it (if it is a ringtone or wallpaper) or print it out (if it is a discount voucher). Instead of spending money to print out discount vouchers that shoppers may not use and also hiring people to distribute those coupons or paying magazines and newspapers to distribute it. Uniqlo puts that power into the hands of it’s customers instead in the form of a simple minigame and saves all those costs, at the expense of a simple Flash website and some simple database coding. And it gets a lot of customer’s email addresses too in the meantime for newletters and future targeted advertising.
Check out the Uniqlo Surprise website today and tell me what you think?
Tags: Add new tag, marketing, uniqlo
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April 27th, 2009
When I submitted my app to the Apple App store for review about 1 month ago. I had to code a popup window that checks for the presence of an internet connection before going to the in-game forum screen. This is part of the Apple usability guidelines, so you just have to do it. Or else, just wait for a rejection email from Apple after 2 days of review(if you are lucky) or 12 days or more. So I chose to use an UIAlertView to just pop up an error message. Therefore, here is just a snippet of code to get this up and running
To start off, just declare the UIAlertView object by typing this
UIAlertView *alert;
where I declare a pointer to an UIAlertView object of the name *alert
Next, you need to set the text for the popup window and also allocate the memory for it. So typing this will do all that
alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@”Error” message:@”Cannot connect to internet”
delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@”Ok” otherButtonTitles:nil];
This will put the text “Error” as the window title, the message “Cannot connect to internet” as the text to appear in the window itself and “Ok” will be the text in the button for the player to tap in order to close the window.
Now that the memory is allocated for the popup window and there is also a button for the player to tap to close the window. How do you show the UIAlertView when you need it most? Just by calling the show method, you can make the popup window appear anywhere you want in your code.
[alert show];
Then, to clean up at the end, just call this
[alert release];
and the memory is deallocated for the *alert pointer to the object UIAlertView *alert;
Tags: app store, iphone, programatically, tutorial, uialertview tutorial
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April 27th, 2009
Previously, I was a big fan of tinyurl ever since I got onto Twitter since it allows me to make a long URL into something much smaller, thus allowing me to fill up the 140 character limit with my other text. But recently, I have switched over to bit.ly instead.
Tinyurl won a lot of mindshare by being the first mover in the url shortening space and it was wildly popular, but somehow, it failed to look over it’s shoulder to see bit.ly catching up fast even though bit.ly was launched much later than tinyurl.
What made me a convert to bit.ly is not that it is slightly better in shortening long urls, but rather, it has integrated the Twitter API so that I can just shorten my url and post on twitter all within the same page. No more copy & paste from tinyurl to twitter and other stuff. Now I can do it all in 1 place. How cool is that?
This reminds me of how Dell disrupted the old PC supply chain by using Dell Direct by selling directly to the customer so that the customer can buy PCs from the comfort of their home and how Apple disrupted the mobile app space by making it easier for consumers to buy apps from their iPhones using only a few simple taps and Apple managed to have their 1 billionth app downloaded in only 9 months.
Integrating the Twitter API into bit.ly is not as earth shattering or groundbreaking as what Dell did with Dell Direct or Apple did with the App Store, but a mini disruption means that the momentum for further bigger and better disruptions are well in place for bit.ly to create and leverage.
So, is it still tinyurl or bit.ly for you?
Tags: Add new tag, bit.ly, disruption, tinyurl
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