Apart from a controversial keynote on Tuesday, this year’s Macworld show in San Francisco is likely to be a celebration of all things app-related.
The App Store for iPhone and iPod touch games and applications was a major success story for Apple in 2008, with more than 10,000 added since its mid-year launch and more than 300m downloads recorded.
148Apps.com, the site named after the maximum number of apps that will fit on an iPhone, will be handing out awards for the best-ever applications.
One would hope that iFart, the flatulent Christmas best-seller, is not among the winners nor the app that cost $1,000 and consisted only of a red-gem icon and the words “I am rich.”
More worthy are apps that are innovative and make the maximum use of the iPhone’s features.
Silicon Valley start-up Smule has had not one but two big hits on the App Store, suggesting it really “gets” the product.
Ge Wang, co-founder, visited our bureau recently to provide a demonstration (pictured) and reveal the secret of app-iness.
Ge was previously an assistant professor at Stanford University doing research in computer music. He met his other co-founder Jeff Smith there and they launched Smule last summer, hiring experts in audio, networks and graphics.
Their first product, a virtual lighter launched in mid-September, was a big success. It sold for 99 cents but fared well against free lighters such as Zippo’s because of some unique and well-thought out features.
Smule’s lighter flame is procedurally generated. Using the touch features and the accelerometer, the flame can be parted, smoke appears if the fingers are held on it too long and the side of the screen “burns” if the lighter is tipped over too far. Blowing into the microphone uses the sound engine to manipulate the flame and blow it out, a ringing tone from another iPhone close by can also light it.
Smule also used the iPhone’s connectivity to collect data from its users and include a social component – it mapped their use of the lighter on a world map. This looks very much like a picture of the world from space at night, with dense-population areas lit up.
Just before the US election, it asked users to choose between a blue or a red flame for Obama or McCain, producing a map that graphically illustrated the red Republican states and the fact that most of the rest of the world was blue in favour of Obama.
Ocarina, released in November and again costing 99 cents, was an even bigger hit. It was a number-one on the App Store in 15 countries and is approaching half a million downloads to date.
It turns the iPhone into a version of the 12,000-year-old musical instrument, which Smule chose in order to provide a realistic match in size to the iPhone’s form factor. Touch is used as fingers cover holes to play different notes while blowing into the microphone, with tilting controlling vibrato.
It is a very natural experience compared to other apps that try to display instruments such as piano keyboards on the small display.
Smule added social networking features as well – another world map reveals users that are playing the Ocarina and their tunes are actually captured and played by Smule’s algorithms. An update has allowed users to record their tunes and send them to friends.
A score generator and forum with more than 800 user-generated melodies is also teaching users to play popular songs. Smule is running in addition a “This Contest Blows”, giving away $10,000 to the top ten YouTube videos featuring the Ocarina, although its own version of Stairway to Heaven takes some beating.
So what are the lessons for iPhone app developers?
“Because this is such a social and personal device, we think the social element is important and we believe everyone has a desire to express themselves,” says Ge.
“In terms of designing apps, we look at it not as a smaller computer or a phone but rather as a beast in itself, an intersection of tech that is cpu, graphics processing unit, multi-touch, a complex audio framework and accelerometer as well as GPS and a persistent data connection.
“That all requires a different kind of design approach, so this is a great opportunity for us to rethink how we design software.
“Finally, our analytics engine built in to our apps allows us to adopt an aggressive learning attitude – because this platform is so new, we really want to find out what users want and what we can provide.”
It’s a sound philosophy that is also proving lucrative. Smule became profitable in December after less than six months in business.
