Comments on: Established iPhone Developer Writes Personal Letter to Steve Jobs http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/ Bridging the Apple Community and Keeping Tabs on the Rumor Mill. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:26:29 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Will http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-3721 Will Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:41:41 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-3721 Hopefully I can be of assistance to current and up and coming developers. I specialise in the recruitment of iPhone developers and I am a great contact to have if you’re a developer. I have access to some of the best App development companies and I am passionate about what I do! Drop me an Email: wharford@keypeople.co.uk Connect with me on LinkedIn, http://uk.linkedin.com/in/wharford (I accept all requests) Or call me 00441727 817641 Hopefully I can be of assistance to current and up and coming developers.

I specialise in the recruitment of iPhone developers and I am a great contact to have if you’re a developer. I have access to some of the best App development companies and I am passionate about what I do!

Drop me an Email: wharford@keypeople.co.uk
Connect with me on LinkedIn, http://uk.linkedin.com/in/wharford (I accept all requests)
Or call me 00441727 817641

]]> By: iPhone Application Developer http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-3031 iPhone Application Developer Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:50:56 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-3031 Well I'm not a "TOP" Mac developer, but at least I know how to get the job done, and I always do :) Sam <a href="http://www.dreamworldsol.com" rel="nofollow">iPhone Application Developer</a> Well I’m not a “TOP” Mac developer, but at least I know how to get the job done, and I always do :)

Sam
iPhone Application Developer

]]> By: Ged Maheux http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2236 Ged Maheux Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:07:45 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2236 Spencer, yes by all means let's compare the advertising and marketing budgets of major record labels to that of a small, 10 person company who makes icons and a few pieces of software for a living. The sheer notion of this is ridiculous. I am one of the founding members of the Iconfactory and over our 14+ years in business we've marketed MANY applications. Marketing in traditional media outlets is prohibitively expensive and relatively ineffective. When you are forced to shift the price of your product to .99 and have no profit margin what-so-ever, saying "Make it up in volume" by marketing is a huge gamble. Some apps that are crap get lucky like iBeer which I consider to be the most "ring tone-y" app in the entire store. It's practically useless and yet there it sits in the top 10 selling thousands of copies a day. So you tell me, should we spend our time, effort and money making the next highly useful utility like Twitterrific for Twitter or spend a few days/weeks making iBeer 2? Something needs to give. Spencer, yes by all means let’s compare the advertising and marketing budgets of major record labels to that of a small, 10 person company who makes icons and a few pieces of software for a living. The sheer notion of this is ridiculous.

I am one of the founding members of the Iconfactory and over our 14+ years in business we’ve marketed MANY applications. Marketing in traditional media outlets is prohibitively expensive and relatively ineffective. When you are forced to shift the price of your product to .99 and have no profit margin what-so-ever, saying “Make it up in volume” by marketing is a huge gamble.

Some apps that are crap get lucky like iBeer which I consider to be the most “ring tone-y” app in the entire store. It’s practically useless and yet there it sits in the top 10 selling thousands of copies a day. So you tell me, should we spend our time, effort and money making the next highly useful utility like Twitterrific for Twitter or spend a few days/weeks making iBeer 2?

Something needs to give.

]]> By: me http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2211 me Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:10:01 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2211 If it were truely side by side then his comments about how the list starts with $0.99 and the further down you go the higher the price, thus he isnt even at the same level. And walmart does position products for selling them, they and most other retail stores do this. Take a walk down the cereal isle at your local grocery, notice that at eye level are the name brand products and the generics are way lower? Walmart and others do the same type of things, by placing hot selling items at end caps of the shelves, by placing them at eye level instead of lower, by putting that big yellow smiley around some products, etc. Dont believe for a moment that they just randomly place the stuff and give the comsumer a fair side by side comparison, walmart especially tracks purchases, who buys what, and when they do what else they buy, why they place pretzels near the lined paper, because they know that more people who buy notebook paper also buy pretzels (real example from the real database walmart has, over a decade ago their database for just what products sold together and where they were located in teh store was over 13TB, which back then was an insane size). If it were truely side by side then his comments about how the list starts with $0.99 and the further down you go the higher the price, thus he isnt even at the same level. And walmart does position products for selling them, they and most other retail stores do this. Take a walk down the cereal isle at your local grocery, notice that at eye level are the name brand products and the generics are way lower? Walmart and others do the same type of things, by placing hot selling items at end caps of the shelves, by placing them at eye level instead of lower, by putting that big yellow smiley around some products, etc.

Dont believe for a moment that they just randomly place the stuff and give the comsumer a fair side by side comparison, walmart especially tracks purchases, who buys what, and when they do what else they buy, why they place pretzels near the lined paper, because they know that more people who buy notebook paper also buy pretzels (real example from the real database walmart has, over a decade ago their database for just what products sold together and where they were located in teh store was over 13TB, which back then was an insane size).

]]> By: iPhone Dev Monkey http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2210 iPhone Dev Monkey Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:07:38 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2210 I agree with Craig to a degree. But, I also don't equate iPhone applications at the same level as an application designed for laptops, or even other mobile platforms. The restrictions on developers with regards to the sandbox the apps run in really just make it so that we can build the same applications you would build in Flash. Not being able to access background processes, or extend the functionality of the actual phone like what can be done with other mobile platforms such as Blackberry, Symbian and Android for example. I am not discounting the capabilities of the iPhone developers, but making a point about the complexity of the applications, it is just different than building apps on these other platforms. We are so restricted it is difficult to build anything of use, so you end up with a bunch of duplicate applications with the same functionality. We build applications for all mobile platforms and compared to what is available from RIM for example, building iPhone apps has been like playing with Legos while the other kids are building robots. You can only build so many different variations of Tetris before you begin to question the business model of focusing only on iPhone apps. I am optimistic though, I think Apple will come around and give us the tools we need to really make the platform shine, but waiting for them to open things up a bit more is going to be painful. I agree with Craig to a degree. But, I also don’t equate iPhone applications at the same level as an application designed for laptops, or even other mobile platforms. The restrictions on developers with regards to the sandbox the apps run in really just make it so that we can build the same applications you would build in Flash. Not being able to access background processes, or extend the functionality of the actual phone like what can be done with other mobile platforms such as Blackberry, Symbian and Android for example. I am not discounting the capabilities of the iPhone developers, but making a point about the complexity of the applications, it is just different than building apps on these other platforms. We are so restricted it is difficult to build anything of use, so you end up with a bunch of duplicate applications with the same functionality.

We build applications for all mobile platforms and compared to what is available from RIM for example, building iPhone apps has been like playing with Legos while the other kids are building robots. You can only build so many different variations of Tetris before you begin to question the business model of focusing only on iPhone apps. I am optimistic though, I think Apple will come around and give us the tools we need to really make the platform shine, but waiting for them to open things up a bit more is going to be painful.

]]> By: me http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2209 me Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:05:03 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2209 You missed a few costs. Not only does the cost of an employee include that employees salary, it also includes the rent for the office, lights, heating, internet, telephone, employeer paid taxes, any benefits that the employee gets that cost the employeer money, etc. Once you start adding all of that up it can reach $150-200/hr per person even if the person is being paid much less. And for the others out there, the guys point is not that his apps are not selling, at least as I read it, his point was that there is a war of the $0.99 apps more than quality apps. Quality apps are what will make the store do well from apples perspective. From a developers perspective, its silly to pour a lot of time and front a lot of money to develop a quality app that will end up low on the list because its price is above the $0.99 prices that appear at the top of most lists. I dont use the itunes stuff, apple app store or anything else that way so I dont know about the ordering, but it seems that he made a clear point about that in the excerpt given that started this thread. You missed a few costs. Not only does the cost of an employee include that employees salary, it also includes the rent for the office, lights, heating, internet, telephone, employeer paid taxes, any benefits that the employee gets that cost the employeer money, etc. Once you start adding all of that up it can reach $150-200/hr per person even if the person is being paid much less.

And for the others out there, the guys point is not that his apps are not selling, at least as I read it, his point was that there is a war of the $0.99 apps more than quality apps. Quality apps are what will make the store do well from apples perspective. From a developers perspective, its silly to pour a lot of time and front a lot of money to develop a quality app that will end up low on the list because its price is above the $0.99 prices that appear at the top of most lists. I dont use the itunes stuff, apple app store or anything else that way so I dont know about the ordering, but it seems that he made a clear point about that in the excerpt given that started this thread.

]]> By: John Bender http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2208 John Bender Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:33:00 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2208 I've worked with offshore consultants, and I haven't been very impressed. I’ve worked with offshore consultants, and I haven’t been very impressed.

]]> By: John Bender http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2207 John Bender Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:30:57 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2207 I'm a .NET consultant in new york and we bill out at $165 and hour. Software developer's can get paid pretty well. I’m a .NET consultant in new york and we bill out at $165 and hour. Software developer’s can get paid pretty well.

]]> By: Tom http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2205 Tom Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:28:48 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2205 Nobody underestimate his professionalism. But crying online is lame. Why humble? Nobody underestimate his professionalism. But crying online is lame. Why humble?

]]> By: cover letter samples http://www.macblogz.com/2008/12/09/iphone-developer-writes-personal-letter-to-steve-jobs/comment-page-1/#comment-2180 cover letter samples Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:26:09 +0000 http://www.macblogz.com/?p=1131#comment-2180 Everyone using Mac, especially technical users has some sort of clue who Craig Hockenberry is and his record of professional developer. Everyone using Mac, especially technical users has some sort of clue who Craig Hockenberry is and his record of professional developer.

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