It’s a transitional season
It’s frustrating being a licensed iPhone developer sometimes, it really is. For the past few weeks i’ve been debating whether or not I should even continue and i’m sure some of you are interested in what’s in store for Kiloton Applications. Unfortunately, it’s not all good. While most of my experience working on the iPhone platform has been positive, some of it hasn’t… and they really stand out.
Long approval times. The reason why my first app, Breakaway Fantasy Hockey, released over a month before the NHL season started was because the wait to gets apps approved was all over the place. While I was developing the app I was hearing anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks to get approval… and that’s if Apple doesn’t reject it. So, to make sure the app released on time for the October 1st start of the season, I finished and had it submitting at the beginning of August. In the end, it took about three weeks to get Breakaway approved and all seemed well… until I discovered a crash bug that slipped through the cracks on the same day it launched, which brings me to the second part of this issue. The bug itself took about 5 minutes to find and 30 seconds to fix, but the app had to go through the approval process all over again. The second time was quicker, coming in at about a week and a half, but I ended up having a broken app on sale for that time and I think it ended up hurting my image.
Costs and uncertainties. A Macbook, some web hosting, and an iPod touch… not a bad way to start a business, i’d say. Oh, and time. Coming from a programming background, Objective-C wasn’t that hard to grasp (I ended up enjoying it quite a bit, actually) but there’s always a time investment when you’re learning the ropes on a new platform. The App Store is one tough nut to crack, though. To be blunt, it’s rotten. It’s very, very hard for an independent developer to establish itself and make themselves noticed. The only real way to become visible on the App Store is to sell a lot and be at the top of one of Apple’s lists. As I mentioned before, it makes no sense at all that in order to be visible on the App Store and be in a position to have great sales you need to have great sales. Especially in an environment where $2 is suddenly a horrendously large sum of money, it’s difficult to make consistent income.
Apple’s review policies. People have a right to voice their opinions, and I love constructive criticism. However, the App Store is a horrible place for it. That little box where people can leave reviews for apps they’ve bought is not a place to leave bug reports. Saying “it doesn’t work” and giving me one star does nothing to help me know what your problem is. Apple doesn’t help here, either. If someone leaves me a bug report in a review, Apple gives me absolutely no way to get in touch with that person, start a dialog, and fix whatever problems they were having. If I point out a “review” to Apple that clearly isn’t a review or is spreading misinformation, they don’t do anything and just ignore it. How is any of this supposed to help me make my apps better? Or figure out what issues those specific people are having? All it does it hurt my apps, sales, and image.
Politics. I’m finding myself becoming extremely irritated and annoyed by Apple’s policies and politics. I want Flash on my iPod, with a handy little setting to turn it on and off when I please. I want an iPad with OSX and USB ports. I want free and open software like Ogg/Theora in HTML5. That’s just scratching the surface, but on a whole boat load of issues i’m finding myself completely at odds with Apple and the people who blindly eat up anything that comes out of Steve Job’s mouth. It’s annoying and I hate being a small part of what fuels that machine.
With all that said, I feel that I can no longer continue working as a licensed iPhone and iPod touch developer. Does this mean the end for Kiloton Applications? Absolutely not, it just means i’ll be going about things differently. How differently, you ask? Here’s the basic plan, consisting of exactly one step:
- Transition to webapps. This will be a huge change and have some very good benefits. For myself, it makes development a lot easier as I can work on webapps from virtually any operating system with a text editor and browser. I won’t be tied down to a Mac. It also makes testing much quicker, I can just save and refresh the page to see my changes instantly. It’ll save me some money, too, as I won’t have to pay Apple or give them a cut of any of my earnings. For users, it means my apps will be available to anyone with a Webkit-based mobile browser, including Android. Any bugs I fix or features I add can be pushed immediately with no fears of getting rejected, censored, or delayed. Freedom!
More details will be coming in the next few days and weeks, stay tuned!
Stat updates back up
Happy holidays!
Stat updates for Breakaway and now back online, the first update will be made overnight tonight. As usual, if anyone’s noticing certain players aren’t being updated, simply remove and re-add them to your teams.
Thanks for your patience!
Update on the update situation
Well folks, unfortunately the server issue regarding stat updates for Breakaway still remains. Time is short with the holidays fast approaching so, for the time being, i’ve decided to pull Breakaway from the App Store until I get this mess sorted out. Nobody wants to buy a broken app so I think this is the best solution for now.
Unfortunately this has also been cutting into my time spent on other projects, but I hope to get everything back on track soon.
Thanks for your patience!
Breakaway stat updates temporarily down
Hey everyone, just letting you all know that stat updates for Breakaway Fantasy Hockey are currently down. I don’t anticipate that it’ll take long to fix, but as of right now I can’t give a definitive ETA. This is a server-side issue, so you guys won’t have to wait for an app update to go through the review process.
I apologize for any inconvenience, i’ll keep everyone updated.
Missing Players?
Some users have complained that some players aren’t showing up as having any points even though they’re earning their stats. Well, after a few hours of digging into it, i’ve found the issue and it’s been corrected. Simple relaunch the app to download the fixed stat and roster updates. If any players show up as unavailable or with 0 points after the update, simply delete those players and re-add them.
As always, if anyone runs into any more issues send an email to support@kilotonapps.com and i’ll get on it asap.
Coming soon: altBlogger
Coming soon to the iPhone and iPod touch, an easy to use Blogger.com client I like to call altBlogger. You can read about it and check out some screenshots here!
Stat updates for Breakaway
Please ignore the user who just left me this wonderful one-star review on the app store:
Hockey season has now started and there’s no points. Save your 3 bucks! Doesn’t work!
Talk about impatient! The first game of the season just ended less than one hour ago!
Just a note to everyone, stat updates will be made once per day – barring any technical issues – at or around 2am EST. However, just because of this one, impatient person above who left me that wonderful review, i’ve just pushed an update a few minutes ago that confirms that, yes, Breakaway Fantasy Hockey works as advertised.
Enjoy!
Coming Soon: Breakaway Fantasy Hockey
After a few months of development, i’m pleased to announce that i’ve submitted my very first iPhone/iPod Touch app. What is it? A hockey pool manager, where you’ll be able to create and manage your fantasy hockey teams and track how well your players are performing. It should go on sale within the next few weeks for $2.99… unless it gets rejected for some weird reason and i’m forced to resubmit. In any case, it should be up well before the start of the 2009/2010 NHL season.
Learn more about the app here.