Category Archives: mobile

Apple Rejecting White-Labeled Apps

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I had a very interesting experience with the Apple Review team today that is worth sharing. Apparently they are rejecting apps that have branding that differs than that of the “Seller”. This is somewhat of a problem if you’re trying to white-label apps and planned to publish those apps under one single account.

“To be appropriate for the App Store, your app must be published under a Seller name and Artist name that reflects the [redacted] brand, as required by the iOS Developer Program License Agreement.

Section 1.2:
“You” and “Your” means and refers to the person(s) or legal entity (whether the company, organization, educational institution, or governmental agency, instrumentality, or department) using the Apple Software or otherwise exercising rights under this Agreement. For the sake of clarity, You may authorize contractors to develop Applications on Your behalf, but any such Applications must be submitted under Your developer account.

If you have published these apps on behalf of a client, it would be appropriate for your client to enroll in the iOS Developer Program, then add you to their development team so you can develop an app for them to submit under their developer account.”

So if you’re planning on creating a series of white-labeled apps for different clients under one umbrella account you better think twice. You’ll need your clients to create their own developer account then add your development team to their account. It’s not the end of the world but something to be aware of.

Spotify vs iTunes

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A few days ago Spotify made its USA debut and wow wee wow what a service. If you know me even a tiny little bit you’ll know that I am really hard to impress when it comes to apps and/or web services and Spotify knocks this one out of the park.

The music industry has been hurting for a LONG time thanks to Napster, P2p, and Mp3s and while iTunes put a bandaid on the music labels, the artists themselves (at least indie ones) have still been hurting. While I can’t say I’ve always acquired all of my music via iTunes or some other legitimate online music store, the process of purchasing, downloading, dealing with DRM issues, backing up and syncing music has been broken for a long time- making it easier to pirate music than to actually pay for it.

Last night after two glasses of Gosling’s I signed up for a Spotify premium account. Holy. Shit. All I can say is Spotify will trick you into paying for music again and you’ll feel good about it.

Spotify Key Observations

• SUPER FAST – searching seems almost too fast. WAY faster than the itunes store hands down.
• OTA Syncing – syncing is so seamless  you won’t have to think about it
•  An interface that makes sense both on the desktop version and the mobile version
• Sharing with other Spotify friends is really easy. You can drop a song in someone’s inbox and they have it!
• Spotify seems to have a good majority of the music I like (even the obscure stuff).
• Since everything streams (although you can make things available offline) you save A TON of disk space

 

How does Spotify stack up against iTunes
I believe Spotify just took a shot across the iTunes store bow. With the feature set iTunes Match introduces it might be too little too late. Although iTunes Match is $25/yr vs Spotify’s $120/year for a premium account, the functionality you get with Spotify is well worth it. From my understanding, iTunes Match will find music you’ve previously downloaded (from anywhere) and will match that song to one in the iTunes Library if it exists. In the other corner Spotify removes the need to even think about illegally downloading a song or album. It’s all right there in Spotify’s library and ready to sync. So from a user experience perspective, Spotify crushes the iTunes and the iPod ecosystem. All I can do is hope Apple is paying close attention to what Spotify is up to and continues to innovate the iTunes Match and iCloud system. People like things that are ‘easy’ to do (like illegally downloading music), so if ease of use is backed up by a large music library, an awesome feature set, and is also significantly easier to use that iTunes … that sounds like a recipe for [something].

It’ll take sometime before Spotify is a household name but mark my words in this permanent blog post that will live on the internet for eternity: Spotify will become a household name.

UPDATE:
After a week of using Spotify I have noticed that the one important feature it is missing is the ability to browse for music.  You can check out “What’s New” but there is no way to browse music by genre. Essentially Spotify needs a solid music discovery layer. Only a matter of time but this is an area where services like Pandora and Last.fm shine a bit more than Spotify.

Like a Fu*king Phoenix

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After 10 months of working at a bootstrapped startup, I successfully managed to burn through all the cash I had saved. Call it what you will but sometimes you need to go with your gut and make business decisions that are in the best interest of yourself and your family.

First of all, it’s true what many have said about the health risks of working at a startup. Particularly as an engineer when you sit for extended periods of time. The whole experience is exhausting mentally, physically, emotionally and financially if you’re also bootstrapped. It’s easy not to worry about money too much when your parents have money and if worse came to worst, you could always move into their basement. However, there is a point where you need to draw a line.

In the last year or so I’ve had a 2-3 very real/scary panic attacks, a kidney stone, and fairly noticeable weight gain. Also found out I may be developing diabetes (something my grandmother died of). It’s quite the shit show and I’m not ready to figure out the quickest way to kill myself.

When running your own business you are sometimes forced to reinvent yourself and re-imagine your company. What do you want to see your business become? A clone of an existing service? An app that only you and your mom use? Or a business that is responsible for leading the industry in creativity and technical expertise? You must also ask yourself two very important questions: Do you enjoy what you do and do you really believe in the service/product you provide? I can only speak as a developer but if your days are filled with marketing meetings, you are probably not going to enjoy the gig.

After deciding to move away from the startup and focus more on my own business, I now realize I am back where I started and surprisingly enough, I really enjoy the feeling (I think I’ve also instantly lost 6lbs).

TENDIGI is being re-born from the ashes of the past 10 months. A new company built from the ground up with a culture of innovation, experimentation, collaboration and execution. Just this past week we hired two new interns who are incredibly talented and driven. They will be helping with design and development efforts and they could not have joined the company at a better time.

We’re currently seeking a relatively small investment to help us find a physical office. A place where we can come together regularly, host clients, brainstorm, strategize, network and execute. A sanctuary for mobile strategy and development if you will. While it may seem as a extra unnecessary expenditure, I consider this critical to the company. We are typically scattered about and having a place we can all call our HQ will ground us (in a good way). If you’re interested in helping us, please shoot me an email.

Refocusing back on TENDIGI has been an eye opener. It’s been a while since I’ve felt so optimistic about anything and straying off course for 10 months was a much needed experience. While many entrepreneurs start businesses for fame and fortune others start businesses out of pure passion.

Why AT&T will lose me as a customer. #attfail

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As far back as I can remember owning a cell phone (since the cingular days), I’ve always had AT&T as my cellular provider. No problems whatsoever. I’ve always had great reception, hardly any dropped calls, and life was awesome.

Recently, however, my fiancée and I have moved into a new apartment in Brooklyn, NY where our reception is TERRIBLE. You would think being in a major metropolitan area, cellular reception would be ubiquitous. Think again.

Compound the lack of cellular reception with the need for me to run my business out of my home office and you can see how someone like me would be a bit upset. I’ve thought about dropping a land-line in my apartment but unfortunately that’s another expense my tiny little bootstrapped startup can’t afford.

I’ve called AT&T customer service a few times and here is a summary of their reponses:

Call #1 resolution:

We’re upgrading a tower close to you in 3 days. Wait three days and see if that makes it better.

Call #2 resolution (after resolution 1 failed):

We know you’re having cell reception issues. That’s because a bunch of towers in your area are down and we have no idea when they will be repaired or if that will even help.

I even got an email from a customer service rep that recommended this:

If indoors and there are no signal bars are displayed, attempt to step outside and see if the signal improves. If so, then indoor coverage is not available at the current location. Move to open areas that are less likely to block the signal to increase the phone’s signal strength. Confined areas such as tunnels, mirrored buildings, and elevators are known for blocking wireless signals.

Awesome. I guess that means every time I need to place or receive a business call and I need to quickly run down three flights of stairs and across the street to get some reception. Unacceptable.

As an iPhone developer, it is somewhat expected that I use an iPhone on a regular basis. While I love my iPhone 4, cell reception issues in my apartment have resulted in way too many dropped calls with clients and colleagues.

So interwebs, what should I do?

UPDATE (after posting this article I went back and forth a few times with @ATTJenn):

ATTJenn: I can take a closer look at this if you can please DM your cell number and zip code. Thanks.
Me: <number and zip sent>
ATTJenn: Thanks. There are known issues in your area that we are working to resolve. I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
Me: Can you tell me when you expect these issues to be resolved?
ATTJenn: Here is some additional information on how we are working to improve that area: http://bit.ly/c74JGoabout
Me: That article is from a month ago which says the upgrades are completed. I don’t have issues anywhere except my office.
ATTJenn: If the issue is isolated to one building, then it would not be related to the known issues in the area. I can understand that you are upset about how your service works when you are inside your office, and I am sorry for your frustration. A lot depends on the material used in the building’s construction. The signal for cell phones is in essence a radio signal and can be affected by the same structures that would block a radio station signal, for example. Depending upon where the tower is located and the angle of the antenna, you may find better coverage in one building over another.
Me: So what solution do you have for me other than moving to another building or canceling my service?
ATTJenn: At this point the best way to improve signal in a building is with MicroCell. You can check availability at http://bit.ly/njH2
(I checked the availability and the site was down. Lame.)
ATTJenn: You may want to also try manually switching to Edge just when in your office. This may help while in the building.
Me: Edge doesn’t help and there’s absolutely no way I am buying a microcell to fix your network. I don’t live in the middle of nowhere
Radio silence since then. I’m sure there will be more on Monday. Verizon is looking more attractive by the minute.

Death star image from http://www.applegazette.com/