Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, January 11, 2010
Atlanta Concert Wishlist 2010
Gentlemen, BEHOLD!! My 2010 Concert Wishlist!
I've started making a greater effort to seeing at least one of my favorite bands a year in concert. I was lucky enough to have 3 of them come through on tour together last year (Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects). Unfortunately, DJ AM decided to be a dumbass and kill himself with drugs, which bumped the entire schedule back and kicked F.O.B. and A.A.R. off the tour line up for Atlanta, but I still got to see Blink-182 which was AWESOME. I've seen them once before in Seattle, but this was the first time I got to see Travis Barker with them and it meant even more having Jessica there with me and finding our wedding song together.
The following 12 bands are on my radar for '010; I often finding myself questioning concert tickets when I see the prices, especially with the outrageous ticket master fees; but I'm committed to seeing these bands this year and have promised myself to be flexible when I see how much the tickets will cost.
Muse
I'm happy to announce that I've already bought tickets for my number 1 band I want to see in 2010. I'll be seeing Muse on Feb. 27th, front and center. Muse is one of my favorite bands to listen to while working on scripts and ideas for some of my storylines such as Hollow Falls, As We Know It, and other little projects. Best thing about this concert is it is on a Saturday, which means it's an all out party!
The Offspring
I've always enjoyed Offspring, but it wasn't until Americana that I really became attracted to the band. Their latest album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace that I really started loving the band. Having listened through all of their older CDs, I would be bold enough to say, this is their masterpiece. It's their American Idiot, though, it's not really in a story form. I watched Offspring tour all over the US last year and somehow (like several big bands) skip right over Atlanta. Not sure how that happened, but I'll have my eye on them this year.
The Veronicas
I've watched as The Veronicas came through Atlanta 3 times in the past 3 years, I've bought tickets each time and somehow something came up such as a family vacation or something I just couldn't miss and I had to give up the tickets. Never again. I know it's tough to catch one of their concerts since they're based in Australia, but they seem to be gaining momentum and I'm hopeful that we will see them come through Atlanta this year again.
t.A.T.u.
They don't tour through the US often, but they just had a new CD released in the US, so I've got my fingers crossed! I've loved every album t.A.T.u. has released and they've always had a special place in my rock hand heart. They have also released a U.S. version of one of their more popular music videos from this album, so maybe just maybe they'll have enough steam to hit at least a couple big cities in the US for the next tour. I'm willing to travel for it. Best case scenario, they come to Atlanta with Rammstein.
Linkin Park
Rammstein
Green Day
Britney Spears
Evanescence
Garbage
No Doubt
Red Hot Chili Peppers
I've seen Green Day, Evanescence, Garbage and No Doubt before, but they all put on such great shows, they had to make the list again. Before she overdoses or dies of some other crazy cause, I need to shell out the money to see Ms. Spears in concert. It's unbelievable that I have missed them so many times, but your next trip though, I'll be there Linkin Park! As strange as it sounds, I think RockBand has finally caught my attention of what a great band the Red Hot Chili Peppers are. It's strange how many hits they have, yet you don't hear too much about them. And, I know Rammstein is a long shot, but maybe they'll be a part of some big international tour. Maybe, there will be some kind of Best of the World Tour that has Rammstein (Germany), t.A.T.u. (Russia), September (Poland), The Veronicas (Australia), Jolin Tsai (Taiwan), and Muse (England).
I've started making a greater effort to seeing at least one of my favorite bands a year in concert. I was lucky enough to have 3 of them come through on tour together last year (Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects). Unfortunately, DJ AM decided to be a dumbass and kill himself with drugs, which bumped the entire schedule back and kicked F.O.B. and A.A.R. off the tour line up for Atlanta, but I still got to see Blink-182 which was AWESOME. I've seen them once before in Seattle, but this was the first time I got to see Travis Barker with them and it meant even more having Jessica there with me and finding our wedding song together.
The following 12 bands are on my radar for '010; I often finding myself questioning concert tickets when I see the prices, especially with the outrageous ticket master fees; but I'm committed to seeing these bands this year and have promised myself to be flexible when I see how much the tickets will cost.
Muse
I'm happy to announce that I've already bought tickets for my number 1 band I want to see in 2010. I'll be seeing Muse on Feb. 27th, front and center. Muse is one of my favorite bands to listen to while working on scripts and ideas for some of my storylines such as Hollow Falls, As We Know It, and other little projects. Best thing about this concert is it is on a Saturday, which means it's an all out party!
The Offspring
I've always enjoyed Offspring, but it wasn't until Americana that I really became attracted to the band. Their latest album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace that I really started loving the band. Having listened through all of their older CDs, I would be bold enough to say, this is their masterpiece. It's their American Idiot, though, it's not really in a story form. I watched Offspring tour all over the US last year and somehow (like several big bands) skip right over Atlanta. Not sure how that happened, but I'll have my eye on them this year.
The Veronicas
I've watched as The Veronicas came through Atlanta 3 times in the past 3 years, I've bought tickets each time and somehow something came up such as a family vacation or something I just couldn't miss and I had to give up the tickets. Never again. I know it's tough to catch one of their concerts since they're based in Australia, but they seem to be gaining momentum and I'm hopeful that we will see them come through Atlanta this year again.
t.A.T.u.
They don't tour through the US often, but they just had a new CD released in the US, so I've got my fingers crossed! I've loved every album t.A.T.u. has released and they've always had a special place in my rock hand heart. They have also released a U.S. version of one of their more popular music videos from this album, so maybe just maybe they'll have enough steam to hit at least a couple big cities in the US for the next tour. I'm willing to travel for it. Best case scenario, they come to Atlanta with Rammstein.
Linkin Park
Rammstein
Green Day
Britney Spears
Evanescence
Garbage
No Doubt
Red Hot Chili Peppers
I've seen Green Day, Evanescence, Garbage and No Doubt before, but they all put on such great shows, they had to make the list again. Before she overdoses or dies of some other crazy cause, I need to shell out the money to see Ms. Spears in concert. It's unbelievable that I have missed them so many times, but your next trip though, I'll be there Linkin Park! As strange as it sounds, I think RockBand has finally caught my attention of what a great band the Red Hot Chili Peppers are. It's strange how many hits they have, yet you don't hear too much about them. And, I know Rammstein is a long shot, but maybe they'll be a part of some big international tour. Maybe, there will be some kind of Best of the World Tour that has Rammstein (Germany), t.A.T.u. (Russia), September (Poland), The Veronicas (Australia), Jolin Tsai (Taiwan), and Muse (England).
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Benefits of the One Man Shop for Web Design
I finally finished putting together a website for my web design side projects, which I've been meaning to do for some time. I've just had so many side projects that it seemed I seldomly had free time to put together a website for myself. Irony?
I always hate it when someone who sells a skill fails at using that skill for their own benefit, so I didn't want to throw something trashy up just to have a site. Besides, most of my business seems to come from word of mouth, and word travels fast. It seems like I very seldomly have to look for the next project, in fact, I seem to be in a position now where I've got a couple lined up for the future. Business is good.
I think the recession is much to thank for the prosperity of my own web design business. There seems to be a trend of people getting away from using large companies with a lot of overhead expenses and less of a grasp on just one client's needs. It's understandable when a company gets large enough, it does become less efficient. Clients are moving towards individual or smaller companies to get sites made for less costs to themselves and more one-on-one care for their products.
Pay For What You Want
Where I've found my niche is just that place, creating websites that do just what the customer wants- nothing more, nothing less- which means it takes less time, and costs the customer less money. Why charge more to give the customer things they never asked for. Hahaha, I sound like a bank commercial.
Avoid Developers With Heavy Loads
I do web design and development as a side job to my regular 40 hours a week job. Therefore, I may not have your site to you as fast as some of the larger companies who dedicate several employee's regular work week schedules to your site. However, I always make sure never to take on too heavy of a load. I stick to working on one customer's website at a time, and don't begin the next project until I'm completely done with the last one. I've noticed some of the bigger companies take on several projects and have a lot of different people focused in on one skill touch the product at different points.
The Website Assembly Line
There are some great benefits to this method. You essentially have specialized areas of expertise each giving the website their own input, like an assembly line at a factory. The first guy does his job, the second guy does his job, the third girl does her job, etc etc etc until it's at the end of the assembly line. This is all great until something needs to be changed. The 6th person can't do their job now because they need the 4th person to fix something they did. Meanwhile, the 4th person has already moved onto the next project.
Don't Pay For Larger Companies' Overhead
And of course, who is going to watch over the product as it jumps from person to person? A project/product manager (adding more to the cost of the website). And that's just the beginning of what you begin to pay for with larger companies. Marketing, Sales and Management all have to be paid somehow and that's through your website. With an individual, any marketing and sales costs are incurred personally through motivation that it will bring in future business that pays the design and development salary alone.
So that's just a couple thoughts about the advantages of using a smaller design house / individual for your web development needs. It came up in a conversation earlier today and I just thought I'd share it.
I always hate it when someone who sells a skill fails at using that skill for their own benefit, so I didn't want to throw something trashy up just to have a site. Besides, most of my business seems to come from word of mouth, and word travels fast. It seems like I very seldomly have to look for the next project, in fact, I seem to be in a position now where I've got a couple lined up for the future. Business is good.
I think the recession is much to thank for the prosperity of my own web design business. There seems to be a trend of people getting away from using large companies with a lot of overhead expenses and less of a grasp on just one client's needs. It's understandable when a company gets large enough, it does become less efficient. Clients are moving towards individual or smaller companies to get sites made for less costs to themselves and more one-on-one care for their products.
Pay For What You Want
Where I've found my niche is just that place, creating websites that do just what the customer wants- nothing more, nothing less- which means it takes less time, and costs the customer less money. Why charge more to give the customer things they never asked for. Hahaha, I sound like a bank commercial.
Avoid Developers With Heavy Loads
I do web design and development as a side job to my regular 40 hours a week job. Therefore, I may not have your site to you as fast as some of the larger companies who dedicate several employee's regular work week schedules to your site. However, I always make sure never to take on too heavy of a load. I stick to working on one customer's website at a time, and don't begin the next project until I'm completely done with the last one. I've noticed some of the bigger companies take on several projects and have a lot of different people focused in on one skill touch the product at different points.
The Website Assembly Line
There are some great benefits to this method. You essentially have specialized areas of expertise each giving the website their own input, like an assembly line at a factory. The first guy does his job, the second guy does his job, the third girl does her job, etc etc etc until it's at the end of the assembly line. This is all great until something needs to be changed. The 6th person can't do their job now because they need the 4th person to fix something they did. Meanwhile, the 4th person has already moved onto the next project.
Don't Pay For Larger Companies' Overhead
And of course, who is going to watch over the product as it jumps from person to person? A project/product manager (adding more to the cost of the website). And that's just the beginning of what you begin to pay for with larger companies. Marketing, Sales and Management all have to be paid somehow and that's through your website. With an individual, any marketing and sales costs are incurred personally through motivation that it will bring in future business that pays the design and development salary alone.
So that's just a couple thoughts about the advantages of using a smaller design house / individual for your web development needs. It came up in a conversation earlier today and I just thought I'd share it.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Atlanta Last Call Moving to 4 AM?
I just stumbled along a great article written by Jamie Gumbrecht regarding the possible extension of Atlanta's last call from 2:30 am to 4 am.
The Article:
http://blogs.ajc.com/inside-access/2009/11/17/how-would-4-a-m-last-call-change-atlanta-entertainment/
There are a lot of opinions being thrown around regarding the last call law revision at the bottom of Jamie's article; definitely seems like Castleberry Hill is not in favor of the last call push while other areas of the city are in much anticipation of it.
Sadly I never got to know the Atlanta with the 4 AM last call, but I have some great memories of the Buckhead strip (currently known as the rubble along Peachtree Rd). It's unfortunate that Atlanta no longer has a centralized party place like the Buckhead Strip used to serve as or Cresent Ave used to be before Vision shut down and Hush burned to the ground. I think Orlando has probably done the best with Pleasure Island. That’s an amazing area with everything contained.
Atlanta recently turned a trouble-area around when they built Atlantic Station, maybe they could do the same for a "party central" (ideally along a MARTA rail line that should stays open long enough to deter drunk driving). What's amazing is this city runs MARTA til 1 am on weekdays, but then closes down earlier on weekends (the time when a later train is actually needed).
MARTA has stated that they stop running trains at this time because it's not worth their funding to keep it open and continue employing cops/rail line employees. However, if they actually stayed open to a reasonable time for club/bar goers, people would actually ride the train to the nightlife hotspots and back home. I've known several people to ride MARTA out to Midtown or Buckhead, and shell out even more money to ride a taxi back home.
Let's not get started on Atlanta taxis. No wait. Let's-
The last time I took a taxi home from Buckhead, it was a fifteen minute ride with 3 other people in the car that ended up totalling a little over $70. The cap driver explained that there was a fee for picking up extra people, fees for picking us up in Buckhead, fees for this and that; regardless. It should not cost over $4 a minute in a taxi. And of course, he was unable to accept credit cards because his machine was broken. That's a lie. Don't let a taxi driver tell you that. They all accept credit card, they just don't want it on the books when they ripped you off with fake fees.
Ok, that's over, back to MARTA...
If it's not worth it to pay officer/driver's salary for an hour and a half between 12:30 and 2 am, up the cost after midnight. I'd be fine with paying double for MARTA to get me home (or closer to home) safely after a night of drinking and partying.
I don't think the issue is last call. It's everything else Atlanta's infrastructure does to hurt the nightlife industry. Honestly, I think the city is scared of Freaknik returning. I think MARTA is not staying open late on weekends because it would hurt the criminal taxi cab industry. And I think everything is fixable by creating a "party central" with clubs and bars all lined up like Orlando's brilliantly orchestrated Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney. Orlando has an advantage of being a tourist town, but they got that way through being an open infrastructure that invites the tourism. Same for Vegas. Same for New York.
Can Atlanta repair its nightlife industry?
The Article:
http://blogs.ajc.com/inside-access/2009/11/17/how-would-4-a-m-last-call-change-atlanta-entertainment/
There are a lot of opinions being thrown around regarding the last call law revision at the bottom of Jamie's article; definitely seems like Castleberry Hill is not in favor of the last call push while other areas of the city are in much anticipation of it.
Sadly I never got to know the Atlanta with the 4 AM last call, but I have some great memories of the Buckhead strip (currently known as the rubble along Peachtree Rd). It's unfortunate that Atlanta no longer has a centralized party place like the Buckhead Strip used to serve as or Cresent Ave used to be before Vision shut down and Hush burned to the ground. I think Orlando has probably done the best with Pleasure Island. That’s an amazing area with everything contained.
Atlanta recently turned a trouble-area around when they built Atlantic Station, maybe they could do the same for a "party central" (ideally along a MARTA rail line that should stays open long enough to deter drunk driving). What's amazing is this city runs MARTA til 1 am on weekdays, but then closes down earlier on weekends (the time when a later train is actually needed).
MARTA has stated that they stop running trains at this time because it's not worth their funding to keep it open and continue employing cops/rail line employees. However, if they actually stayed open to a reasonable time for club/bar goers, people would actually ride the train to the nightlife hotspots and back home. I've known several people to ride MARTA out to Midtown or Buckhead, and shell out even more money to ride a taxi back home.
Let's not get started on Atlanta taxis. No wait. Let's-
The last time I took a taxi home from Buckhead, it was a fifteen minute ride with 3 other people in the car that ended up totalling a little over $70. The cap driver explained that there was a fee for picking up extra people, fees for picking us up in Buckhead, fees for this and that; regardless. It should not cost over $4 a minute in a taxi. And of course, he was unable to accept credit cards because his machine was broken. That's a lie. Don't let a taxi driver tell you that. They all accept credit card, they just don't want it on the books when they ripped you off with fake fees.
Ok, that's over, back to MARTA...
If it's not worth it to pay officer/driver's salary for an hour and a half between 12:30 and 2 am, up the cost after midnight. I'd be fine with paying double for MARTA to get me home (or closer to home) safely after a night of drinking and partying.
I don't think the issue is last call. It's everything else Atlanta's infrastructure does to hurt the nightlife industry. Honestly, I think the city is scared of Freaknik returning. I think MARTA is not staying open late on weekends because it would hurt the criminal taxi cab industry. And I think everything is fixable by creating a "party central" with clubs and bars all lined up like Orlando's brilliantly orchestrated Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney. Orlando has an advantage of being a tourist town, but they got that way through being an open infrastructure that invites the tourism. Same for Vegas. Same for New York.
Can Atlanta repair its nightlife industry?
WTF Delta?! No Cheap Vegas Flights
Dear Delta,
WTF? You send me these emails like every week that tell me about your "awesome" deals like $109 to go from Atlanta to Savannah (not awesome) and finally you send me a good one like a one way ticket from Atlanta to Vegas for $139. But then, when I go to your site, this deal is not to be found. WTF?!
Sample: Email Advertisement showing $139 one way flights through December 10th
Sample: One-Way Delta Flights on their Website (cheapest $342)
On the flip side, I did find some ok deals for a New Years Eve trip to Vegas. Looking at about $350 for the flight (not awful). Just started looking at hotels, but I've been getting some great offers through the MGM and Harrah's players clubs lately.
Who wants to go to VEGAS?! (again)
Putting something together.
Still tentative, but let me know if you have an interest.
WTF? You send me these emails like every week that tell me about your "awesome" deals like $109 to go from Atlanta to Savannah (not awesome) and finally you send me a good one like a one way ticket from Atlanta to Vegas for $139. But then, when I go to your site, this deal is not to be found. WTF?!
On the flip side, I did find some ok deals for a New Years Eve trip to Vegas. Looking at about $350 for the flight (not awful). Just started looking at hotels, but I've been getting some great offers through the MGM and Harrah's players clubs lately.
Who wants to go to VEGAS?! (again)
Putting something together.
Still tentative, but let me know if you have an interest.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Can BlackBerry, Microsoft, Palm, or Google dethrone the Apple App Store?
The Sprint App Developer conference has been ongoing for the last 2 days and nearly every mobile phone operating system provided has been toughting their SDKs and new app stores to show how they are matching up / catching up to the epic iPhone.
To begin with, the iPhone is not the most robust OS on the market place. In fact, it's far from it. With just recently getting MMS support, video camera support, and more. What has catapulted the iPhone into the stardom that it's in are two things: Marketing and the mobile applications catalog.
Marketing: Apple vs. Palm Pre
I think the Palm Pre is probably the first marketing campaign to remotely touch Apple's reign, but their commercials don't seem to be getting the coverage that Apple has. Unfortunately, Palm doesn't have near the status of the name Apple. No one is excited about using AT&T, it's the name Apple that has engined the mobile device's marketing hype. Both companies were known at some point as being the latest and greatest thing (Palm Pilot, Apple IIe), then got left in the dust of a competitor's greater product (Blackberry, Windows) and after years of evolving Apple was able to reimerse as the "beautiful" and "creativity" machine that the public has embraced it as today. Will the Pre be Palm's redemption? They're certainly on their way.
App Catalog: Apple vs. Palm Pre
Since we're on the subject of Palm's latest gift to the mobile world, we should look at one of the most exciting components of the phone for developers, and that would be the application engine. All of the apps on the Palm webOS are websites. It's as easy as some HTML, some CSS and some JavaScript. With those three basic tools, anyone can easily create a Palm webOS application with their Mojo. This is one of the easiest tools for mobile apps out there, more so than Apple. Expect a lot of great applications coming soon for Palm.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. Windows Mobile
A rivalry that resembles Coke and Pepsi, Microsoft and Apple are head to head once again. Microsoft's application platform for Windows Mobile is another one I'm personally really excited about, as it is basically the same as creating a Windows application just with a subject of the .NET framework. You can use Visual Studio, make just about any application you would for a Windows desktop machine, in nearly the same way and then publish it for any Windows Mobile device on any network.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. BlackBerry
I personally don't see many IL customers with BlackBerry devices, yet there are a lot of corporate customers interested in downloading the apps. Will this ever be as big as Apple's catalog? Doubtful. BlackBerry is expensive. In every way. A lot of large businesses have started an exodus from the BlackBerry domain. BlackBerry requires a BES Server with an individual license for every user to allow a connection to a company email server and it does not come cheap. With Microsoft's latest releases, Windows Mobile is beginning to take over as the premier corporate phone platform. It won't happen over night, but I've heard several very large customers planning their migration in early 2010. Despite all this, I'm actually really pleased with all of the development options. Primarily, they have provided a BlackBerry Java Development Engine, but you can also use a plug-in for Eclipse as well as, yes, my favorite, a plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio. Now, while developing in Visual Studio does limit your potential with the application (doesn't allow you to access device cameras, bluetooth, etc), it's still an easy starting point.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. Google Android
Android is tough. I spent about four hours last night learning the Android App creation process on the HTC Hero and, for someone who has never developed a mobile app before, it was far far more difficult to work with than Palm webOS, BlackBerry, and Microsoft Windows Mobile. In less than an hour each, I was able to create a fully functional application for each of these other platforms. Of course, much like Apple, this is Google, another huge name that people trust and love. And the Google phones themselves are very easy to use and fun. Despite not having an extremely user-friendly development platform, public demand may launch the Android application catalog to face off with Apple's strangle hold on the mobile app industry as it stands today.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
Has Apple peaked? The Motorola Razr and Nokia phones once stood as the "it" phones of their time; what's to keep the iPhone from following? A lot of app developers believe that Apple's position over the next 6 months will determine the fate of the iPhone. As the AT&T Apple exclusivity contract comes to an end with the conclusion of 2009, Apple has the perfect opportunity to become a cross-network platform like Google, BlackBerry, and Microsoft have already accomplished.
To begin with, the iPhone is not the most robust OS on the market place. In fact, it's far from it. With just recently getting MMS support, video camera support, and more. What has catapulted the iPhone into the stardom that it's in are two things: Marketing and the mobile applications catalog.
Marketing: Apple vs. Palm Pre
I think the Palm Pre is probably the first marketing campaign to remotely touch Apple's reign, but their commercials don't seem to be getting the coverage that Apple has. Unfortunately, Palm doesn't have near the status of the name Apple. No one is excited about using AT&T, it's the name Apple that has engined the mobile device's marketing hype. Both companies were known at some point as being the latest and greatest thing (Palm Pilot, Apple IIe), then got left in the dust of a competitor's greater product (Blackberry, Windows) and after years of evolving Apple was able to reimerse as the "beautiful" and "creativity" machine that the public has embraced it as today. Will the Pre be Palm's redemption? They're certainly on their way.
App Catalog: Apple vs. Palm Pre
Since we're on the subject of Palm's latest gift to the mobile world, we should look at one of the most exciting components of the phone for developers, and that would be the application engine. All of the apps on the Palm webOS are websites. It's as easy as some HTML, some CSS and some JavaScript. With those three basic tools, anyone can easily create a Palm webOS application with their Mojo. This is one of the easiest tools for mobile apps out there, more so than Apple. Expect a lot of great applications coming soon for Palm.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. Windows Mobile
A rivalry that resembles Coke and Pepsi, Microsoft and Apple are head to head once again. Microsoft's application platform for Windows Mobile is another one I'm personally really excited about, as it is basically the same as creating a Windows application just with a subject of the .NET framework. You can use Visual Studio, make just about any application you would for a Windows desktop machine, in nearly the same way and then publish it for any Windows Mobile device on any network.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. BlackBerry
I personally don't see many IL customers with BlackBerry devices, yet there are a lot of corporate customers interested in downloading the apps. Will this ever be as big as Apple's catalog? Doubtful. BlackBerry is expensive. In every way. A lot of large businesses have started an exodus from the BlackBerry domain. BlackBerry requires a BES Server with an individual license for every user to allow a connection to a company email server and it does not come cheap. With Microsoft's latest releases, Windows Mobile is beginning to take over as the premier corporate phone platform. It won't happen over night, but I've heard several very large customers planning their migration in early 2010. Despite all this, I'm actually really pleased with all of the development options. Primarily, they have provided a BlackBerry Java Development Engine, but you can also use a plug-in for Eclipse as well as, yes, my favorite, a plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio. Now, while developing in Visual Studio does limit your potential with the application (doesn't allow you to access device cameras, bluetooth, etc), it's still an easy starting point.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
App Catalog: Apple vs. Google Android
Android is tough. I spent about four hours last night learning the Android App creation process on the HTC Hero and, for someone who has never developed a mobile app before, it was far far more difficult to work with than Palm webOS, BlackBerry, and Microsoft Windows Mobile. In less than an hour each, I was able to create a fully functional application for each of these other platforms. Of course, much like Apple, this is Google, another huge name that people trust and love. And the Google phones themselves are very easy to use and fun. Despite not having an extremely user-friendly development platform, public demand may launch the Android application catalog to face off with Apple's strangle hold on the mobile app industry as it stands today.
Information about App Catalog Publishing Costs
Has Apple peaked? The Motorola Razr and Nokia phones once stood as the "it" phones of their time; what's to keep the iPhone from following? A lot of app developers believe that Apple's position over the next 6 months will determine the fate of the iPhone. As the AT&T Apple exclusivity contract comes to an end with the conclusion of 2009, Apple has the perfect opportunity to become a cross-network platform like Google, BlackBerry, and Microsoft have already accomplished.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Mobile Apps Stores and Publishing Costs
After spending a day at the Sprint App Developer Conference in Santa Clara, and hearing some presentations from Palm, HTC and Sprint, there has been a lot of great information being presented. Some really cool devices hitting Sprint lately and over the next month, but I wanted to look into some of the different platforms' app stores and their respective publishing costs.
Of course, Apple has created the grandeur marketing campaign around there app store, but there are several others popping up to support the Android operaton system, BlackBerry and Palm phones as well as the Windows Mobile Operating System. It was actually a lot tougher to find some of this information than I expected, but here's the basic layout for some of their front runners for the future App Stores of Mobile Devices:
Name: App Store
Provider: Apple
Primary Language: Objective C
Membership Fee: $99
App Submission Fee: $99 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - apple)
Name: Palm App Catalog
Provider: Palm
Primary Language: Mojo
Membership Fee: $100
App Submission Fee: $50 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - palm)
Name: Ovi
Provider: Nokia
Primary Language: Java
Membership Fee: $200 (per year)
App Submission Fee: $20 (per app)
Name: BlackBerry AppWorld
Provider: RIM
Primary Language: Java
Membership Fee: (included in App Submission Fee)
App Submission Fee: $200 (up to 10 apps)
Profit Sharing: 80% / 20% (20 - rim)
Name: Windows Mobile AppStars
Provider: Microsoft
Primary Language: .NET Compact Framework
Membership Fee: $99
App Submission Fee: $99 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - microsoft)
Still got two more days of the Sprint App Developer Conference; Hope to find much more interesting stuff. Really looking forward to playing around with mobile apps!
As a side note, check out the iPhone app, "Pop Artist!" featuring a sweet pic m.a.x took of me about four years ago. Developer Jon Kean put it together and just recently launched it. I've got a couple of free redemption codes for the app that lets you turn your photo into an Andy Warhol portrait. Let me know if you are interested!
Of course, Apple has created the grandeur marketing campaign around there app store, but there are several others popping up to support the Android operaton system, BlackBerry and Palm phones as well as the Windows Mobile Operating System. It was actually a lot tougher to find some of this information than I expected, but here's the basic layout for some of their front runners for the future App Stores of Mobile Devices:
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A Developer's Look at the differences between Developing for BlackBerry, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Palm webOS
A Developer's Look at the differences between Developing for BlackBerry, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Palm webOS
Name: App Store
Provider: Apple
Primary Language: Objective C
Membership Fee: $99
App Submission Fee: $99 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - apple)
Name: Palm App Catalog
Provider: Palm
Primary Language: Mojo
Membership Fee: $100
App Submission Fee: $50 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - palm)
Name: Ovi
Provider: Nokia
Primary Language: Java
Membership Fee: $200 (per year)
App Submission Fee: $20 (per app)
Name: BlackBerry AppWorld
Provider: RIM
Primary Language: Java
Membership Fee: (included in App Submission Fee)
App Submission Fee: $200 (up to 10 apps)
Profit Sharing: 80% / 20% (20 - rim)
Name: Windows Mobile AppStars
Provider: Microsoft
Primary Language: .NET Compact Framework
Membership Fee: $99
App Submission Fee: $99 (per app)
Profit Sharing: 70% / 30% (30 - microsoft)
Still got two more days of the Sprint App Developer Conference; Hope to find much more interesting stuff. Really looking forward to playing around with mobile apps!
As a side note, check out the iPhone app, "Pop Artist!" featuring a sweet pic m.a.x took of me about four years ago. Developer Jon Kean put it together and just recently launched it. I've got a couple of free redemption codes for the app that lets you turn your photo into an Andy Warhol portrait. Let me know if you are interested!
You may also be interested in...
A Developer's Look at the differences between Developing for BlackBerry, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Palm webOS
A Developer's Look at the differences between Developing for BlackBerry, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Palm webOS
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