Although we’ve had an iPad floating around in the office for quite some time, we still definitely get charged up about the iPhone. This year Apple’s release of the iPhone 4 was no different. Apple seems to have finally addressed the major issues that were plaguing its previous models. Issues regarding the camera, multitasking, operating system, new push notifications, the inclusion of iBooks and iMovie and a slew of new features have transformed the iPhone 4 as the pinnacle of smartphone handsets.
Looks
We’ll start with the overall look of the iPhone. It is certainly a drastic change from the previous 3G and 3GS versions. Even though Steve Jobs compared the new design similar to an old-fashioned Leica camera, we feel that it mimics the Toshiba Gigabeat mp3 player design elements. The external side panels are look-alikes of what Toshiba offers on its mp3 players.
The new button design also mimics the Toshiba Gigabeat players as well. The clicky nature of each button is also something that reviewers have mentioned specifically. The current buttons on the iPhone 3GS are fairly responsive, they do require some force to push. The click element in the new buttons will help users easily know when they have pushed buttons.
Moving onto the dimensions, the new iPhone 4 is slimmer, thinner yet still weighs 4.8 ounces – making it feel like a heavy well-built phone. The inclusion of the new glass screens results in a very smooth and sleek finish. However, glass screens are known as being fingerprint magnets, the new glass does add a level of sophistication and finesse to the handset. Overall, it is a much-needed change and brings the iPhone into a tier of beautiful well-designed practical phones.
Real Bird Hunting Challenge – a Top Paid Simulation and Sports game
Real Bird Hunting Challenge is the newest titles developed by TkXel for Sunstorm Interactive for the iPhone platform. The title is already listed in the following categories:
Top Paid – Simulation (#46 and rising)
Top Paid – Sports (#44 and climbing)
New and Noteworthy
What’s Hot
Real Bird Hunting Challenge tests the skills of hunters to bag fast flying birds with their favorite weapon. Hunters must make every single shot count to win enough points to open up new hunting stands across the United States. Real Bird Hunting Challenge is a real hunting game which test hunters’ skills and patience in hunting a wide variety of birds.
It’s now becoming more and more possible to access information that we used to imagine would be impossible. Grab an iPhone, take a snapshot of a building and watch an app automatically bring up details about items inside the building, building history, timings for restaurants or other amenities, and the list is endless. Although there are iPhone apps that specifically address augmented reality, big businesses have yet to catch onto augmented reality.
At this year’s CTIA Wireless conference, Google has stepped up and told the mobile industry that augmented reality will be the next hot item that app development will focus on. It’s a big statement from Google considering the support that Android has recently started receiving from major handset manufacturers such as LG, Samsung and HTC. With almost all smartphones having cameras and high-speed wireless data plans, resultantly, augmented reality is becoming the logical evolution for app development.
Already major film franchises have endorsed the technology and have used them as marketing tools. The recent blockbuster, Avatar, created it’s own augmented reality app which helped with the overall marketing. Although businesses have started exploring the impact of augmented reality apps for their brands, they are still a long way to go.
How Palm Needs To Get Back Into The Smartphone Market
It’s not been a good start to the year for Palm. The dismal launch of the Pre and Pixi is one of the key factors that have affected the bottom line for Palm. As developers, it’s sad to see a potentially potent platform go down due to the poor response of the market. Palm’s effort to build iPhone and Android-compatible phone sets has meant they really did a great job developing a solid phone. Again, it’s not perfect but regardless, the issue is that amongst a variety of phones, it’s a solid competitor. However, this is what we consider the problem is for Palm, the competition has won on the basis of numbers and clever marketing rather than build quality and technological advances.
The iPhone is the undisputed king of the smartphone, and its focus has been the uniform experience that it offers to users. The iTunes interface along with the standard hardware along with the Apple brand and aim towards the mass usability of the device is what has set it apart. Google’s platform, Android, is open source and the fact that it relies heavily on a dedicated group of users that is very supportive of its decisions. Regardless of this dedicated customer base, Android has had the backing of major handset manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung and LG. Considering that Samsung and LG are based in the world’s most connected country, the handset development is very different to what most users expect. Coupling this with the styling aesthetics of HTC and Google’s Android platform has some very appealing looking phones with fantastic build quality. The irony in this situation is that Palm already has both the features as explained for the iPhone and Android platform, the problem seemed to be that they did not capitalize on the effort.
Developing apps for Palm’s webOS is a fairly straight forward and user-friendly process, something that is similar on both, the iPhone and Android platform. However, Palm did not highlight this aspect enough to beat out the competition. The Web Catalog for webOS apps is well built and very well developed in comparison to the Android Marketplace, yet very few developers know about the ease of publishing and developing for Palm. The iTunes interface is very difficult to compete with, however, Palm’s Web Catalog is very well organized and clean. Yet again, no real hype developed by Palm – why is this so Palm?
Windows Phone 7 is creating new opportunities for gaming
In the light of the releases for Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 is the next successor to Microsoft’s offering to the mobile world. Highly anticipated and eagerly awaited, the platform has brought Microsoft onto a level competing field with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android mobile platforms. The previous versions of Windows Mobile were utilized by a few handset manufacturers including HTC and Asus. However, the newly released Windows Phone 7 platform addresses the previous issues faced by the platform by incorporating features that are considered standard on other platforms.
The key focus recently has been on gaming and the number of titles that have sprung up focusing on the gaming component of mobile devices. Recently Microsoft demoed their new XNA Game Studio 4.0 to the tech world. The purpose was of this unveiling was to show the full capabilities of the phone to render real-time 3D graphics and how developers could utilize the game engines to create titles for the platform.
The two games that were showcased to the media were The Harvest and Battle Punks. The visuals were stunning taking a look at the screenshots that were offered. As with most software that has been recently released, there are still some issues that need to be fixed with regards to the frame rate and hardware acceleration, however, it’s a very good sign that Microsoft is actively promoting a gaming culture on the platform.
Real Trophy Hunting is the next game in the line of simulation hunting series released by Sunstorm Interactive and developed by TkXel. As a follow-up to the popular, Real Deer Hunting, the newest title places hunters in 5 new states which includes, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado.
Enjoy hunting for the newest trophy animals including grizzly bears, elks and big-horn sheep. Newly added weapons include the 2 types of rifles (7mm rifle and 300 Mag rifle), 44 Magnum pistol and the silent yet deadly compound bow with telescopic sights.
The beautiful real life photography and weather helps players immerse themselves in the hunting situation and enjoy the true animalistic behavior. Players can also utilize various calls and bleats to attract animals from their hiding spots to bag that elusive monster trophy.
“Real Trophy Hunting” topped in the Apple App Store as a Top 100 Game; clearly this game is another hit on the iTunes.
The realistic photography and visual details speak for themselves through the in-game screenshots:
TkXel’s iPhone development workshop held at IEEE Week at LUMS
IEEE is one of the leading institutions amongst the world for promoting the cause of engineering and technology amongst the newly formed engineers that graduate from university campuses across the world. The Pakistani branches of IEEE have been very active in the last few years as electrical engineering and software engineering become every more popular career choices.
With the sudden expansion into mobile platforms, the organization has taken center-focus across universities in Pakistan. Acting as a medium for students to get acquainted with new technology, our very own Ashar Samdani along with Hussain Ali held an iPhone development workshop at LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) for participants at the annual IEEE Week.
As more and more engineers look at the potential of the mobile front, the iPhone workshop was designed to help participants understand how the basics of iPhone development worked. Ashar’s and Hussain’s experience was an invaluable insight for the participants who felt that someone from the industry was more apt in explaining how new technology worked rather than theoretical knowledge.
Both development team leads discussed the following topics during his 3 day workshop:
Day One
1. Introduction to Mac OS X and XCode IDE
2. Introduction to Objective C
a. Basic Syntax
b. Memory Management
3. Creating a Simple Hello World App
Day Two
1. Model View Controller
2. Delegates and Protocols
3. Interface Builder
4. Categories
5. Sample Table View Controller App
Day Three
1. Navigation – Drill Down
2. Tab Bar – Hierarchical
3. Modal View Controller
4. PList
5. Extending the application made on Day Two
The workshop was a great help considering that many of the potential engineers often are unaware of the technical skills that are currently in demand in the market. Ashar’s workshop helped them refocus their energies toward the mobile platform which continues to boom. Hopefully Ashar’s workshop will help aspiring engineers to consider the potential the mobile front holds for software development and related technology.
The tech industry within Pakistan is very small with major industry players knowing one another very well. As a result, the entrepreneur and technology activists often get together showcase their ideas and get some input. One of the key facilitators for such events has been TiE – The Indus Entrepreneur. Recently, they invited the elite of the tech world to get together at the Royal Palm Country Club to get a firsthand perspective of online marketing for local tech companies. The keynote speaker was Carlos Cashman, an experienced venture capitalist with quite a few successful companies launched in this time. He aimed to provide an overview into how online marketing can easily help reach international and local customers while providing a strong focus on the metrics to ensure measurable ROI. Along with Mr. Cashman’s keynote speech some of the key players in the industry were also moderating a Q&A session afterwards including Zafar Khan from Sofizar, Badar Khushnood as Google’s local country consultant, and Amer Sarfraz from Bramerz.
Although the focus was for local technology evangelists in Pakistan, the techniques and ideas discussed clearly are applicable for any company that plans to utilize the concept of online marketing to generate leads. The concept holds significant weight in Pakistan considering the year on year growth for local Internet users is in the triple-figure growth rates. With the number of mobile users also exponentially growing every year – an impressive 252% growth every year – it’s pretty clear that many people will move towards a digital front where traditional marketing channels will slow down. Looking specifically at Pakistan, digital marketing is looking to overtake traditional radio ads – it’s a staggering feat considering that digital marketing and high-speed broadband Internet has only taken off in the last 3 to 4 years.
The focus remained on how companies need to maintain a strong numerical side for digital marketing considering that almost any metric can be measured. Cost Per Click or Cost Per Thousand Impressions was also another area discussed which showed how local companies could easily reach international customers. Along with these concepts, the focus on maintaining a variety of options for testing was prominently brought up. This is an important concept considering that the metrics of website design can change how customers interact and view a company’s webpage.
We’ve talked consistently about how Apple has managed to turn iTunes into a successful user interface for mobile consumers. Generally speaking, almost all the relevant entertainment related media is available through the iTunes interface. It also serves as a means of updating OSs providing Apple with valuable marketing information to the total number iPhone and iPod Touch owners using their hardware and software. We believe it’s this first-mover advantage in creating iTunes as a software interface that has kept the iPhone squarely in the minds of consumers.
We believe it’s this first-mover advantage in creating iTunes as a software interface that has kept the iPhone squarely in the minds of consumers, and we’re not the only ones that believe this is the case, the industry analysts here also think so.
Other mobile platforms have attempted to address this issue by creating their own attempts of a unique app store concept. Living examples are, Android’s Marketplace, Nokia’s Ovi store, Palm’s App Catalog, Symbian Foundation, etc – however, although some players have established their stores prior to the iPhone revolution, Apple has used the iTunes interface to influencing customers that this is the only user interface that works. This dominance is what has ensured that the iPhone is the phone of choice for consumers.
Umair Javed (CEO) talks with TechLahore and Jehan Ara of CIO Pakistan on Mobile Development Industry
Recently, our company was interviewed by a local technology evangelist (www.techlahore.com) about how technology numerous startups had started growing in various cities across Pakistan. We’ve linked to the interview on TechLahore’s page. Umair Javed talked about how the small startups are changing the face of the software industry in Pakistan and what are the new trends that software developers should be focusing on. It’s a great read for companies who are looking for some direction regarding mobile platform development.
TechLahore is a great website if you want to remain ahead of what’s going on a local front for technology in Pakistan. They’ve covered some great startups and are looking to find more companies to talk about.
Switching gears, recently Umair Javed and Jehan Ara got together to have a talk about the overall IT industry and discussed upcoming trends in the Pakistan IT landscape. Before launching into the details of the interview, we’d like to give a quick introduction to Jehan Ara.
Jehan Ara is one of the leading figures in bringing the IT revolution within Pakistan. As the current President of P@SHA (Pakistan Association of Software Houses Association), she has passionately campaigned for the causes of software houses to the international IT industry. She actively contributes to major IT events in Pakistan and is a wonderful person for supporting entrepreneurial IT initiatives and companies such as ours.
