I am currently reading gr.

Just an interesting thing I found out a few months ago, but didn’t have time to post.

I hate fingerprints, but I don’t carry a cleaning cloth. Here’s a way to get rid of those fingerprints: Use your forearm. Surprisingly, it works.

Caution: Do not attempt in public places. People may think you’re crazy.

I launched a new website, Standouts, last week. Why?

I feel that there is too much junk on the App Store. As it grows, there is going to be even more of a need for people to separate the gems from the junk. Right now, the only easy way to find new apps that aren’t junk is to follow blogs that cover Apple in general.

I want to do something better: create a go-to website that covers only iOS apps. But not any old apps, just the Standouts.

I will be joined in sifting through the App Store by Nick Luczak. We, in essence, will curate the curated.

Go look at some Standouts, then subscribe and follow us in the sidebar.

It’s sad that I even have to write this, but people keep asking me how to pirate iPhone apps. Don’t do it.

App piracy is wrong. Sure, you may balk at buying a $3 Twitter client, a $5 game, or anything that isn’t free on the App Store, but that is not a reason to circumvent anti-piracy measures.

Developers pour their lives into making apps. For many, it is their only source of income. To steal their work is equivalent to walking into a developer’s house and stealing a DVD off the shelf.

How do you think developers fund their new apps? Making apps is not free. It costs time and money. If a developer doesn’t have enough money to make a new app or update an existing one, it diminishes the App Store experience for everyone. That developer may go bankrupt, and you lose the awesome apps he or she may make.

Of course, piracy, no matter what type, is wrong and illegal. The difference is that developers do not usually make as much money as singers or actors. Therefore, even a small percentage of people pirating an app can have a devastating effect on the developer.

Don’t pirate apps.

After going through almost a month of torture, I’m glad I held out for the 3G version of Apple’s iPad. Here’s what I feel about the device after using it for a little more than a day:

• It’s fast. Crazy fast.
• It feels like a computer. It doesn’t feel like a scaled-up iPod touch at all.
• The device fades away after a while. If I’m watching a movie on my iPad, it becomes just watching a movie. It feels like I am physically interacting with the content and apps.
• My iPhone feels extremely tiny after using the iPad. I’m nicknaming it the iPad nano!
• I haven’t needed to use my laptop even once since I took my iPad out of the packaging.
• I don’t like the name iPad WiFi + 3G. What’s wrong with just iPad 3G?
• I can type almost as fast as I can on a tactile keyboard.

For the past few months, many iPhone developers have said that web apps are better than native apps. You don’t have to get them approved, updates can be released instantly, and, for many web developers, it’s easier to write an application in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS than in Cocoa.

As an iPhone developer, I am intrigued by this idea. A few recently released web apps, notably Pie Guy and Showtime, prove how easy it is to create a great web app and distribute it.

Downfalls

You have to have a server to do this, which means that bandwidth, storage space, and troubleshooting are on you. Apple would take care of these things if your app was on the App Store.

There isn’t an easy way to charge for a web app. The only way would be to create an account system, but then you would have to manage billing and security, which are things that, once again, Apple would take care of if your app was on the App Store. Account systems also take away from the user experience.

Your app won’t have a way to send push notifications. A way around this would be to use Prowl’s API, but this also creates a horrible user experience. But will your web app really need push notifications?

The Future

Web apps could be the ideal way to create a free app and distribute it, especially for developers who already have servers. Throw an ad into the application, and you have a source of revenue that doesn’t involve creating a billing system.

Eventually web apps and native apps will be one and the same. In the future, Apple will either abolish the App Store approval process or allow developers to distribute apps via their own websites. Until then, web apps are the best way for some to develop for the iPhone platform.

Many people expect iPhone apps to be $2 at most. A $3 app is often shunned because it is too expensive. But is a $3 app really too expensive?

Any iPhone developer has had this thought cross their mind at one point:

I really want to price my app based on how much effort I put into it, but everyone else is only charging $0.99. If I want to get noticed, I really should only charge $0.99.

Many developers give into this mindset, thinking that the only way to compete with other developers is to lower their app’s price. Other developers, the smart ones, charge based on the amount of effort they put into their app.

The smart developers compete on features and quality, not price. But consumers often go for whatever is cheaper.

This puts small iPhone developers into a dilemma. If their price is too high, they will funnel sales to a cheaper app. If their price is low, they will not be able to make a living off of their app.

iPhone developers: charge what you think your app is worth. Don’t listen to people who complain that $3 is too much to spend on well-designed software for their $200 iPhones. Charge based on what you think you deserve. Be a leader, not a follower.