Category Archives: Development

iPhone code snippet: Phone number formatter

If you have had to create a text field for a user to enter a phone number, you may have had to do this yourself. If not, this snippet may save you 15 minutes. Set the keyboard type to phone pad and add these 2 methods to the delegate of your text field. This code [...]

What’s on your home screen?

As an iPhone developer, you need quick access to many tools.  Your iPhone is your “Swiss Army Knife”, providing the information you need, when you need it. The home screen holds your most useful and frequently used apps. What tools are most important to you? Here is a quick looksy at my home screen: In the Dock: Nothing [...]

Does your app have a chance to make it in the App Store Top 100?

Data from several sources has shown that just being in the top 100, and to a greater extent, the top 50 accelerates app sales. The list is a self supporting mechanism, rewarding those that make it. So, how can you make it in? That’s not exactly an easy question, nor are all cases the same. [...]

To $0.99 or not to $0.99, that is the App Store question

This has been a raging debate for several months now. Many have taken a philosophical and idealistic approach to the argument, but such a lofty opinion requires a minimum bank account balance. The truth is, as much as you and I want to charge more for our apps, we are constrained. We didn’t take VC capital. We have [...]

App Store sales figures for our iPhone app, Compounds

Finally, after my promise, I have gotten around to tabulating some data. I won’t delve too deep into the analysis of Compounds‘ sales figures. I will be dipping into greater detail in another post. For now, I just want to get our sales figures out, hopefully, to assist other developers in estimation of their own sales. [...]

Transitioning from Mac power user to developer

It’s a seemingly natural transition. The more you use the platform, the more you want to learn. This is a path that almost  inevitably leads to application development. Maybe not in a professional context, but many will at least dabble in AppleScript or create some freeware out of need or desire. For me, this was [...]

Examining App Store rating patterns and what they say about your app

Now that our first app, Compounds, is accumulating a significant amount of ratings, I have found myself pondering over the subtleties of App Store ratings. The hard truth is that customers, for the most part, are not rating your app. Even fewer take the time to write a review. This isn’t exactly a revelation, but could we [...]

iPhone sales and the front page of the App Store

Data is starting to roll in from Apple featuring Compounds in the “New and Noteworthy” section of the App Store.  My first reaction was, “Wow”.  Our Tuesday sales were roughly 60x our average sales since we released our app.  Needless to say, we’ve been busy.  I’m just glad our homepage is still standing. In the [...]

App Store keyword search algorithm

Something I figured out that I found a little interesting. When a user enters a search term in the iTunes Store, they are presented with a grid of the top items from several categories. Two items for “podcasts”, four items for “albums”, two items for “movies”, etc… What we care about , obviously, is the [...]

Resources avec shoutouts

While putting Compounds together, we had the luxury of using the code, tutorials, and resources of many others.  This list is a little bit of the resources we used, and a little bit of a thanks to these individuals and organizations for their help, direct or indirect. Philly CocoaHeads and Indy Hall Local chapter of [...]