The six teams competing in the Ultimate Coder Ultrabook Challenge have one more day to go. On the 28th September they must submit their final code to Intel. In the following week I will be testing and scoring with the other judges and on October 8th we’re going to see who’s won $10K.
Yes this is a promotional activity by Intel, but it’s one of the most interesting and educational I’ve ever been involved in. We’ve all learnt a lot and a useful trail of posts has been left by the contestants for anyone thinking about creating an Ultrabook-focused version of their Windows 8 application for either desktop or Windows 8 Store. You can find all of the posts, plus my commentary, here.
So on to the final week. Was it all about bug-fixing? Did anyone have to drop features? Read-on
There’s nothing better for software innovation than getting a bunch of software innovators together, adding some hardware experts, some visionaries, a bunch of cool hardware, feedback from consumers… and a few glasses of alcohol. That about sums up what happened at IDF last week. Without reading any of the Ultimate Coder Ultimate Challenge blogs this week (see more below though) I know that all of the teams were stimulated to make changes, add features and optimize others. It’s late in the game (only 2 weeks to go) but I’m sure that there will be a few beta’s that get feature upgrades. Dangerous!
I was invited by Intel to meet some developers yesterday. The Intel Ultrabook developers meet-up in Munich was casual and informative. We all enjoyed hands-on with some of the latest Ultrabooks but the conversation about why Ultrabooks could be interesting for developers was, for me, more interesting.
Minecraft Pocket Edition was released officially for Android a few weeks back, but Mojang, the company behind the popular indie game, had been ever silent about the iOS version. All we really knew was that they were working on it. Well it seems that Mojang was planning on launching the iOS version at the Minecon event that’s being held today and tomorrow, but they put Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS up on the App Store ahead of time to ensure that it would be readily available at the time of the announcement. They should have known that their ravenous Minecraft fans would spot it in an instant!
Minecon is an event being held in Las Vegas by Mojang this weekend to celebrate the launch of the desktop version of Minecraft. “Launch?”, I hear you say, “but I thought Minecraft already sold over 4 million copies?” And thus the popularity of Minecraft becomes clear. Mojang has indeed sold in excess of 4 million copies of Minecraft prior to the game’s official launch. The game has been in a beta state for many months, seeing slow and continues updates from Mojang, and now what they’re calling the ‘launch’ version of the game is being released at Minecon, today, in fact.
After numerous knockoffs, copy-cats, and fakes that have reached the App Store, the real Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS is now available for download. You can download it right here for $6.99 as a universal app that works on the iPad and iPhone. On Android, Minecraft Pocket Edition has a free demo, and I expect to see a similar demo come to iOS in due time.
Both versions of Minecraft Pocket Edition for Android and iOS are still in the beta stage, much like the desktop version once was. Mojang plans to regularly update these versions until they reach a level that they deem worthy of calling the launch version. At the moment, Minecraft Pocket edition doesn’t support the exact same gameplay, and is certainly harder to control through a touchscreen than with a mouse and keyboard, but the charm certainly remains.
If you haven’t played Minecraft before, I would recommend trying the desktop version of the game first. Minecraft Pocket Edition seems, to me, to be more of a ‘you can play it on the go if you can’t get enough of it’ sort of app, rather than an app that works flawlessly on a touchscreen. Not to say it doesn’t run well, but let’s face it, the game was designed to be played with a mouse and keyboard, and that’s how it plays best.
Limited multiplayer support exists in Minecraft Pocket Edition and is thankfully cross-compatible between iOS and Android, but unfortunately the Pocket Editions won’t work with the desktop version. In order to build and explore in the same world with friends, you must be on the same WiFi network.
Don’t know what Minecraft is? Well, it’s tough to explain because it’s a lot of different things for a lot of different people. For some, it’s like a virtual lego builder. For others, it’s an unlimited and randomly generated world for exploring. If any video could, this one seems to capture it well:
I remember when I first started playing Minecraft. I was thankful that there was no iOS version, because I knew I’d get no work done if I could play Minecraft on my phone. Unfortunately, I’ve no longer got any place to hide.
Echoing what we reported a few days ago is the official announcement that AppUp, the Intel-funded app store for Meego, Windows and Tizen will expand its product focus out to all PCs. Originally Intel had a keen eye on the Atom ecosystem for AppUp but by moving to support HTML5 apps, they think that all PC platforms could benefit.
“Today we disclosed the expansion of the Intel AppUp program to support all PCs with a special focus on the new class of super-slim PCs known as UltrabooksTM. Intel expects as much as 40% of the worldwide laptop market next year to be captured by Ultrabooks, and with fast processors coupled with slick designs this is clearly another massive market for developers.”
From the moment I saw the Samsung Series 7 slate.with the Appup logo on it at IFA I knew there was something going on. It makes complete sense to use the Ultrabook category as a way to expand and springboard the Appup app store and to add extra value to Ultrabooks. I reported on the value of it here.
When I saw a Samsung Series 9 on the Appup booth at IDF last week I began to ask questions. Everyone kept their mouths shut. Now I know why.
In a list of sessions published on the Appup Elements event site today my suspicions are confirmed.
It’s hard to believe that the iPhone launched without an application store but it did. If you’ve lived with ‘apps’ for any length of time you’ll appreciate the advantages and probably won’t want to go back to a place without an integrated app store right?
Discovery
Try-and-Buy
Unified Billing
Discussion / Comment / Sharing
Developer opportunity (money, fame!)
Diversity / Niche applications
Device Customisation
Application control and conformity
Centralised security checks
One-stop-shop
Competition / Comparison of similar applications
3rd-party Curation
Yes, apps have been around for a long time but the app store brings many important advantages. It’s big business.
Wipconnector now lists over 100 app stores and in the latest report (PDF) asks the question – “How Many App Stores is Too Many. inch It’s almost the same question as “How Many Blogs is Too Many? inch and we all know that there’s enough desire, demand and advertising out there to drive a scary number. My prediction is that the number of store ‘fronts’ will continue to rise but we might see consolidation on the back end. API’s, SDK’s and submission processes that align and then offer multiple store fronts (based on device type, software brand or genre) seem the perfect solution to applications stores with huge numbers of apps. Actually, blogs and app store fronts could link up very well with blogs driving the SEO and readership to a niche audience and then offering a tailored application store with reviews and a percentage of revenue. It’s certainly something I want to do in the mobile computing niche when possible.
Maybe I’ll have a different view at the end of next week though as I expect to learn a lot more at two Intel-sponsored sessions. The first is App World at Olympia in London. On the 1st Dec (Wednesday) I’ll be hosting a 4-hour session where Intel representatives will talk about the Intel AppUp Developer Program, the AppUp store for Windows and MeeGo, the opportunities and software engineers will be present to help developers get started.
“We’ll be discussing revenue opportunities for Adobe AIR* and Windows* C/C++ developers, as well as how you can optimise existing iOS, Windows and runtime applications for netbooks. inch
I’ll be around for the day so if you’re at the event, drop by and say hi!
After App World I’ll be flying over to Berlin for the Intel App Lab to practice my ‘Denglisch.’ Again, I’m introducing speakers at the event and looking forward to meeting people in what has to be one of the hottest cities in Europe for new media software and services.
“Hear why you should develop for the Intel AppUpSM center, learn about the monetization opportunities, see live coding demonstrations and talk to Intel experts in our staffed hands on training session. Bring your code and questions! inch
You can find information and register here. The event is free and there’s a chance to win a netbook along with other prizes. Beer, pizza and chat after the event too!
I’ve seen a few references to a forum entry on Android Community Forums over the last 24hrs and while I don’t think the case in question can be rated highly, the thought that it generates is an interesting one to discuss.
I’ve been analyzing the Intel AppUp store recently and also thinking about how Android-based tablets can solve the problem of not having the hooks and channel available for applications on large-screen Android devices. We already see that the requirement for an app-store on a consumer device is critical and the potential gains for the store that becomes ‘de facto’ are huge. Google are having successes in the smartphone area (although one report I read yesterday says that it needs to do a lot better due to the limited country coverage of Google Checkout. Update: News on that today too) but there are other areas too. Tablets, TV, Netbooks and Laptops. There’s even a chance to spruce-up the desktop application experience. I don’t see any one store covering this whole area but that doesn’t mean you can’t win if you rule the niche or vertical.
Amazon are no stranger to distribution and as we found out last year, already have a software distribution and monetisation product. It was games-only then but can someone please tell me the difference between distributing a game and distributing any other piece of PC software? The Amazon service runs in the cloud with all the usual Amazon specification, rating, review and comment features and as I write, there are 1823 games being offered from free to $39.99 (Service only available in the U.S.)
What if Amazon tuned this service up for any PC software and rolled it out to their 100+ countries? What if they included more than just PC software? What if Google asked them to carry a selection of premium apps aimed at new markets? What if a hundred thousand Android apps could suddenly be sold through credit card, and direct bank transfer? Update: Even newer news indicates that Amazon might be readying an Android Tablet.
There are a number of important elements that an App-store should have:
Categorisation
Monetises
Feedback/rating channel
Simplify install process
Provide search and discovery facilities
Simplify migration of PCs
Permit try-and-buy
Helps devs with incentives/marketing
Allow the community to curate
Provides affiliation opportunities
When you check these requirements off against an Amazon offering, nearly all of them are covered and with the huge Amazon brand and web presence, marketing it should be easier and cheaper than for most. The only barriers will be 1) Getting devs to submit their apps 2) Getting customers to download the market client. Both barriers are huge and interdependent and could need a pile of cash to solve.
Update: If Amazon were to successfully ship a million their own Android tablets with a set of pre-prepared tablet apps done under NDA, they might solve the chicken-and-egg problem of apps and pre-installed customer base. It’s exactly what Intel are attempting with netbooks and AppUp so it will be interesting to watch and compare.
The six teams competing in the Ultimate Coder Ultrabook Challenge have one more day to go. On the 28th September they must submit their final code to Intel. In the following week I will be testing and scoring with the other judges and on October 8th we’re going to see who’s won $10K.
