WEBVTT - How Mobile Apps Stores Work 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.000 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.760 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.240 tech Stuff from how stuff Works dot com. This podcast 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.760 is brought to you by Verizon Hub, the home phone 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:23.120 reinvented exclusively from Verizon Wireless. Hi, everybody, welcome to Tech Stuff. 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.000 My name is Chris Pollette. I'm an editor and how 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.920 stuff Works dot Com. And as usual, I have sitting 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.920 here right next to me senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Shalom Pillett, Well, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.639 shalom me youtuo. How are you today? I'm doing all right? Yea. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.720 So we were, I don't know, going to talk about 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.720 some applications. Yeah, it's mobile applications. Yeah, they're hard to 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:50.200 pin down, but because they're mobile, in case you guys 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.320 didn't get that, because they're mobile. So yeah, we're gonna 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:57.120 talk about mobile phone applications and mobile device applications. Uh, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.040 it's the that's the new, big, big thing, right, I mean, well, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.560 mainly because smartphones have hit the consumer market. And now 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:07.759 that they have and everyone's starting to pick up these 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.080 phones that can do lots of cool stuff, They're like, 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.560 where's all the cool stuff I can do, and so 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.480 we've got all these developers creating really interesting applications. So 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.319 we wanted to talk a little bit about the different 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.280 Apple app stores that are out there, and um, you 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.119 know what kind of sets them apart, and maybe talk 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.000 a little bit about a couple of applications that we use, because, 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.360 as many of our listeners have probably already figured out, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.559 Chris is worships at the altar of Apple and um 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:36.920 and I have sold my soul to Google, so we 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.560 can we can talk about the various apps we use 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.520 on our our our mobile devices. Well, um, what do 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.440 you want to start with? I think do you want 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.800 to start with the actual apps themselves? If we do, 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.280 I gotta turn my phone on. Okay, well let's you know, 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.680 I feel like we should probably start by pointing out 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.960 that this is all sort of Apple's fault, for good 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.960 or bad, because, um, you know, when the iPhone was released, 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.560 it was locked down. Ha ha that's a big surprise 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:08.040 coming from Apple. Okay, so yeah, exactly. Um. But with 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.079 the with the release of the second generation iPhone known 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.239 as the three G iPhone, to confuse everyone the network 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.440 and not the phone. Um, they also opened it up 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.480 to developers and um, yes, it is still very difficult 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.200 for me not to quote Steve Bomber and say developers 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.880 fifteen times in a row. UM, so you're making great progress. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.880 I know, thank you, except I mentioned it, so I didn't. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.440 So yeah, Apple, Apple sort of unleashed the genie from 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.760 the bottle in this case because UM, I don't. I 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.160 think everybody else was watching UM and I think that 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.960 what's happened since then has proved that. But at the 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.840 time we are recording this, UM, Apple is rapidly approaching 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:58.200 one billion app downloads from the app store mine buggling, Well, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.880 a lot of them are free, so I think probably. So. 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:02.240 I mean, you know, you sit there and you think 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.000 about you're like, okay, well that that means that you know, 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.960 there there's a very wide user base out there already. Absolutely. 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.120 In fact, I would go so far to say in 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:17.520 the consumer market that the iPhone dominates the smartphone uh platform. Well, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.840 it was bound to happen because number one, they were 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.560 the first UM and it's open not just to the 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.760 iPhone but to the iPod touch UM that and everybody 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.679 else was sort of hanging back and watching to see 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.000 whether they'd fall flat on their faces and that was 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.720 a smart strategy. You had some smartphones out there already, 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.240 like you had you had a Nokia phone that was 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.920 a smartphone. You had several Nokia phones actually, and then 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.720 you also had the Blackberries out there, but those were 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.840 mainly used by enterprise individuals, so we're talking about like 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.960 high powered executives. And the Samsung and l G phones 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.560 that have followed have been closed systems for the most part. 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.200 You know, Symbion which is also well, you know, Nokia 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.839 related at this point, so it's you know, it's very 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.400 very limited as far as what you could do with 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.160 it to the stuff that was on there. But app 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.760 was the first one to really open it up and go, hey, guys, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.240 what can you throw on here? Right? And and so 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.720 they created this, um, this kind of realm for developers 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.720 to work in. And uh, at first, when we first 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.919 heard about the application market, um, the applic app store, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.920 actually the iTunes app store, it sounded amazing. I mean, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.200 you had this idea about all these developers creating innovative 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.120 applications that would turn your phone into all sorts of 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.080 really useful devices. You could consolidate tons of electronic devices 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.960 into one device, which gets to my favorite word, convergence. 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.720 But the applications would create, you know, would turn your 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:47.040 smartphone into a cool device, into a freaking cool device 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.800 because it could suddenly do tons of things that you know, 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.239 you didn't even imagine when you first bought it. Um 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.960 As time passed that the glimmer kind of wore off 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.800 a little bit, not a whole lot, because and iPhone 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:06.800 has gotta a pretty devout fan base. But on the 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.960 developers side, there were some there were some hiccups along 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.280 the way. UM. One would be that Apple demanded that 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:18.039 it UH review and approve all apps that would go 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.279 into the App Store. So you said Apple, not Nintendo, right, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.560 because I was thinking of I hope so um, I 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.360 have a habit of saying the wrong name at times. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.480 You never know I'm teasing. Nintendo has a similar policy 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.160 that they are very careful about the stuff that they 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.440 released for their play. Of course, Nintendo came to came 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:41.039 about right after the great uh home video game crash 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.680 of the eighties, so it made sense. Nintendo was like, Hey, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.240 we're not gonna let all these lousy applications or in 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.440 their case, lousy games screw up our cool system. We're 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.520 gonna put a tight control on this, make sure the 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.120 games are top notch, and that way we will sell 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.159 lots and lots of product. Apple pretty much the same way. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.240 Of course, you know, Steve Jobs has the the the 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:05.480 famous uh kind of philosophy that it has to meet 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.400 his standards or else it does not go. Yep, and uh, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.760 actually I made the joke about Nintendo, but really there 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:16.280 there there is another similarity because one of the biggest, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.440 biggest sections of the app store for the iPhone and 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.600 the iPod touches games, and they turned Apple turned well 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:26.640 they didn't really, but they sort of did turned it 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.680 into a gaming platform simply by making it available for 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.640 developers to write games for. And the accelerometers inside the 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.000 devices make it possible to uh sort of operate the 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.039 games like you would a Wei remote for the Nintendo 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.599 because you can move. Uh. You know, their their physics 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.640 games that involve moving the iPhone or iPod touch around, 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.560 and there are other applications too that involve shaking the device. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.560 Jonathan likes to suggest that Apple um did that on 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.520 purpose so that you would drop it and have to 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.200 go buy a new one. Yeah. For instance, Natalie Dell 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.640 Countie them the Reporter for c net. I think she's 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.480 on her sixth iPhone because she's dropped it so many times. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.360 Oh a gun, no kidding, I'm not joking, And I 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.760 think her current one has a crack in it and 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.280 the in the screen. It still works, but it's it's damage. 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.400 But okay. So that that's basically how we got to 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.440 this point. Apple had a runaway success with the app 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.760 store UM. And you know, they're all kinds of games 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.880 and other applications, even even enterprise applications, which made sense 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.960 for other people to duplicate. Uh, in which case you 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.000 know other people are starting to get into the act. Yeah, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.560 so let's look at some of the other choices Apple made. 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.840 So they said they had to approve all applications. Well, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:45.920 how do you get an application into the app store 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:47.280 in the first place. That's a good question. You have 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.440 to apply, right, and part of the application process is 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.280 a there's a developer fee you have to pay to 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:57.440 be to have your applications considered, which is ars per 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.320 year with Apple UM. So you have have to pay 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.760 this developer fee. Then you go and you develop your application, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:06.480 you test it out and you make sure it works 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.920 on the platform, and then you send it to Apple 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.080 and say, hey, does this pass muster. Apple then reviews 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:17.560 the application and then sometime at some point gives either 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.760 the y or the nay about whether it goes in 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.440 the App Store, And if it goes in the app Store, 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.720 you're golden. If it doesn't go in the app Store, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.920 you got to go back to to you know, you 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:28.800 have to go back to design and fix it and 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.920 fix whatever the problems are in order to get it 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.720 in the app Store. Because the problem here is that 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:38.520 you cannot with a regular iPhone or iPod Touch, you 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:44.040 cannot download any application that is not in the App Store. 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:45.120 It has to be in the app Store for you 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.560 to be able to download it unless you jail break it. 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:52.480 Unless there are a whole other problems so that we 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.160 we could go into, but you know, it's not really 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.280 necessary for this conversation. Yeah. The only exception that sort 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.080 of falls in the acts. Maybe you have an excellent 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.920 application and you submitted it, but Apple finds that you've 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.199 duplicated functionality of one of Apple's applications, in which case 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.000 they will tell you to take a hike, even if 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.720 that application that you duplicated hasn't even hit the App Store. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.079 Yet yea, because that was the whole podcast thing, right, Yeah, yeah, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.920 they there was an organization that created a podcast application 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.640 and at the time, you couldn't download podcasts directly to 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.360 your iPhone or I. You had to sink it, you 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.920 had to think it with your computer. And uh, Apple 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.200 said no, you couldn't do it, and they eventually relented. 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:42.120 The developer went back made some modifications. Plus Apple had 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.800 already added the functionality to its own devices. So there 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.320 there's been sort of an accord if you will, in 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.199 that regard. But um, yeah, if you if you're a 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.320 little too close to the mark and he won't let 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.040 you in. And just to go back to a little 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.000 bit of the financials. If if it's an application that 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.640 you are charging money for, so it's not a free application, 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.640 you're actually charging for this, um, the developer gets to 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:09.120 keep seventy of that of that cost of that you know, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.160 of that purchase, the thirty other goes to Apple. Um 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.840 here's where another sticky situation comes up, because Apple has 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.480 agreed that at least in principle, that if you need 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.000 to return an application, if an application for some reason 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.360 is not working properly, and you have to have a 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.959 really good reason. Apparently they don't do it for just anything. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.360 But if you return an application, the developer is the 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:38.760 one responsible for returning of that application cost. Apple keeps 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.280 that thirty percent that they got the initial purchase. So 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.360 in theory, if you really hated a developer, you could 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.920 buy a whole bunch of the applications, return them all, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:53.400 and then slowly bankrupt them at a time, assuming, of course, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.559 that you could prove that there was something. Actually, it 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.600 would be tricky, it would not be easy to do. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:10:59.880 I'm just pointing out a flaw in the system. It's 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:04.040 not necessarily one that you could actually exploit well. But 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.080 but the seventy thirty uh division that kind of set 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.640 a standard to Yeah, it did. You'll see that in 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.640 other app stores as well, and I think we should 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:13.960 we should start talking about them. Uh. You know, you 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.840 are very familiar with the Android marketplace. Yes, yes, I 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.600 use it all the time, Google Android Marketplace. If you 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.880 have an HTCG one, then you have also probably taken 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.560 a look at the Google Android Marketplace. If you don't 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.080 have an HTCG one, you can still look at it. 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.160 It's not you know, nearly as enticing. If you don't 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.960 have anything that running Android, but you can look at it, 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.080 um and uh yeah. Google, when they were pushing the 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.400 Android operating system, one of the big things they were 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.920 pointing out was that they also were going to support 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.600 a big community of developers, and so the developers were 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:49.160 kind of getting excited about this. Google had a competition 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.079 where they they picked I think it was fifty developers 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.200 who came up with really cool applications that would be 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.439 available close to launch for the hd CG one and 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.400 it would really show off androids capabilities. Um, you can 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.640 find a lot of the applications that uh, well, not 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.520 a lot, but you can find several applications that are 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.920 available on the iPhone also in Google Android. And then 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.960 there are plenty that you can't find on Google Android 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:18.720 that you can on iPhone. There are a few that 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.000 are Google specific to that you're not going to find 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:25.000 anywhere else. Um. Google charges twenty five dollars per year 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.000 for developers to submit applications to the marketplace, and they 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.960 do not require you to go through some sort of 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.360 weird check system before it goes live in the marketplace. 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:38.880 All right, So if you want, if you know that, 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.960 if you're deciding do I develop an application for iPhone 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.160 where I may or may not be able to get 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.680 it into the store, or Google where I can definitely 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.000 get in the store. But the customer base is smaller. 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.800 I mean, there are not as many Android phone owners 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.440 as there are iPhone owners, so your audience is going 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:58.880 to be smaller. There are a lot of things you 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.120 have to consider before you can see there and just say, oh, well, 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.240 I want the freedom that Google gives me, so I'm 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.440 gonna go to Google. Well, you're not gonna get as 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.640 many people looking at your app, so you have to 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.920 balance it all out, you know. Um they're the iPhone 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.360 and the HTC G one are sort of seen as 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:20.320 consumer devices, but of course there are business applications for 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.480 them which might make some other people start to sweat, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:29.040 like BlackBerry, for example, because they have a huge enterprise market. Unless, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.680 of course, people start going, hey, those phones are cooler, 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:33.480 I want one of those. Look at all the cool 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.839 business stuff that I could do and fun consumer stuff. 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.600 I could have one phone for both. So now you've 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.199 got the BlackBerry app world. So Blackberries gotten into the 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.520 app game two, and it's also tried to entice developers 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.760 to come in and create applications for the BlackBerry platform, 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.600 the RIM platform. Yeah, you know, I I took a 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.400 look at some of the most popular applications right now. 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.720 Of course I don't actually have a BlackBerry, but you 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.840 can find out information about it on the website, and 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.560 there are they are going exactly that route. I think. 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.400 I think, to use your favorite word, convergence, I think 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.720 enterprise and consumer stuff is going to converge on people's phones, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.880 regardless of who gives you the phone. Right, So if 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:20.680 you look at the iPhone and the Android, you're gonna 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:25.200 see a lot more quote unquote toys and then fewer applications, 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.160 and then Blackberries the other way around, you're gonna see 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.840 more tools and fewer toys. Well, you know, I thought that, 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.760 and there are things and they're like, well no, but 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.480 I mean you see things like Salesforce and the HRS 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.120 Hotel Organizer, and you know world Mate Live, which is 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:45.920 a business travel um helping enabling program. But there were 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.680 other things too. The among the most popular are chat 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.600 programs like aim and I c q uh, MySpace, Pandora. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:57.480 Pandora is huge. I was gonna get away my favorite app. Well, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.560 I mean they have it for BlackBerry and the iPhone. 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:01.800 I know stuff rubbing it in. It's only a matter 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.160 of time. But the thing is, um, you know, well, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.160 I was gonna get in my favorite apps, but you know, Facebook, 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.720 these are things that I would not have expected necessarily 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.920 to see among the most popular BlackBerry apps, but there 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.040 they are. But if you're looking for the if you go, hey, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.160 I have a Windows Mobile device, I want to go 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.680 to the app store, you can't, at least not until 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.560 Windows Mobile six point five comes out, which is when 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.760 it released. And while we're talking about that, we can 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:31.120 also mention Symbian and Palm because they are also coming 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.040 out with app stores now. Symbion is a little more 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.640 complicated because it's on several different carriers, so that's gonna 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.000 be all sorts of mess But Nakia is going to 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.840 have its own or Nokia if you prefer um, it's 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.160 gonna have its own little app store. The OVI Store 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.520 is that what it's called. It's officially opening in May 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.440 and it's available for S forty and S sixty based phones. 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.240 So by the time this podcast comes out, it may 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.240 actually be open. It's it's not at the time of recording. However, 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:56.880 there is a website for it, and you can learn 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.040 a lot more about what they're gonna do. It's gonna 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.720 have a lot of location based stuff cool, and Palm 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.800 has the Palm Developer Network, which is still in the 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.920 early stages. Right now, they don't have any as far 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.000 as I could tell, I didn't see any information about 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.320 how much it would cost to UH to assent to 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.200 apply to have your application in Palm's store, because right 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.320 now it's all on the development stage where they're kind 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.240 of testing things out. So um, right now it looks 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.960 like it's free. But again, this is before any device 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.280 can run any of these applications. Because the Palm Pre 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.520 they still Palm at the time of this recording, has 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.640 not announced when the pre will go on sale. We 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:38.200 expect that announcement any day now. Yes, actually that's true. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.280 It's it's We could have even announced it while we 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.560 were in a meeting earlier today. We have not been 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.840 able to check the news since since that meeting, So uh, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.560 I feel like you know that That's the thing is, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.280 there are not many app stores that are completely open 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.120 and ready for business, but there are tons that have 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.080 announced it, and I bet there are more coming, and 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.920 they all have to play catch up with Apple, and 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:02.480 I don't think it's going to take them long because 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.240 the developers who are working on these things, like, for example, 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.600 their Facebook applications for all of the major platforms that 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.399 are available now, you can bet that it's not going 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:12.960 to take them long to catch up. And we might 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.439 we might start seeing lines get drawn in the sand, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.280 and we may even see some developers decide they want 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.720 to develop exclusively for one platform over the others. And 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.480 then you may see really large developer developers say well, 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.240 we have to develop all of them because we have 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.320 to hit our all of our customer base. It'll be interesting. 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.399 I'll be curious to see if this actually affects the 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.440 UM you know, which which phone comes out on top, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.000 or if it'll just remain a very competitive field. I 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.280 hope it stays competitive, because that ends up being the 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.280 best for the consumer. UM Now, I guess we can 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.439 talk a little bit about our favorite apps. Yeah, I 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.600 mean we've we've talked about some cool apps in the past, 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.040 But do you want to do you want to do 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.320 some Android apps? Yeah? Well, and one a lot of 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.800 them are are apps that are also available on other 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.080 systems like UM. I of Shazam, which is also available 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.600 on the iPhone and BlackBerry. UH. And that's an application 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.840 where that recognizes music. If you hear music playing, you 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.320 can you can activate Shazam. It'll analyze the music and 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:15.840 compare it against a database and come up with suggestions 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.080 for what that song might be. And most of the 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.280 time it's pretty accurate. That's one of mine. You want 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:22.720 to flip switch off or you just want me to 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.280 go through all of them really quickly. Well, I was 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.320 going to throw out Pandora, of course, not not sure. 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.960 Not to pick on you, that's true. Well, you know, 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.720 the last FM app is pretty good too. UM. And 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.480 I've tried. I've tried several of the streaming audio apps. 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.240 And if I had an iPhone instead of an iPod Touch, 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:41.840 it would be extremely useful because then I could stay 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.560 on my cellular network and keep going and listening to 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.359 music as I move from place to place. As it is, 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.320 it's just sort of useful when I'm at a network 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.600 where I'm not moving. UM. But it's fantastic because you 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.400 get the power of Internet radio UM over your cell phone, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.360 which a lot of people think will be the death 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.399 knell for satellite radio. UM. But it's very very nice, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.240 and like I said, the other ones are the other 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.000 ones are really good too. I like last FM on 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.399 there too. I've got twit droid, which is a Twitter 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:15.000 client for the Android platform, which is pretty cool. They 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.879 keep adding functionality to that, so I'm I'm very satisfied 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.159 with that. Does tend to uh occasionally require a force close, 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.320 but it tends to boot right back up as soon 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.800 as you do that, so there are some stability issues, 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.600 but otherwise I'm quite pleased with it. I've got let's 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.760 see the weather channel on here. I'm actually going through 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.080 it right now. I've got the weather channel app on here, 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.760 which is pretty handy. I've got unless you're trying to 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.000 look up whether the dry tortugas, which is always wrong. UM. 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:46.000 I've got the a compass program, a tip calculator, stop watch, uh, 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.840 some voice recording software, snap Photo, which is great. It 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.680 has some stability software in it so that your photos 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.639 come out a little more sharp than they would otherwise. UM. 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:58.720 There's some cool stuff. And also the nice thing about 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.480 snap photo it also has some uh some cool functionality 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.320 and lets you share photos through various applications like Twitter 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.679 or Facebook. Um. Just you know, you just push a 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:10.520 button and it sends it to your profile, which is 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.920 also really neat UM. For for Twitter on my iPod, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.960 I use twitter Ific from the the icon Factory, which 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:22.359 is fantastic. UM. I also like air sharing which is 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:27.200 UH and wireless file sharing clients. So if I want 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.119 to UH send a document or take a document home, 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:31.560 I don't have to carry a flash drive with me 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.679 or save it online or carrying my computer with me. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:39.120 I could actually upload it to my my iPod and 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.440 take it home with me and then download it. Basically, 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.720 it you allow. It allows you to add your iPhone 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:48.080 or iPod to your network UM and do it that way. 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:50.720 Stanza is an e book reader which is really nice 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.400 UM and it even allows you to down download thousands 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.359 of free public domain titles from places like Project Gutenberg 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.000 and UH and other places UH. Plus you can you 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.080 can buy titles if you want to as well. And 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.720 UH Boxy, which is fairly new to me, but UM 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.239 I had had trouble using Boxy on my iMac at 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:14.560 home because I had real difficulty getting the UH the 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.120 remote to work with it because it's just not functional 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.680