The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Last spring, TUAW asked how much you would pay for iPhone software. Well, it looks like $0.99 and $1.99 are the new $39.99 and $49.99 as far as mobile distribution goes. The App Store bucked the trend of high-priced phone software and now is ratcheting those prices down even further.

Developers are responding to high application supply and dwindling demand by lowering their prices across the board. As the App Store novelty wears off and consumers forget about once-"hot" items, the typical price tag continues dropping. Games that cost $9.99 at launch are almost universally $4.99 and less.

Apps like Koi Pond proved that $0.99 can generate a lot of sales. Short term sales are quickly being eclipsed by long term price drops. We typically get our tips about upcoming price changes directly from developers; 148Apps has introduced a automated price drop detector.

As the App Store continues to evolve from "get rich quick" to make money slowly, devs are working to find that sweet spot -- charging enough to earn a living but not so much that they aren't out-competed.

Based on these downward pricing trends, I expect ad-supported apps to really start taking off soon, the way they are doing in the jailbreak world. If developers can't build their revenue stream from charging higher prices, they may turn to alternative monetizing models instead.

It's been a couple of months since I first posted my thoughts on the iPhone App Store review process and called for greater objectivity, transparency, and consistency from Apple. Apple's review process has become the meme of the moment this week. Here's a quick run-down of some of the big (and less big) stories out there at the moment:

Engadget
Ryan Block, with the help of Geek Lawyer (and TUAW buddy) Nilay Patel, looks at the App Store review system and finds it lacking. (Full disclosure: I had a very minor hand in this post.)

Joy of Tech
Here's Joy of Tech's hilarious take on the App-Store review process. (Thanks, Jonathan K!)

Mobile Chat
The authors of Mobile Chat are offering refunds, as they can't tell if or when they will ever be accepted to the App Store with a functioning product.

LateNiteSoft
Here's a thoughtful essay about the "Cruel Economy of the App Store." It's really a terrific read.

Macworld
Don't ascribe malicious intent to what can be explained by incompetence and too-rapid growth of the App Store, suggests this Macworld writeup.

TUAW is totally deal-icious these days. Here's our second App Store bargain roundup of the week!

Equivalence
We went hands on with Equivalence just a few days ago and now this converter app is on sale for $1.99 until October 6th. It's normally priced at $4.99.

Fuzzle
CandyCane is selling Fuzzle for a limited time for free. The price will be going up to $1.99 at some undetermined time in the future. Fuzzle is a Jawbreaker-esque game. Update: looks like the sale ended. I got my (full) version for free yesterday, which is when this post was written up.

FlipBook
Normally priced at $9.99, FlipBook will go on sale for Friday only for $4.99. We reviewed this application last month on TUAW.

Freeverse Games
Freeverse has lowered their prices across the board -- every game now costs $4.99 or less.

Dear Auntie TUAW,

I've been thinking about trying my hand at development for the iPhone (I've got some good app ideas already), and I was wondering where a good place to start might be. Should I mess around with learning some Objective-C first, or just spend the $99 and dive in with the dev kit? I know some PHP, Javascript, and a smattering of C++, but have never tried developing in Objective-C or Cocoa.

I have some free time this weekend to try messing around with development and see if it's something I might be able to do. Where's a good place to stick my toe in and see if the water's good for swimming? Should I buy an Objective-C book and spend the whole weekend with that, or is it worth it to put down the money on a dev kit and see what I can make my iPhone do?

Let me know! Just thinking of you, there's this scent in the air... like a mixture of 4711, hard candies and Aqua Net.

Your devoted nephew,

Mikey

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After testing TuneRanger over the past few days and not getting very good results, yesterday I had a chance to test Sonzea's Syncopation, which was recommended by several TUAW readers.

Like TuneRanger, Syncopation works by synchronizing multiple iTunes libraries. Unlike TuneRanger, Syncopation is a Universal Binary Mac-only product. Syncopation has a free 30-day demo which you can install on one computer. For access to all program features you must buy the full license for $24.95. This allows you to synchronize up to 5 Macs.

The initial install was simple, and I had it up and running quickly -- until I discovered I was quickly running out of space on my Mac Mini. Normally, the mini uses an external drive for the iTunes library given that space on the core drive is limited. I wrote to the developer who responded quickly.

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I went hands on with Smith Micro's TuneRanger application. TuneRanger, which retails for $30, allows you to synchronize iTunes libraries across your local network. Let me start by saying this is going to be a very mixed review.

The idea behind TuneRanger is brilliant. You can merge, synchronize, or transfer your iTunes library and when you update on different computers, TuneRanger will sync those changes so your library is the same regardless of the computer. Your single license allows you to use the program on up to 5 computers, both Mac and Windows.

The problem with TuneRanger is that I couldn't recommend it to my mom or some friends without knowing in advance that I'd be spending significant time on the phone for support. It's just buggy, complicated, and crashy enough to make that a problem while at the same time it's powerful and reliable enough for anyone who has reasonable computer savvy. It's more of a "I'll come over on Saturday and sync your system" package than a "Just download this and press the button" one.

Take for example, the standard sync options. I expected that I could select Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audio Books, etc. Instead, the program uses file types: mp3, m4p, m4a, m4b, aac, ipg, etc. So on my initial syncs, none of my unusual file types transferred; plus I had to hand-edit out m4v and mp4 to keep my video collection from slowing down the works. Once edited, there was no "revert to standard" button option, so it's a good thing I wrote down the names of the file types that I'd taken out.

The program is just marginally stable rather than fully stable. I could transfer data when running from my G4 Power PC, but for some reason the program balked whenever I tried running from my Intel Mac Mini and connecting to the Power PC server. I dealt with several crashes -- not a big deal because the next sync simply skips the items that had finished -- plus errors. The error message was this: "Error," which is not very helpful when you're trying to figure out why a problem occurred.

Also be aware that the process is slooooow. In addition to any normal network bandwidth issues, the program's processing overhead means this is an overnight or multi-day process that you're looking at.

So here's the bottom line: TuneRanger is an app that I know I'm going to love but one that still needs a little growing and maturing before I can whole-heartedly tell people to buy it without caveats.

What happens when you set your jailbroken iPhone to "fast respring" (that is, turn on one of the SpringBoard relaunching options) via BossTool, and SpringBoard crashes? Safe mode, apparently. Who knew that Safe Mode even existed on the iPhone? I certainly didn't until TUAW reader Max S. sent in the pictures below.

Safe Mode apparently disables certain system extensions. You can get out of safe mode by rebooting. So let's see, a blue screen of doom and safe mode. Hmmm. I thought this phone was manufactured by Apple. Where's Seinfeld?

Anyway, this isn't the first time the topic of iPhone's Safe Mode has come up. I googled up this Austrian page and a few other hits -- most of which seemed to appear in September of 2008, after the recent firmware upgrade.

Know anything about Safe Mode and the iPhone? Drop a comment and tell us more.

Update: Readers do know more! They point out that this is a Winterboard feature and not part of Apple's firmware.

Looking for some last second App Store deals? Here are some bargains that have been sent in by their developers.

SuperPong
Strictly speaking, SuperPong isn't a "deal" so much as a "get it while you can". The developer, Jazon Burnell has been C&D'd by Atari so if you want to buy SuperPong, you need to act quickly. SuperPong costs $2.99 until it is pulled from AppStore.

Fairway
Fairway, which normally retails for $10, will be selling for $4.99 for this weekend only. Check the price before you add it to the cart because it's still showing up as $9.99 for me. Fairway is a golf management system. I suspect you'd have to know and love golf in order to appreciate this app. I am not a golfer.

Laser Battle
Laser Battle is on sale for $0.99 until Monday. It offers a light-saber battle game for one or two players.

Dictaphone and Note Pad
Dictaphone is a voice recording application from Polar Bear Farms. Note Pad provides a Notes replacement app. Both are on sale until September 26. Dictaphone will cost $0.99 (normally $1.99) and Note Pad $1.99 (normally $2.99) until that time.

Earthscape
Normally $4.99, Earthscape is free for a limited time. It provides a virtual globe application that allows you to "explore the Earth in 3D."

Laughing Squid posted these yummy, adorable, and prize-winning iPhone cupcakes. The cupcakes, created by Nick and Danielle Bilton, swept the Cupcake Decorating Championship at Ignite NYC II.

I love the phone badge and the timer's tiny details but can't help but feel that the stocks cupcake somehow is missing a bit of white frosting. Also, the calendar date was wrong for the time of the championships, but I suspect that the judges wouldn't notice that.

Congrats to the Biltons!

We recently got a tip over to this It's Just Poison post about Veency for jailbroken iPhones from Jay "Saurik" Freeman, the author and maintainer of Cydia. Veency provides a VNC remote desktop server for your iPhone, allowing you to connect to the shared screen of your handheld from any VNC client (Apple Remote Desktop, Chicken of the VNC, and more).

I downloaded a copy to my iPhone, rebooted and gave it a whirl to see how well it worked using Chicken of the VNC on my Mac.

From first go, it did what it promised: offering tap-interpretation of my Mac-based mouse clicks as iPhone-sourced finger taps. The current mouse position on the Mac was echoed as a small "x" on the iPhone, so I could always see where the virtual finger was.

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