Hasta La Gadget!

In addition to launching its tablet Wednesday, Apple will likely introduce a new programming solution for iPhone developers to easily tablet-enable their apps.

Developers polled by Wired said they expected additions to Apple’s software-development kit that would help make iPhone apps work at any resolution, for full-screen support on the rumored device.

But how will that work? The tablet will likely support all iPhone apps out of the box in their current 480-by-320 resolution. These apps will probably be able to run in the background, perhaps in separate windows. It’s unlikely they’re going to automatically maximize to fill up the tablet’s screen, which is rumored to be 10 inches diagonally, developers polled by Wired.com agreed, because that would result in a blurry, pixelated mess — not Apple’s style.

Therefore, it’s likely that Apple will offer a quick workaround for developers to rescale their apps for full-screen tablet support.

For people who buy the tablet, that means we’ll see a slightly bifurcated world of apps. We’ll be able to access all iPhone apps in small windows, and some of those apps will be resizable to fit the tablet’s larger screen.

“It’s easy to imagine how Apple might offer tools to make it easy for me to not have to make all my graphics from scratch,” said Bart Decrem, CEO of Tapulous, developer of the popular iPhone rhythm game Tap Tap Revenge. “That’s one of the things I’d be on the lookout for.”

“We’ve made a big investment,” he continued. “People have made huge investments in their games. I’d expect Apple to accelerate the process of having lots and lots of apps that feel native and migrate from a fixed-resolution world to resolution independent.”

Decrem said he could not comment on whether Tapulous would be appearing as a presenter at Apple’s Jan. 27 event in San Francisco, where the Cupertino, California, company is rumored to be launching a tablet. Tapulous appeared in the recent September iPod event to present a new game, Riddim Ribbon.

Multiple independent reports agree on the physical description of Apple’s tablet: a blown-up iPhone or iPod Touch with a 10-inch screen. But the software experience has remained a mystery. Offering a glimmer of insight, The New York Times just a day before Apple’s product event has published a bold report claiming the tablet would support all 100,000 iPhone and iPod Touch apps currently in the App Store.

“It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print,” NY Times wrote.

Corroborating NY Times‘ report, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw said in a live TV interview that McGraw was developing e-book content for the Apple tablet. He explained that the tablet’s OS was based on the iPhone OS, meaning McGraw’s e-book iPhone apps will be easily portable to the tablet.

Other iPhone developers polled by Wired agreed that Decrem’s theory was solid. They said the SDK needed to be updated with new tools streamlining migration to the upcoming tablet. Jeff Meininger, iPhone developer of Snaptic, said Decrem’s proposed solution regarding resolution-independence would work.

“It would be the simplest and most effective way to be able to support all iPhone apps,” Meininger said. “It’s absolutely technically feasible.”

David Castelnuovo, developer of the immensely popular iPhone game Pocket God, said it was likely Apple would offer some new sizability code in the iPhone SDK with the tablet in mind. But he said it wouldn’t be a blanket solution for all 100,000 apps in the App Store.

Pocket God, for example, is game that involves torturing pygmies on an island, and it would have to be redesigned for a tablet with a bigger island and more pygmies, Castelnuovo said. So, some quick and easy sizability code will likely accelerate full-screen tablet support for form-based apps such as Facebook. For games or apps with more complex interfaces, it could take more thoughtful tweaking.

“Ideally we wouldn’t want to just scale [Pocket God],” Castelnuovo said. “We’d want to make the world bigger.”

Just how big a portion of the App Store will support full-screen tablet resolution will be up to the developers. Appcelerator, a company that helps developers build cross-platform mobile apps, polled 554 developers on their interest in coding for the tablet. 51 percent of respondents said it would be “very important” for them to port iPhone apps for the tablet “in a simple, easy fashion without too much cost or delay.” Thirty percent responded “Somewhat important” and 19 percent responded “Not important.”

It remains a question whether Apple will launch an entire section in its App Store for tablet apps. Decrem said he doubts that, because all iPhone apps will work with the tablet. He said it’s realistic that developers will state in their apps’ descriptions whether they feature full tablet support.

We’ll find out soon. Stay tuned on Gadget Lab for full, live coverage of Apple’s tablet event, which kicks off 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday.

See Also:

• What to Expect From Apple’s Tablet Unveiling
• Everything We Know About Apple’s Touchscreen Tablet
• Apple ‘Tablets’ Sniffed by Analytics Are More Likely iPhones
• Designers Unearth Apple Tablet Prototypes — From 1983
• Tablet Wars: Amazon Adds Apps to Kindle
• Is an Apple Tablet on the Way? Orange Exec Says ‘Oui’
• OLED Could Be Apple Tablet’s Secret Solution for E-Reading
• Rumor: Apple Event to Highlight iPhone OS 4.0 in Addition to …
• Will the Apple Tablet Be Called iPad?
• Apple Invitation Confirms Special Product Event Jan. 27
• iGuide and iSlate — Two Potential Name Candidates for an Apple …
• Apple Bought iSlate.com — Perhaps for a Tablet?
• Approaching January, Apple Tablet Rumors Run Wild
• In-App Sales and iTablet: The Killer Combo to Save Publishing …
• How an Apple Tablet Could Pit iTunes Against Amazon.com
• Large-Screen Kindle Won’t Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives …
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• Rumor: Back at Work, Jobs Cracks the Whip on Tablet Designers …
• Insider Spills Rumored Apple Tablet Details to Gizmodo

A mockup of an imaginary Apple tablet: Stephen Lewis Simmonds

Hidden among the barcode readers, music players and games in the marketplace for Android software may be apps that could steal your online banking credentials or infect your phone.

Google removed about 1 percent of the apps posted to the Android Market last year, according to a 2009 filing Google made to the FTC (.pdf). While most of those apps were removed because of user complaints about adult content or copyright violations, two apps attempted to gain access to users’ financial information, according to InformationWeek.

“I am surprised it is that much,” says Artem Petakov, co-founder and CTO of WorkSmart Labs, which offers the Cardiotrainer app, referring to the number of apps removed. “I assumed the user reporting and flagging was working better than that.”

The possibility of malicious apps in the Android Market has some developers wondering if Google needs to police the marketplace better. It has also raised questions about the impact of these security holes on consumer confidence and app marketing by developers.

Google launched the free, open source Android OS with the T-Mobile G1 phone in October 2008. Unlike Apple, which tightly controls the submission and the review process for its App Store, Google has taken a much more open approach with the Android Market. Developers don’t have to wait for Google’s approval to get an app into the store. Instead, the search giant and Android creator is counting on users flagging suspicious or malicious apps.

Last month, two credit unions posted a warning to their customers about a rogue app that uses phishing techniques to gain access to a user’s banking credentials. Once Google was notified, it moved quickly to remove the app along with about 50 others written by the hacker.

Android Market’s malware-related challenges are not surprising, says Patrick Mork, vice-president of marketing for GetJar, a company that has a catalog of 60,000 apps and runs its own app stores for phones.

“Whenever you have an app store, you always have a challenge with people putting inappropriate content or not following guidelines,” says Mork. “It’s part of the trade, what it takes to run a retail operation.”

What Google needs is better monitoring systems and a greater emphasis on ensuring a vibrant yet safe marketplace.

“The most immediate thing they could do is to tighten up their content policing mechanisms,” says Mork. “They could add more staff to review apps in greater depth.”

Google declined to disclose how many employees it has policing the Android Market.

Android OS could make changes to its user interface to educate consumers who are downloading apps as to the kind of permissions the app has, says Petakov.

Google has a strong interest in keeping the Android Market clean and free. If consumers are spooked or worried about safety of the apps from the Android Market, it could lead to fewer app downloads. That in turn could eat away at developer support for the fledgling operating system.

“Running an operating system and running a retail store front are two different things,” says Mork. “Consumer confidence is very important in the latter.”

Still, the developers that Wired.com spoke to were clear that Android’s open model needs to continue.

“We have benefited so much from the instant posting of our app,” says Petakov. WorkSmart Labs releases a version of their app every two weeks.  “I prefer this over the iPhone model.”

See Also:

• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• For the iPhone’s App Store, Quantity Really Does Matter
• Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried

Photo: p_kirn/Flickr

Did you get your ODROID order in promptly when they went up for pre-sale back in September? Hope so, as the first lucky developers should be getting theirs any day now. Just 300 units of the 833MHz handheld are shipping, including the various cables, additional hardware, and documentation needed to start filling the thing with fun games that look an awful lot like other games, but totally aren’t. One of the first is Speed Forge 3D (which totally isn’t Wipeout), shown after the break exhibiting some laggy accelerometer-based controls — but 720p output via HDMI sure is sweet. Orders are still being accepted at $349, said to be shipping in roughly five days, meaning if Santa logs into his PayPal account quickly enough you might still find one of these under your tree.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading ODROID, the Android gaming handheld, now shipping to Android gaming developers (video)

ODROID, the Android gaming handheld, now shipping to Android gaming developers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though indisputably successful, the iPhone’s App Store has been at the center of controversy for Apple this past year. In a rare move, the company’s vice president of marketing Phil Schiller spoke on the record to defend the App Store’s review policies.

Apple has approved over 100,000 iPhone apps to date, but some questionable rejections have brought the company under fire. Among concerned developers, Joe Hewitt, developer of the popular Facebook iPhone app, spoke loud and clear that he would no longer develop for the iPhone because he disapproved of Apple’s review process.

“I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process,” Hewitt told TechCrunch. “I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.”

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Schiller (right) explains why Apple has an App Store review process. In short, he said it’s necessary to ensure iPhone customers get what they’re promised. He noted that 10 percent of app rejections are related to “inappropriate” content, while 90 percent have to do with technical fixes, such as bugs. His third main point is that the App Store has an international audience, and thus several governments and political leaders are asking the company what it’s doing to ensure children are not downloading inappropriate content.

“We’ve built a store for the most part that people can trust,” he said. “You and your family and friends can download applications from the store, and for the most part they do what you’d expect, and they get onto your phone, and you get billed appropriately, and it all just works.”

The rest of the interview is available at BusinessWeek.

What do you think? Is a gatekeeper necessary for the App Store? Vote in the poll below.

See Also:

• Apple Removes Baby-Killing iPhone App Amid Outrage
• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• Apple Rejects Google Voice App, Invites Regulation
• Apple Rejects Obama Trampoline iPhone Game

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, Apple

A year after its release, Google’s open source Android operating system has become a sensation. After a slow start, it is now available on at least 12 phones, with more devices waiting in the wings.

Good news for Android fans, right? Not really, say some developers. A slew of problems have made managing Android apps a “nightmare,” they say, including three versions of the OS (Android 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0), custom firmware on many phones, and hardware differences between different models.

For users, it means apps in the store could be buggy, might not work well depending on their handsets, and could deliver a frustrating experience. Unaware of the increasing back-end complexity, they would then be more likely to leave bad reviews for those apps — a potentially lethal blow for small businesses, say developers.

“Instead of working on updates to our apps, we find we are trying to make each app work for multiple versions of the OS and different hardware capabilities,” says Chris Fagan, co-founder at Froogloid, an Android focused application development company. “We are not complaining about all the growth, but if you are a small or a new Android developer coming in and trying to learn I could see your head exploding. It would be overwhelming,” he says.

The problem echoes similar concerns over Java in the 1990s. Originally touted as a way for developers to build apps that would run on any computer (”write once, run anywhere”), developers found that wide variations in Java virtual machines as well as available hardware meant that Java’s promise was really “write once, debug everywhere.” While Java is still used — particularly in the mobile space, where it powers games and other apps written for Java-capable cellphones — it is not nearly the cross-platform panacea it was originally conceived as.

Fagan’s concerns about the fragmentation of Android is being echoed by other developers, says Sean Galligan, vice president of business development at Flurry, an mobile app analytics company.

“There’s no question that we are starting to hear developers express concern,” says Galligan. “Android is growing very fast and there’s a lot of excitement for it but it’s also a lot for work, especially for medium and small developers.”

Since the launch of the first HTC T-Mobile G1 phone running Android OS, a number of handset makers have jumped on the bandwagon. HTC alone has five Android handsets available, while others like Motorola have shifted completely to the Android platform. In the past two months, Motorola released two new Android-based handsets, the Cliq and Droid. And in a bid to differentiate themselves, handset makers are creating custom user interfaces like the HTC Sense, the Motorola Blur and the Rachael UI from Sony Ericsson.

Android phones vary significantly in the hardware, too — phones with and without camera flash, some have physical keyboards, others don’t.

“You may build an app that works perfectly with all three firmwares, but then when you run it on carriers’ ROMs it completely blows up,” says Fagan. “So we find ourselves having to create apps that are compatible with multiple firmwares, multiple ROMs and multiple devices with different hardware.”

It’s in sharp contrast to the iPhone platform. Apple has tightly controlled the introduction of new iPhones and updates to its operating system. It has just three iPhone models available since it first introduced the phone in 2007. And all iPhone users are prompted to update their phones to be on the same version of the operating system.

While Apple pioneered the app store idea with the iPhone, Android, too, offers Market, a store for distribution of third-party programs. Unlike with the Apple app store, Android developers do not have to go through an approval process to get their apps on the Android Market.Currently, the Android market has about 10,000 apps compared to the 100,000 in Apple’s app store.

For developers, Apple’s autocratic ways may be frustrating, but they can pay off.

“Apple maintains an iron grip on what they do and there’s an advantage to that,” says Kelly Schrock, owner of Fognl, which has three apps on the Android market. “IPhone developers don’t have to worry about fragmentation and creating apps for the iPhone is much easier.”

Android Versions Create Confusion

Founded about the same time as the first Android phone hit the market, Froogloid today has more than 100,000 users across its three apps: a2b, Key Ring and CowPotato. But with Android’s growth, managing these apps is becoming quite a challenge, says Fagan.

The diversity of devices running Android OS has led to some unexpected results, says Fagan.

For instance, the Sprint HTC Hero was launched without its GPS setting turned on. When run, the a2b application could trigger it — but Froogloid soon found that the standard commands they used reacted differently on the Hero than on other Android devices. Instead of launching the GPS settings, it set off the “screen unlock pattern” settings, says Chris Pick, requiring Froogloid to write custom code in their app for that particular device.

Google says it has emulators available that allows developers to test their application running on simulated devices so they can see how it behaves.

But it doesn’t always work, says Fagan. “In a sense, we are shooting blind with the emulators because we have no idea how it is really working on the device.”

For instance, explains Pick, the graphics for their 3D game app, Cowpotato worked fine on the emulator but crashed when run on Motorola’s Droid phone. Pick suspects a bug in the graphics driver on the Droid. Writing for a fix for it took care of the problem but its not the best solution, he says.

“When we have to start writing rules based on the phone model in our code, it adds more code to our code base, creates more work for us and makes the app heavier,” says Pick.

Different versions of the OS also means new functionality is added or some removed. Understanding these changes and making software backward compatible takes time, say Schrock. “It’s a multiplication of work to support all of them.”

A bigger problem is the customization of firmware or custom ROMs. For instance, Google offers a basic homescreen with the Android code. But device manufacturers or network carriers can always modify it. Sometimes the changes are simple, such as replacing all white color with grey, or red with yellow. That allows handset makers and carriers to tailor Android better for their customers, something that Google says it supports “strongly.”

“That isn’t a big deal,” says Fagan. “However, when they start changing fundamentally how certain activities are controlled, such as user settings and screen orientation, it creates issues for developers that have built their apps on an out of the box version of the firmware/SDK.”

Custom ROMs are always available for developers to look through, points out Froogloid.

“Google has mandated that every one base their releases on the standard versions,” says Pick.”But this slips under the radar.”

Ultimately, developers will have to start making tough decisions on who they want to target and versions of the operating system they want to support, says Galligan.

“Developers have to identify which devices and carriers appeal to the market they are creating an app for and develop just for it,” he says.

A one-man band, Schrock says without any employees he can’t maintain four different app versions.

“It’s getting a lot riskier on the Android. It’s not 4x increase in the cost but it will be a lot more work.” And while Schrock says the apps are not his meal ticket, he doesn’t want to make choices that could cut off some Android users from his apps.

“I will have to decide then how much return I am getting and if it is worth it.”

See Also:

• To Play With Giants, App Devs Risk Getting Squashed
• Android Army Pumped for All-Out Attack on iPhone
• Now, a $100 Android Smartphone in the HTC Droid Eris
• 12 Phones Strong, Android Army Mobilizes for Explosive Growth
• Google Muscles Android Developer, Offers Olive Branch

Photo: (marketingfacts/Flickr)