The Next Trend In Mobile – Gorgeous Design
This week, two mobile apps have pushed UI (user interface) design to a whole new level on the iPhone. Those apps – Path and Flipboard.
If you’re not familiar with Path, it bills itself as “the smart journal that helps you share your life with the ones you love.” Basically, it’s a gorgeous app that looks like it could’ve been Facebook if Facebook debuted on mobile. Flipboard is a customized news reader that has been iPad-only for quite some time and finally made its way to iPhone & iPod Touch.
Path
Path is not a new app, but it feels like it after the recent 2.0 release. Path has always been a very beautiful app, but that’s all it had going for it. You could only share with a small number of people and the number of friends I had using it I could could on one hand. Path 2.0 takes sharing to a whole new level and ups the game in user interface design by doing so.
The first thing you see when you launch Path is your home feed. It comes pre-installed with a beautiful stock photo, but it can easily be customized to anything you like.
Path also has a fantastic pop-out menu for sharing new content: photos, videos, music you are listening to, location, text, people & sleep/wake.
While some may argue that Path isn’t really doing anything new and that there are many social networks that allow for sharing all this information (a scrappy little startup called Facebook comes to mind), what keeps me coming back to Path is it’s user interface. It’s a joy to use as both a content sharer and consumer and is really pioneering mobile social sharing forward in terms of user experience. It will be interesting to see how Path’s momentum holds up once Facebooks revised app is released with support for “timelines.” It’s supposed to be incredible.
I always wondered how Flipboard was going to bring its magazine-style format to the iPhone screen and still have it feel like the Flipboard I knew and loved. To my surprise, they pulled it off wonderfully.
The app revolves mainly around upward-swiping gestures to navigate through individual stories. It also has a wonderful “Cover Stories” feature that attempts to highlight the content most important to you. Similar to Zite, this is supposed to get smarter the more you use it.
As you drill down into each tile, you get news, photos and other content that can easily be shared or bookmarked for later reading. This is all formatted in the same magazine-style format found on the iPad but perfectly tailored for the iPhone’s 3.5″ screen.
As you can clearly see, Path and Flipboard are really upping the game when it comes to UI design. I’m really anxious to see how other apps follow suit. The recent updates to the iPhone Twitter app area also a step forward in design aesthetic, it’s just unfortunate that it comes at the expense of user experience.
What other apps have you seen that have exceptional design? Let me know in the comments.
Social Saturation
It seems like every day a new social network or mobile app launches to mixed amounts of fanfare. In fact, just this past week saw the launch of the popular iPad apps Zite and Flipboard expand onto the iPhone/iPod Touch, as well as Google’s introduction into the mobile personalized news reader space with Currents. While I’ve been a big fan of Zite and Flipboard since they first launched on iPad, this competitive landscape is a micrososm of very disconcerting trend – social saturation.
The social networking market is too saturated and is handicapping innovation. Aside from the user interface of Zite, Flipboard and Currents, where is the innovation here? Granted, Flipboard was the first to really succeed in bringing curated news in a table-friendly format, and Zite’s claim to fame was that it got smarter the more you used it, but with so many other competitors in the market now – AOL Editions, Yahoo! Livestand and Flud to name a few, it’s hard to differentiate between them all. This is even more painfully obvious when each app is pulling in roughly the same personalized content.
I get it – make something successful and others rip it off. This isn’t anything new, however the difference here is that for the most part, when it came to mobile & social apps, companies were always one-upping each other and we the user won in the end with increased innovation.
Again, this is a problem across the board. Developers need to get back to basics and remember the mantra that to be successful, one has to do one thing and do it very well. I can’t think of a better example of this right now than Instagram. The photo sharing space was as saturated as it got, at least when it came to the web. Flickr and Picasa were the big players with a bunch of other clones. It wasn’t until the success of 500px that the web photo sharing market seen any real new innovation and disruption, but even so, 500px still has a far way to go before it can topple the big boys. Fortunately for Instagram, there was no clear leader in mobile photo sharing realm. Flickr and Picasa both dropped the ball on dominating the small screen and the success of apps like Hipstamatic and Camerabag showed that people love filters, although none of them were truly social. Realizing this opportunity allowed Instagram to become one of the hottest startups in years and grow to 5 million users in it’s first eight months. Not bad for an app that’s not even out on Android yet!
Instead of trying to be the next “(insert name of your competition) killer,” stop recreating the wheel and focus disrupting the industry. Instagram caught Flickr and Picasa with their pants down and neither of them have anything close to compete. This is how you gain an advantage and become the next “big boy.”
Why the Mac App Store Changes Everything
Apple finally launched their much-hyped App Store for Mac today and in one system update instantly revolutionized the software industry forever.
For anyone that doubts that the Mac App Store is a game changer, I implore you to look at the success of the App store on iOS. Developers of all makes and sizes have found a viable way to distribute software and compete against the industry behemoths on an almost-level playing field. (I say “almost” because the Electronic Arts of the world have the money to clout to feature their big name apps on the storefront when launched or discounted.)
When the App store first made it’s debut on the iPhone & iPod Touch, it was a goldmine for developers – many of them earning small fortunes on the success of their apps with relatively limited competition. Fast-forward to 2011 and the App Store is overcrowded with software of all types and quality; it’s a lot harder for new apps to stand out from all the noise. Still, an entire community of bloggers and other taste makers have made it their goal to find and share new, quality apps with interested readers and with the right amount of promotion, these innovative apps are being consumed by the masses.
When the iPad launched last year, the second gold rush occurred with developers racing to market with iPad-optimized apps, although this time, many wanted to earn more than they were on the iPhone and charged an “iPad premium.” An iPhone app priced at 99¢ would have it’s “HD” iPad-optimized counterpart priced much higher, say $4.99. There was a big backlash by bloggers against this practice with many feeling they were being ripped off; while the practice still goes on today, I personally see it much less, and the price differential between iPhone and iPad app is usually not as enormous a gap.
The Mac App Store will be no different with developers rushing to get their software into this store while the competition relatively low. Today’s launch includes 1,000 apps and will continue to grow every day. That being said, there is a huge difference between the App store on Mac versus the mobile store – one doesn’t have to use the App store to get new software on their machine. On Apple’s mobile devices, unless you jailbreak, the only way to put applications on is through the App store or a closed corporate environment. Mobile developers need to be in the App Store; Mac OS X developers currently don’t.
The reason the Mac App Store changes everything is simple – it’s the best way for developers to monetize their software. Right now, a small developer makes an app, creates a website about it, maybe puts out a press release and hopes for the best. Many of these developers are making little-to-no money off of their apps, causing them to treat it more as a hobby than a job. Too often, great apps fall by the wayside on Mac when developers don’t have time to update or improve them causing a no-win situation for themselves or the user. Having one centralized place to sell their app, push out updates and make money is going to lead to more quality apps and better prices for users. As the App Store on Mac matures and grows, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to see it being the only approved way to put new software on one’s machine in the future. Many people are very weary of installing software they find on random websites out of fear of spyware or viruses, so the comfort in knowing that these applications from the Mac App Store are safe will be one of the primary drivers in its success.
The mobile App Store has shown that people will pay for software when they feel it’s priced right. The immense competition has made it pretty much de facto that apps that charge use a 99¢ price point. (Obviously this isn’t the case for all apps, but for the vast majority.) One of my favorite authors, Dan Ariely, writes in his book Predictably Irrational that people’s purchasing habits are conditioned. Kids who grew up in the 90′s and stole all their music off Napster and LimeWire don’t feel like they were committing a crime – they just view music as something that should be free. Breaking this conditioned habit is such a hard task which is why it’s a lot tougher to get people in their teens and early 20′s to buy music than it is for the older population that paid for music their entire life. This younger demographic tends to think that anything over 99¢ is too much for a song, yet spending $4.00 on a coffee is perfectly acceptable. The exact opposite is true for those that grew up never paying more than 75¢ for their coffee. This same philosophy is occuring with the App Store; people are conditioned to pay for quality software, but only at very low prices.
Currently, some of the software prices in the Mac store are very high. Pixelmator, a very worthy Photoshop competitor, is priced at $29.99. I’ve used this program and can say that it’s wonderful. When I saw it priced at around that point on it’s website last year, it seemed like a great deal, but in the App Store setting, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I could be wrong, but I expect Pixelmator to be $9.99 in the App Store by the end of the year. If history is going to repeat itself, these high price points are going to have to come down for the desktop App Store if people are going to buy them en masse. $9.99 seems like a fair price point to me.
There’s no doubt there will be a lot of growing pains from developers who don’t want to be a part of Apple’s walled garden App Store, but at the end of the day, they will have to go where the money is, even if it means they have to lower prices and give up some control.
Five of the Best Free Music Apps For iPhone & iPod Touch
There are countless music apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It can be a daunting task trying to sift through all the junk to find the true gems, so I’m here to help. Here are five of the best free music apps available for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
MOG
MOG is a music subscription service that allows unlimited streaming for under $10 a month. While there are similar services (Rhapsody, Rdio, Napster, etc…), MOG’s impressive library that includes millions of songs is available for streaming on a multitude of devices: computer, iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad), Android and Roku, truly allowing you to access your music anywhere and anytime. A killer feature of MOG’s mobile app is that in addition to streaming, it allows you to download any of the songs or albums you want at a high quality 320 kbps for offline streaming. This is perfect if you’re commuting on the subway or in an area with weak reception and want to access your music. I truly believe that music subscription is the future of the music business and until iTunes adopts the model and brings it to the mainstream, MOG is the best $9.99 a month you’ll spend. (MOG’s app is free to download and includes a free-trial of the service for new users.) [iTunes Download Link]
Soundhound
Forget all that buzz that Shazam receives, the best music ID service available today is Soundhound. If you’ve ever heard a song on the radio, television commercial, movie or any other place and wondered what it was called and/or who it was by, Soundhound has the answer. Simply fire up the app and Soundhound will use the microphone on the iPhone (or newer iPod Touch) to listen to the song and report back with a plethora of information including title, artist, lyrics, iTunes link, YouTube video and more. What if you’re not able to play the song? No worries – Soundhound will let you hum it into the microphone and will attempt to retrieve the data that way (although in my tests it doesn’t work that great 100% of the time – I blame my humming!) Soundhound can also give you information on songs already in your iPod library, so if you need to find lyrics to a song, just fire up Soundhound and let it do its magic. [iTunes Download Link]
Pandora
If you don’t know Pandora and you call yourself a music fan, shame on you! Pandora is the de facto streaming radio service used by million of people. Pandora’s app works just like it’s immensely popular website – simply type the name of an artist or song you like and the service creates a custom radio station based on your personal tastes. By rating a song with a thumbs up or thumbs down, Pandora constantly evolves to give you a truly tailored musical experience. Pandora’s app contains background support allowing you to enjoy the music while playing games, checking email, surfing the web or anything else you desire. [iTunes Download Link]
NPR Music
NPR Music is a must-have app for any fan of live music. In addition to offering artist interviews, album pre-release streams and reviews, NRP Music has a very deep library of full live show streams from a wide variety of artists, all for free! The app’s content is updated daily and features a searchable library of media for over 5,000 bands, musicians and singers. NPR Music also features background audio so you can enjoy those full show streams while doing anything else on your device. [iTunes Download Link]
Daytrotter
Daytrotter has been one of my favorite websites for a few years now and their app certainly lives up to the greatness of the site. For anyone not familiar with Daytrotter, it’s the ultimate music discovery source that showcases a different band every day. Daytrotter allows emerging artists to perform exclusive live sessions which can then be downloaded online for free. Some of the best names in indie music have recorded Daytrotter sessions and all of these songs can be streamed right from your fingertips with the official Daytrotter the app. A recent update to the app fixed the biggest complaint by many users, the lack of background audio support, Daytrotter’s app now lives right up with the best music apps available for new music junkies. [iTunes Download Link]
Are there any other killer apps you think I missed? Let me know in the comments.
Photo by _Morrissey_
How I Use Twitter
Twitter can be a confusing tool for many people, especially those that are new to it. As you continue to build up the list of accounts you follow, managing the stream of data can be overwhelming. Thankfully, many developers have created some amazing utilities which make taming the Twitter beast much easier. After much tinkering, I have found a great suite of tools to maximize my value in Twitter that may be helpful to you.
Who I Follow
Twitter allows you to receive an email every time you get a new follower. Whenever I see someone new is following me, the first thing I do is look at their bio and ask myself, “does this person look like someone that might have something worthwhile to say?” I then look at their following/follower ratio; if they are following 1,500 people and only followed by 10, I stay away as there’s a good chance this person is just using me in hopes I’ll follow them back so they can spam me later. Should an account pass those first two litmus tests, I look to see if they replying to people or only pushing out one-way messages. If I don’t see any replies to users on the first page, I move on. If they’re actively engaging with folks, I’ll follow them.
Lists
One of, if not the most powerful and often under-utilized features of Twitter is lists. Lists allow you to segment accounts into categories to help filter through all the noise. Lists can be both public and private and you do not need to be following someone to add them to a list.
I have quite a few lists that I use to help manage my stream. I’ve got lists for all of my interests, such as music, technology, Apple news, sports and pop culture. I’ve also created a list that’s private and includes my “must read” accounts. This is basically my “Twitter All Stars” group and it pulls in my most favorite accounts across all of my other lists. This has become my replacement for the traditional Twitter timeline. I still will scan the timeline on occasion for all of the users I follow, but it’s impossible for me to keep up with everything there, as the All Star list is where I go to never miss a Tweet.
Twitter Clients
While the new additions to Twitter.com are nice for the average user, they are in no way a replacement for the power-user applications, especially those managing multiple accounts. Depending on where I am, I use different tools to manage Twitter.
From the desktop, my go-to applications are Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. While both of these applications are very similar in the power they offer, each has their strengths and weaknesses. Tweetdeck is great for real-time data capture and managing multiple accounts across various social networks. There are also powerful filters one can set up on-the-fly to filter out any unwanted information, such as spoiler alerts for TV shows.
For Hootsuite, its strengths are its built-in analytics and “team member” features. If you shorten a link from within Hootsuite, you can receive detailed stats on the numbers and demographics of clicks it receives. If you’re managing an account with multiple people, Hootsuite allows you to assign tasks to others in your organization for follow-up. This is something that’s very helpful with my co-workers and I on accounts that multiple people are involved with.
For mobile, both the official Twitter and Hootsuite apps are my favorite on iOS. Hootsuite recently launched an iPad-optimized version of their app which is also in my must-use tool box.
Other Twitter Tools
Formulists: Formulists is a web-service that can automatically generate Twitter lists for you. I currently have three lists set up within it that are accessible from all of my Twitter apps both on desktop and mobile. I have lists for “People who retweeted me,” “People who recently followed me” and “people I recently followed.” I can jump into any of these lists to find people worth following who retweeted me that I may not be aware of, as well as look at those new people I’ve just started following to see if they are someone I want to add to my “All Stars” list.
Who Unfollowed Me: A great tool I use nearly every day is “Who Unfollowed Me.” I’m not one of those people that get upset or offended if someone stops following me – I get it, not everyone wants to read some of the random things I post that interest me. Where I find the most use in Who Unfollowed Me is helping to weed out spammers or other users that are just trying to inflate their follow-to-following ratio. If you’re unfollowed by someone you were mutually following, you can dump them with one-click right from within the service and go on with your day.
I’m always looking for tools to optimize my experience. There’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter, as long as you’re receiving and providing value to the service. If you have any must-use tools, please share them with me on Twitter or in the comments, I’d love to hear them.
Photo by Fran Pregernik
What Ping Needs To Do To Be Relevant
Let’s face it – Apple does a lot of things right, but social networking is not one of them. They’re always late to the game when it comes to having a presence on popular social sites, and with the exception of their iTunes Facebook fan page, they’re really doing a crappy job in the space.
Apple launched their own music social service called Ping a few months back alongside the release of iTunes 10. If you haven’t tried Ping, think of it as Twitter for musicians, only not useful, anti-social and pretty pathetic.
I gave Apple the benefit of the doubt when Ping first launched and didn’t pile up on them when they were being hammered with all the (justifiable) complaints. As is the case with any new social site, it takes time for the content to populate and for users to find value. Fast forward to the beginning of December and with a few small exceptions, Ping is still a joke of a service that really serves no unique purpose.
First off, getting a profile on Ping as a musician is a tedious process. Artist profiles must be set up through Apple, and artists are basically given a rule book on what they can and can’t do on the service. This is the reason the initial run of artists at launch was so small. Ping is adding more and more artists every day, but there are still many notable exceptions still nowhere to be found. Apple also has a section of “high profile” people it suggests you follow. As someone that prides myself on my immense music knowledge and excellent taste, there was not one “tastemaker” that I felt was worth following.
Content aside, there are so many things that Ping doesn’t do which show that Apple is not using it as a true “social” tool as much as they are using it as a way to sell music. There’s no way to “scrobble” your songs like Last.FM does, to keep a running tally of what you listen to and use that data to crowd-source artist and song popularity. Ping only displays recommendations built upon your iTunes purchasing history. You know, because everyone buys all their music from iTunes.
When Ping first launched, you could connect with your friends via Facebook Connect for about 12 hours before the feature was pulled to never be replaced again. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Ping finally integrated with Twitter to push out your activity. While it’s nice to have some Twitter integration, the real value is in Facebook where people tend to be much more closely connected in real life with their network.
There’s also no public API, so the only way to access Ping is via iTunes (desktop or mobile). While this isn’t a huge problem on the iPhone, it’s really inconvenient to have to open up iTunes just to check Ping. Would it have killed Apple to make this a web service too? The rich developer network utilizing the Twitter API is what helped propel that company into the mainstream that to launch any social network without a public API today is just foolish.
I’ll honestly be surprised if Ping is around two years from now. Nothing from what I’ve seen thus far shows me that there’s any interest by users, nor does Apple seem to be doing much to make this a service that people need to use. Until Apple takes a page out of Last.FM’s book and truly mixes social and music, it will just be another laughable, failed attempt at tapping into the ever-growing world of social networking.
In case you’re interested, you can follow me on Ping – while it’s still around.
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