Developing Perspective

00:00:00 ◼   ► Hello and welcome to Developing Perspective. Developing Perspective is a podcast discussing

00:00:05 ◼   ► news of note in iOS development, Apple and the like. I'm your host, David Smith. I'm

00:00:09 ◼   ► an independent iOS developer based in Virginia. This week I'm coming at you from WWDC in San

00:00:14 ◼   ► Francisco. This is show number 55. First, apologies for my voice. I spent last night

00:00:22 ◼   ► at the beard party or Jim Dalrymple's party, which was incredibly fun, but also incredibly

00:00:29 ◼   ► He had a live karaoke band and I'm not sure if my ears or voice will recover anytime soon,

00:00:35 ◼   ► but it was definitely a good time.

00:00:37 ◼   ► So first, I'm going to follow up on the last show I did, which was recorded right after

00:00:42 ◼   ► the WWDC keynote.

00:00:45 ◼   ► And at the end of that, I asked a couple of questions just to see if there are any listeners

00:00:49 ◼   ► out there who had questions or things while I'm out here that they wanted me to address.

00:00:53 ◼   ► And I got a couple of great questions from Nalen B on Twitter, who asked really two things.

00:00:59 ◼   ► And I'll walk through them in sequence and then have slightly more general thought at

00:01:06 ◼   ► the end probably.

00:01:07 ◼   ► So first he asked, you know, sort of what is my favorite new feature in iOS 6?

00:01:13 ◼   ► And this is actually fairly straightforward.

00:01:15 ◼   ► I mean, it's a funny thing because everybody's going to have their pet feature.

00:01:20 ◼   ► You're going to see something, and they're going to be like,

00:01:23 ◼   ► that is-- that's exactly what I wanted.

00:01:26 ◼   ► I need that for my app.

00:01:26 ◼   ► I've always wanted to do that.

00:01:28 ◼   ► Or it'd be great if I could do xyz.

00:01:31 ◼   ► And for me, into iOS 6, the thing

00:01:33 ◼   ► that I'm most looking forward to is content purchase

00:01:35 ◼   ► within applications.

00:01:38 ◼   ► And they talked about this in the keynote.

00:01:40 ◼   ► But essentially, there's a way in iOS 6

00:01:42 ◼   ► that you can purchase content without leaving

00:01:45 ◼   ► your application, so iTunes content specifically.

00:01:48 ◼   ► And for me, it's like, wow, that sounds like an awesome feature

00:01:51 ◼   ► that I could actually look into implementing in audiobooks,

00:01:55 ◼   ► or potentially even in other places,

00:01:57 ◼   ► to better help the experience of a user trying

00:02:01 ◼   ► to buy something.

00:02:03 ◼   ► So maybe they can buy professional audiobooks

00:02:05 ◼   ► from iTunes and then play them in the app.

00:02:08 ◼   ► Or even if you're doing cross-promotion

00:02:10 ◼   ► between applications, being able to,

00:02:12 ◼   ► rather than having to kick them out of your app

00:02:14 ◼   ► to go to the App Store, that they can pop up

00:02:16 ◼   ► little sheet for this.

00:02:19 ◼   ► I've never seen it, but my guess is

00:02:21 ◼   ► that this is very similar to the experience you'd have with IAD,

00:02:25 ◼   ► where with IAD, if you do IAD for developers

00:02:30 ◼   ► and you click on the thing to buy an app,

00:02:32 ◼   ► you can actually buy it within the application

00:02:33 ◼   ► without ever leaving.

00:02:34 ◼   ► And my guess is this is fairly similar,

00:02:36 ◼   ► though like I said, I haven't actually seen it.

00:02:38 ◼   ► But that's exciting to me.

00:02:40 ◼   ► And related to that, I'm very excited about the features

00:02:43 ◼   ► they were talking about with regard to promotional websites.

00:02:48 ◼   ► Or they didn't talk about it as a promotional website thing.

00:02:52 ◼   ► But the ability to send a user from your website

00:02:58 ◼   ► directly to the App Store with kind of a standard banner

00:03:01 ◼   ► at the top, I don't think they've

00:03:03 ◼   ► published the details of it, but from what

00:03:05 ◼   ► they showed in the keynote, there'll

00:03:06 ◼   ► be this way that if you go to-- so say you go to audiobooksapp.com.

00:03:11 ◼   ► Right now, I have one of those standard available in the App

00:03:13 ◼   ► store, blue-black buttons that Apple publishes

00:03:17 ◼   ► and that they recommend people use.

00:03:19 ◼   ► And that's great.

00:03:20 ◼   ► I think people generally are used to it.

00:03:22 ◼   ► But I think there's something that

00:03:23 ◼   ► will be even more powerful if there's this very standard sort

00:03:27 ◼   ► of system-looking version of that.

00:03:30 ◼   ► And also, my guess is-- and this is just

00:03:32 ◼   ► kind of what you looked up in the keynote--

00:03:34 ◼   ► is that that'll be a smart banner in the sense of the app.

00:03:39 ◼   ► They will know if you already have the app.

00:03:40 ◼   ► So if you have it, you can just take you right to it.

00:03:44 ◼   ► Otherwise, you can buy it.

00:03:45 ◼   ► It'll show you the price and the right locale,

00:03:48 ◼   ► which is always kind of a tricky thing right now.

00:03:50 ◼   ► Because on your website, you can't show--

00:03:53 ◼   ► you can never really do pricing because you have no idea really

00:03:56 ◼   ► which store they'll be buying it in.

00:03:58 ◼   ► And a lot of that seemed to be taken care of.

00:04:00 ◼   ► The details are still a bit fuzzy,

00:04:01 ◼   ► but that's definitely something that I'm

00:04:03 ◼   ► excited from being able to better promote my applications

00:04:06 ◼   ► and just hopefully drive better conversions.

00:04:09 ◼   ► And so then the second question Nalen B. asked was,

00:04:13 ◼   ► what features am I excited and would want

00:04:17 ◼   ► to be implementing on day one?

00:04:20 ◼   ► And there's two parts to that.

00:04:22 ◼   ► One, those are the things that I want to make sure that my app

00:04:25 ◼   ► works on iOS 6.

00:04:28 ◼   ► And so there's part of it that's just

00:04:29 ◼   ► wanting to update and make sure everything works,

00:04:31 ◼   ► which is fairly obvious, hopefully, and straightforward.

00:04:34 ◼   ► Then there's always this little push after new OS comes out,

00:04:37 ◼   ► where Apple tends to promote and feature applications that

00:04:42 ◼   ► take full advantage of new stuff.

00:04:45 ◼   ► And it's fair enough.

00:04:46 ◼   ► They're trying to promote and increase the awareness

00:04:50 ◼   ► and sell the value of doing the upgrade.

00:04:53 ◼   ► And so the two things that seemed to me

00:04:55 ◼   ► that application developers should be looking at

00:04:59 ◼   ► is the social integration part that they seem

00:05:02 ◼   ► to be emphasizing with iOS 6.

00:05:04 ◼   ► So Facebook and Twitter, it seems

00:05:06 ◼   ► So if it makes sense in your app,

00:05:09 ◼   ► definitely making full use of those frameworks

00:05:13 ◼   ► and those capabilities I think will make a lot of sense.

00:05:15 ◼   ► It's something I expect to add in my iOS 6 compatibility

00:05:19 ◼   ► update, would be to make sure that you can post and talk

00:05:22 ◼   ► on Twitter and similarly on Twitter.

00:05:28 ◼   ► And then related is there's been this massive push with Maps.

00:05:34 ◼   ► And it is clearly a huge deal to Apple

00:05:37 ◼   ► that they're moving away from Google Maps.

00:05:40 ◼   ► And I imagine any application that

00:05:42 ◼   ► is integrating with their mapping software

00:05:45 ◼   ► and in doing that in a way that makes it look good,

00:05:49 ◼   ► lets it do things that you couldn't do necessarily

00:05:52 ◼   ► with the old mapping software, or even just helping

00:05:55 ◼   ► to bring the current mapping software,

00:05:59 ◼   ► or their new mapping software, up in some of the ways

00:06:01 ◼   ► that Google Maps currently can't do,

00:06:03 ◼   ► or that it can't do, but Google Maps can.

00:06:07 ◼   ► And so that's, I think, an area I'm not as sure about that.

00:06:10 ◼   ► That doesn't really fit in the realm of what I usually work on.

00:06:14 ◼   ► But it's definitely something that I'm thinking about.

00:06:17 ◼   ► Maybe there's a one-off or a smaller app

00:06:19 ◼   ► that I do to take advantage of some of the new mapping stuff,

00:06:23 ◼   ► just to be in there and hopefully

00:06:25 ◼   ► get on Apple's radar, which is always the goal.

00:06:29 ◼   ► So those are just some quick answers

00:06:31 ◼   ► to those great questions.

00:06:33 ◼   ► So as always, if you have any other thoughts or questions

00:06:36 ◼   ► or things while I'm out here, just hit me up on Twitter.

00:06:39 ◼   ► I'm @_DavidSmith on Twitter.

00:06:43 ◼   ► So then the rest of today's show,

00:06:45 ◼   ► I was going to talk about something that just really

00:06:49 ◼   ► struck me so far this week.

00:06:51 ◼   ► It's Wednesday.

00:06:51 ◼   ► I'm recording this at a very, very ungodly early hour

00:06:55 ◼   ► in the morning on Wednesday of WWDC.

00:06:59 ◼   ► And it's so striking how different meeting people

00:07:04 ◼   ► in person is versus the virtual relationships

00:07:07 ◼   ► that we in the iOS development community

00:07:09 ◼   ► tend to develop over things like Twitter.

00:07:12 ◼   ► And there are probably, I don't know,

00:07:15 ◼   ► thousands, if not hundreds of people

00:07:18 ◼   ► who I have some amount of relationship online.

00:07:21 ◼   ► So it's probably hundreds of people

00:07:23 ◼   ► for whom I have some kind of actual relationship.

00:07:26 ◼   ► We've gone back and forth.

00:07:28 ◼   ► I know who they are, they know who I am.

00:07:30 ◼   ► We kind of have this rapport, but it

00:07:35 ◼   ► is kind of empty in some ways because I've never actually

00:07:39 ◼   ► met them.

00:07:41 ◼   ► And you can, to some degree, just sort of get beyond that

00:07:45 ◼   ► by just sort of keeping in the community,

00:07:48 ◼   ► staying on, putting things out there,

00:07:51 ◼   ► letting people know about you, following up on people

00:07:53 ◼   ► and being interested in what they're up to.

00:07:55 ◼   ► There's something just so powerful.

00:07:57 ◼   ► Like last night, I ran into a lot of people

00:08:00 ◼   ► who I knew sort of from the internet,

00:08:03 ◼   ► other people who are fans of the podcast,

00:08:05 ◼   ► which by the way was awesome.

00:08:06 ◼   ► If you're a fan of the podcast,

00:08:07 ◼   ► then I ran into you this week.

00:08:09 ◼   ► That's just, that is absolutely awesome to me.

00:08:12 ◼   ► Thanks for your support of the show

00:08:14 ◼   ► and thanks for letting me know that you like it

00:08:17 ◼   ► 'cause as I've said before,

00:08:20 ◼   ► the thing that keeps me doing the show

00:08:21 ◼   ► is a feeling of that it's useful to people,

00:08:25 ◼   ► that it's helpful.

00:08:26 ◼   ► I don't make money from the show.

00:08:27 ◼   ► It's just something that I like to do.

00:08:29 ◼   ► And I'm really glad that it's helpful

00:08:33 ◼   ► and useful and fun for people.

00:08:35 ◼   ► So if I've met you, awesome, that was great.

00:08:38 ◼   ► And then it's just running into people who you admire,

00:08:41 ◼   ► running into people whose work you followed

00:08:45 ◼   ► for a long time.

00:08:46 ◼   ► It's so awesome to have a face

00:08:48 ◼   ► that's not just a 2D avatar.

00:08:50 ◼   ► It is your, it's like it's a handshake.

00:08:53 ◼   ► I remember, I think it was Sean Blanc

00:08:55 ◼   ► wrote a great article about this,

00:08:56 ◼   ► where you're talking about the power of a handshake.

00:08:59 ◼   ► And there's something about it

00:09:00 ◼   ► where it's a personal connection.

00:09:02 ◼   ► And there's almost like a spark of that,

00:09:04 ◼   ► where it's like there's a moment of recognition

00:09:07 ◼   ► where you first see someone and you're like,

00:09:08 ◼   ► hey, wait, to what, do I, oh, oh, you're, yeah,

00:09:13 ◼   ► from, perfect, yeah, that's great.

00:09:15 ◼   ► And I feel like there's something that almost,

00:09:18 ◼   ► it's like that interaction is,

00:09:22 ◼   ► such as kind of a permanency and a longevity where you're likely to remember that person's

00:09:30 ◼   ► face now.

00:09:31 ◼   ► And you'll remember them in a different way than you would if it's just like, oh, that's

00:09:34 ◼   ► their avatar on Twitter or something.

00:09:37 ◼   ► It's just kind of awesome.

00:09:38 ◼   ► And I always struggle with this a lot with conferences because I'm not a particularly

00:09:43 ◼   ► social person by nature.

00:09:44 ◼   ► I mean, I think this is a common theme probably across the development community, not iOS

00:09:50 ◼   ► specifically but just in general.

00:09:52 ◼   ► I mean, the kind of people who self-select to be software engineers are typically not

00:09:58 ◼   ► the most outgoing, effervescent people who-- it's the classic thing of, we were the nerds

00:10:06 ◼   ► in high school.

00:10:07 ◼   ► We were typically not the cool kids, quarterback of the football team, going dating the prom

00:10:14 ◼   ► queen kind of thing.

00:10:16 ◼   ► And that's just sort of typical, that's a broad stereotype and probably not necessarily

00:10:22 ◼   ► a strictly accurate one.

00:10:23 ◼   ► But I think in general, at least for me, it is hard to meet new people.

00:10:31 ◼   ► It's hard to kind of just be that social butterfly.

00:10:33 ◼   ► And there are some people I know who can do that and that is awesome.

00:10:35 ◼   ► And when I see them sort of out doing it and it's like introducing themselves to people

00:10:40 ◼   ► who are legends, I'm just in awe.

00:10:44 ◼   ► But it's nice to have an environment this week where it's somewhat normal and it's somewhat

00:10:51 ◼   ► expected to say hi to people, to introduce yourself.

00:10:55 ◼   ► And people are, it's a classic thing of it's so easy to build up people in your mind whose

00:11:01 ◼   ► work you admire to make them something other than just human, to make them these kind of

00:11:08 ◼   ► these sort of almost like a legendary figure.

00:11:11 ◼   ► And the persona and the marketing in some ways that they put out there is intentional

00:11:19 ◼   ► and is part of their brand.

00:11:20 ◼   ► And, you know, they're sort of their personal brand, I suppose you'd say.

00:11:23 ◼   ► But it's great that you can, you know, it's like for almost everybody, it's like you meet

00:11:27 ◼   ► them, you say hi, you shake their hand, and suddenly that's not them.

00:11:33 ◼   ► They're not, you know, their online persona.

00:11:34 ◼   ► They're a person who is having a good time that's out enjoying, you know, some time with

00:11:39 ◼   ► friends.

00:11:40 ◼   ► almost always, genuinely glad to meet you, to say hi,

00:11:44 ◼   ► and to talk to you, which is great.

00:11:46 ◼   ► And so for me, it's always a difficult thing.

00:11:50 ◼   ► And I always struggle with conferences where a lot of people say,

00:11:52 ◼   ► oh, I love going to conferences.

00:11:54 ◼   ► They're so good for networking.

00:11:56 ◼   ► And I hate that term.

00:11:57 ◼   ► I mean, it is--

00:11:59 ◼   ► it's like networking sounds like a form of torture to me.

00:12:02 ◼   ► Like, oh, so I'm supposed to be out and schmoozing and glad handing.

00:12:05 ◼   ► and all those terms that just make me cringe.

00:12:11 ◼   ► So for me, it's not really about networking in that way.

00:12:15 ◼   ► I very rarely--

00:12:16 ◼   ► and I think it's like I talked about in my pre-WWDC show

00:12:23 ◼   ► last week, which unfortunately not enough people listen to,

00:12:26 ◼   ► because there are a lot of rude people at WWDC

00:12:29 ◼   ► in terms of being disrespectful to presenters and things.

00:12:32 ◼   ► But I digress.

00:12:34 ◼   ► But it's not about, you know, it's not like,

00:12:39 ◼   ► oh, I'm out here to try and drum up work or to sell apps.

00:12:42 ◼   ► It's just great to meet people.

00:12:46 ◼   ► It's just awesome.

00:12:47 ◼   ► And some, you know, so I'm typically don't go

00:12:50 ◼   ► to a lot of conferences.

00:12:51 ◼   ► I mean, a lot of that's just sort of for family reasons

00:12:53 ◼   ► that it's a big deal and a big sacrifice for my wife

00:12:56 ◼   ► for me to be gone all week with our two kids at home.

00:12:59 ◼   ► And so it's something that I can just sort of,

00:13:01 ◼   ► oh, that looks cool, oh, that looks cool.

00:13:03 ◼   ► even beyond the cost of doing that.

00:13:06 ◼   ► But it's pretty awesome to be able to do it

00:13:08 ◼   ► and to come out here and to meet all these people.

00:13:11 ◼   ► And so if you hear this this week while you're out here

00:13:14 ◼   ► and you haven't yet said hi, please just either look for me.

00:13:19 ◼   ► I look quite a lot like my Twitter avatar, thankfully.

00:13:22 ◼   ► And either find me that way or send me an at reply on Twitter

00:13:27 ◼   ► and we can try and meet up.

00:13:29 ◼   ► And like I said, there is something

00:13:31 ◼   ► awesome about shaking a hand.

00:13:33 ◼   ► And so anyway, that's it for today's show.

00:13:36 ◼   ► As always, if you have questions, comments, concerns,

00:13:38 ◼   ► I'm on Twitter @_davidsmith.

00:13:41 ◼   ► The feed for the show is Dev Perspective,

00:13:43 ◼   ► where you can just get notifications when new shows

00:13:46 ◼   ► post.

00:13:46 ◼   ► If you have questions about anything, iOS 6,

00:13:49 ◼   ► Mountain Lion related, whatever, while I'm out here or otherwise,

00:13:53 ◼   ► just let me know.

00:13:55 ◼   ► I'll probably do a couple more shows this week.

00:13:58 ◼   ► It's my hope.

00:13:58 ◼   ► I'll probably do a little less than I was originally thinking,

00:14:01 ◼   ► And a lot of that's just because the keynote didn't

00:14:04 ◼   ► go into as much of the developer part that I would have hoped.

00:14:07 ◼   ► And so a lot of the rest is just under NDA,

00:14:09 ◼   ► and so I can't talk about it.

00:14:11 ◼   ► So it's a bit tricky for me to at this point,

00:14:13 ◼   ► because I know things that I'm not technically

00:14:15 ◼   ► allowed to talk about.

00:14:17 ◼   ► And so I don't want to overstep my bounds in that way.

00:14:20 ◼   ► But otherwise, I hope you have a good week.

00:14:23 ◼   ► Happy coding.

00:14:24 ◼   ► And I will talk to you later.

00:14:26 ◼   ► Thanks.

00:14:27 ◼   ► [