0:00:00Hello and welcome to Developing Perspective. Developing Perspective is a podcast discussing
0:00:05news of note in iOS development, Apple and the like. I'm your host, David Smith. I'm
0:00:09an independent iOS developer based in Virginia. This week I'm coming at you from WWDC in San
0:00:14Francisco. This is show number 55. First, apologies for my voice. I spent last night
0:00:22at the beard party or Jim Dalrymple's party, which was incredibly fun, but also incredibly
0:00:29He had a live karaoke band and I'm not sure if my ears or voice will recover anytime soon,
0:00:35but it was definitely a good time.
0:00:37So first, I'm going to follow up on the last show I did, which was recorded right after
0:00:42the WWDC keynote.
0:00:45And at the end of that, I asked a couple of questions just to see if there are any listeners
0:00:49out there who had questions or things while I'm out here that they wanted me to address.
0:00:53And I got a couple of great questions from Nalen B on Twitter, who asked really two things.
0:00:59And I'll walk through them in sequence and then have slightly more general thought at
0:01:06the end probably.
0:01:07So first he asked, you know, sort of what is my favorite new feature in iOS 6?
0:01:13And this is actually fairly straightforward.
0:01:15I mean, it's a funny thing because everybody's going to have their pet feature.
0:01:20You're going to see something, and they're going to be like,
0:01:23that is-- that's exactly what I wanted.
0:01:26I need that for my app.
0:01:26I've always wanted to do that.
0:01:28Or it'd be great if I could do xyz.
0:01:31And for me, into iOS 6, the thing
0:01:33that I'm most looking forward to is content purchase
0:01:35within applications.
0:01:38And they talked about this in the keynote.
0:01:40But essentially, there's a way in iOS 6
0:01:42that you can purchase content without leaving
0:01:45your application, so iTunes content specifically.
0:01:48And for me, it's like, wow, that sounds like an awesome feature
0:01:51that I could actually look into implementing in audiobooks,
0:01:55or potentially even in other places,
0:01:57to better help the experience of a user trying
0:02:01to buy something.
0:02:03So maybe they can buy professional audiobooks
0:02:05from iTunes and then play them in the app.
0:02:08Or even if you're doing cross-promotion
0:02:10between applications, being able to,
0:02:12rather than having to kick them out of your app
0:02:14to go to the App Store, that they can pop up
0:02:16little sheet for this.
0:02:19I've never seen it, but my guess is
0:02:21that this is very similar to the experience you'd have with IAD,
0:02:25where with IAD, if you do IAD for developers
0:02:30and you click on the thing to buy an app,
0:02:32you can actually buy it within the application
0:02:33without ever leaving.
0:02:34And my guess is this is fairly similar,
0:02:36though like I said, I haven't actually seen it.
0:02:38But that's exciting to me.
0:02:40And related to that, I'm very excited about the features
0:02:43they were talking about with regard to promotional websites.
0:02:48Or they didn't talk about it as a promotional website thing.
0:02:52But the ability to send a user from your website
0:02:58directly to the App Store with kind of a standard banner
0:03:01at the top, I don't think they've
0:03:03published the details of it, but from what
0:03:05they showed in the keynote, there'll
0:03:06be this way that if you go to-- so say you go to audiobooksapp.com.
0:03:11Right now, I have one of those standard available in the App
0:03:13store, blue-black buttons that Apple publishes
0:03:17and that they recommend people use.
0:03:19And that's great.
0:03:20I think people generally are used to it.
0:03:22But I think there's something that
0:03:23will be even more powerful if there's this very standard sort
0:03:27of system-looking version of that.
0:03:30And also, my guess is-- and this is just
0:03:32kind of what you looked up in the keynote--
0:03:34is that that'll be a smart banner in the sense of the app.
0:03:39They will know if you already have the app.
0:03:40So if you have it, you can just take you right to it.
0:03:44Otherwise, you can buy it.
0:03:45It'll show you the price and the right locale,
0:03:48which is always kind of a tricky thing right now.
0:03:50Because on your website, you can't show--
0:03:53you can never really do pricing because you have no idea really
0:03:56which store they'll be buying it in.
0:03:58And a lot of that seemed to be taken care of.
0:04:00The details are still a bit fuzzy,
0:04:01but that's definitely something that I'm
0:04:03excited from being able to better promote my applications
0:04:06and just hopefully drive better conversions.
0:04:09And so then the second question Nalen B. asked was,
0:04:13what features am I excited and would want
0:04:17to be implementing on day one?
0:04:20And there's two parts to that.
0:04:22One, those are the things that I want to make sure that my app
0:04:25works on iOS 6.
0:04:28And so there's part of it that's just
0:04:29wanting to update and make sure everything works,
0:04:31which is fairly obvious, hopefully, and straightforward.
0:04:34Then there's always this little push after new OS comes out,
0:04:37where Apple tends to promote and feature applications that
0:04:42take full advantage of new stuff.
0:04:45And it's fair enough.
0:04:46They're trying to promote and increase the awareness
0:04:50and sell the value of doing the upgrade.
0:04:53And so the two things that seemed to me
0:04:55that application developers should be looking at
0:04:59is the social integration part that they seem
0:05:02to be emphasizing with iOS 6.
0:05:04So Facebook and Twitter, it seems
0:05:06So if it makes sense in your app,
0:05:09definitely making full use of those frameworks
0:05:13and those capabilities I think will make a lot of sense.
0:05:15It's something I expect to add in my iOS 6 compatibility
0:05:19update, would be to make sure that you can post and talk
0:05:22on Twitter and similarly on Twitter.
0:05:28And then related is there's been this massive push with Maps.
0:05:34And it is clearly a huge deal to Apple
0:05:37that they're moving away from Google Maps.
0:05:40And I imagine any application that
0:05:42is integrating with their mapping software
0:05:45and in doing that in a way that makes it look good,
0:05:49lets it do things that you couldn't do necessarily
0:05:52with the old mapping software, or even just helping
0:05:55to bring the current mapping software,
0:05:59or their new mapping software, up in some of the ways
0:06:01that Google Maps currently can't do,
0:06:03or that it can't do, but Google Maps can.
0:06:07And so that's, I think, an area I'm not as sure about that.
0:06:10That doesn't really fit in the realm of what I usually work on.
0:06:14But it's definitely something that I'm thinking about.
0:06:17Maybe there's a one-off or a smaller app
0:06:19that I do to take advantage of some of the new mapping stuff,
0:06:23just to be in there and hopefully
0:06:25get on Apple's radar, which is always the goal.
0:06:29So those are just some quick answers
0:06:31to those great questions.
0:06:33So as always, if you have any other thoughts or questions
0:06:36or things while I'm out here, just hit me up on Twitter.
0:06:39I'm @_DavidSmith on Twitter.
0:06:43So then the rest of today's show,
0:06:45I was going to talk about something that just really
0:06:49struck me so far this week.
0:06:51It's Wednesday.
0:06:51I'm recording this at a very, very ungodly early hour
0:06:55in the morning on Wednesday of WWDC.
0:06:59And it's so striking how different meeting people
0:07:04in person is versus the virtual relationships
0:07:07that we in the iOS development community
0:07:09tend to develop over things like Twitter.
0:07:12And there are probably, I don't know,
0:07:15thousands, if not hundreds of people
0:07:18who I have some amount of relationship online.
0:07:21So it's probably hundreds of people
0:07:23for whom I have some kind of actual relationship.
0:07:26We've gone back and forth.
0:07:28I know who they are, they know who I am.
0:07:30We kind of have this rapport, but it
0:07:35is kind of empty in some ways because I've never actually
0:07:39met them.
0:07:41And you can, to some degree, just sort of get beyond that
0:07:45by just sort of keeping in the community,
0:07:48staying on, putting things out there,
0:07:51letting people know about you, following up on people
0:07:53and being interested in what they're up to.
0:07:55There's something just so powerful.
0:07:57Like last night, I ran into a lot of people
0:08:00who I knew sort of from the internet,
0:08:03other people who are fans of the podcast,
0:08:05which by the way was awesome.
0:08:06If you're a fan of the podcast,
0:08:07then I ran into you this week.
0:08:09That's just, that is absolutely awesome to me.
0:08:12Thanks for your support of the show
0:08:14and thanks for letting me know that you like it
0:08:17'cause as I've said before,
0:08:20the thing that keeps me doing the show
0:08:21is a feeling of that it's useful to people,
0:08:25that it's helpful.
0:08:26I don't make money from the show.
0:08:27It's just something that I like to do.
0:08:29And I'm really glad that it's helpful
0:08:33and useful and fun for people.
0:08:35So if I've met you, awesome, that was great.
0:08:38And then it's just running into people who you admire,
0:08:41running into people whose work you followed
0:08:45for a long time.
0:08:46It's so awesome to have a face
0:08:48that's not just a 2D avatar.
0:08:50It is your, it's like it's a handshake.
0:08:53I remember, I think it was Sean Blanc
0:08:55wrote a great article about this,
0:08:56where you're talking about the power of a handshake.
0:08:59And there's something about it
0:09:00where it's a personal connection.
0:09:02And there's almost like a spark of that,
0:09:04where it's like there's a moment of recognition
0:09:07where you first see someone and you're like,
0:09:08hey, wait, to what, do I, oh, oh, you're, yeah,
0:09:13from, perfect, yeah, that's great.
0:09:15And I feel like there's something that almost,
0:09:18it's like that interaction is,
0:09:22such as kind of a permanency and a longevity where you're likely to remember that person's
0:09:30face now.
0:09:31And you'll remember them in a different way than you would if it's just like, oh, that's
0:09:34their avatar on Twitter or something.
0:09:37It's just kind of awesome.
0:09:38And I always struggle with this a lot with conferences because I'm not a particularly
0:09:43social person by nature.
0:09:44I mean, I think this is a common theme probably across the development community, not iOS
0:09:50specifically but just in general.
0:09:52I mean, the kind of people who self-select to be software engineers are typically not
0:09:58the most outgoing, effervescent people who-- it's the classic thing of, we were the nerds
0:10:06in high school.
0:10:07We were typically not the cool kids, quarterback of the football team, going dating the prom
0:10:14queen kind of thing.
0:10:16And that's just sort of typical, that's a broad stereotype and probably not necessarily
0:10:22a strictly accurate one.
0:10:23But I think in general, at least for me, it is hard to meet new people.
0:10:31It's hard to kind of just be that social butterfly.
0:10:33And there are some people I know who can do that and that is awesome.
0:10:35And when I see them sort of out doing it and it's like introducing themselves to people
0:10:40who are legends, I'm just in awe.
0:10:44But it's nice to have an environment this week where it's somewhat normal and it's somewhat
0:10:51expected to say hi to people, to introduce yourself.
0:10:55And people are, it's a classic thing of it's so easy to build up people in your mind whose
0:11:01work you admire to make them something other than just human, to make them these kind of
0:11:08these sort of almost like a legendary figure.
0:11:11And the persona and the marketing in some ways that they put out there is intentional
0:11:19and is part of their brand.
0:11:20And, you know, they're sort of their personal brand, I suppose you'd say.
0:11:23But it's great that you can, you know, it's like for almost everybody, it's like you meet
0:11:27them, you say hi, you shake their hand, and suddenly that's not them.
0:11:33They're not, you know, their online persona.
0:11:34They're a person who is having a good time that's out enjoying, you know, some time with
0:11:39friends.
0:11:40almost always, genuinely glad to meet you, to say hi,
0:11:44and to talk to you, which is great.
0:11:46And so for me, it's always a difficult thing.
0:11:50And I always struggle with conferences where a lot of people say,
0:11:52oh, I love going to conferences.
0:11:54They're so good for networking.
0:11:56And I hate that term.
0:11:57I mean, it is--
0:11:59it's like networking sounds like a form of torture to me.
0:12:02Like, oh, so I'm supposed to be out and schmoozing and glad handing.
0:12:05and all those terms that just make me cringe.
0:12:11So for me, it's not really about networking in that way.
0:12:15I very rarely--
0:12:16and I think it's like I talked about in my pre-WWDC show
0:12:23last week, which unfortunately not enough people listen to,
0:12:26because there are a lot of rude people at WWDC
0:12:29in terms of being disrespectful to presenters and things.
0:12:32But I digress.
0:12:34But it's not about, you know, it's not like,
0:12:39oh, I'm out here to try and drum up work or to sell apps.
0:12:42It's just great to meet people.
0:12:46It's just awesome.
0:12:47And some, you know, so I'm typically don't go
0:12:50to a lot of conferences.
0:12:51I mean, a lot of that's just sort of for family reasons
0:12:53that it's a big deal and a big sacrifice for my wife
0:12:56for me to be gone all week with our two kids at home.
0:12:59And so it's something that I can just sort of,
0:13:01oh, that looks cool, oh, that looks cool.
0:13:03even beyond the cost of doing that.
0:13:06But it's pretty awesome to be able to do it
0:13:08and to come out here and to meet all these people.
0:13:11And so if you hear this this week while you're out here
0:13:14and you haven't yet said hi, please just either look for me.
0:13:19I look quite a lot like my Twitter avatar, thankfully.
0:13:22And either find me that way or send me an at reply on Twitter
0:13:27and we can try and meet up.
0:13:29And like I said, there is something
0:13:31awesome about shaking a hand.
0:13:33And so anyway, that's it for today's show.
0:13:36As always, if you have questions, comments, concerns,
0:13:38I'm on Twitter @_davidsmith.
0:13:41The feed for the show is Dev Perspective,
0:13:43where you can just get notifications when new shows
0:13:46post.
0:13:46If you have questions about anything, iOS 6,
0:13:49Mountain Lion related, whatever, while I'm out here or otherwise,
0:13:53just let me know.
0:13:55I'll probably do a couple more shows this week.
0:13:58It's my hope.
0:13:58I'll probably do a little less than I was originally thinking,
0:14:01And a lot of that's just because the keynote didn't
0:14:04go into as much of the developer part that I would have hoped.
0:14:07And so a lot of the rest is just under NDA,
0:14:09and so I can't talk about it.
0:14:11So it's a bit tricky for me to at this point,
0:14:13because I know things that I'm not technically
0:14:15allowed to talk about.
0:14:17And so I don't want to overstep my bounds in that way.
0:14:20But otherwise, I hope you have a good week.
0:14:23Happy coding.
0:14:24And I will talk to you later.
0:14:26Thanks.