I've been debating using something like Parse or Azure as a backend, and this looks like a nice alternative as I'm usually a roll-your-own-solution kinda guy.
SEEKING WORK - Remote (Based outside of Philadelphia, PA)
I'm a developer with design chops focusing on creating web and iOS applications. I love consulting with talented people to help realize great ideas and solve interesting problems. I’m passionate about taking an active role in my clients’ projects and hate just sitting back and being a dumb code-monkey or pixel-pusher. I enjoy really digging into my clients' challenges and working with them to come up with compelling solutions.
Technically speaking I'm strong in front-end (HTML5/CSS/jQuery), back-end (PHP/MVC.NET), and (native) iOS development. I've been told my full-stack knowledge paired with my ability to concentrate on the little details while not loosing sight of the big picture is a unique and extremely valuable asset to the teams I've worked with. The majority of startups I've worked with have asked me to move and come work for them. So that's a good sign, right?
I just wrapped up a long-term contract with a startup on an iOS project (as lead dev and a UX guy) and I'm ideally looking to take on another iOS project.
The adoption rate for iOS6 has been amazing compared to previous versions that weren't OTA. Over 60% in less than a month (according to a statistically significant and diverse user base source: http://david-smith.org/iosversionstats/). I recall seeing some iOS5-only apps when it was adopted this widely after a few months.
OTOH, that graph sure has plateaued at around 60% for the last week. I think there is a fairly significant group of iPhone owners who just don't care about OS updates and never even notice that indicator on Settings telling you that you can update.
Sure, it's slowed down - everyone has gotten the pop-up by now telling them to OTA update so those that are left didn't want to right away. But that just puts us in the same boat we used to be; a slower adoption rate as we wait for them to manually do it.
If they don't care, that's fine. They'll start to care as more things go iOS6 only. Just like people stay on XP forever until there's a reason to upgrade.
But 60% of the user base (including those who can't update like iPad 1, not just 60% of eligible) in less than a month? As a dev that make me really really happy and not scoff at considering going iOS6 only.
Oh definitely it's a good adoption rate. I just think a lot of people were thinking "60% in a week! We'll be at 90% in a month!" and that seems overly optimistic at this point. And if it plateaus at 70%, how many developers are willing to cut off 30% of their customer base?
History has shown that won't be the case. We might not be at 90% by the end of the month but mark my words, the exponential growth of iPhone sales in which each new model eclipses the entirety of iPhone sales up to that point has a pretty drastic effect on the old OS percentages.
The combination of the iPad, iPad mini, iPhone 5, and new iPod touch all running iOS 6 and the aggressive older device update strategy means we are pretty much assured 90% by the end of this year, if not sooner. With the notable exception of the original iPad, the iOS devices that can't run/won't run iOS 6 are a drop in the bucket.
The other thing to note is that as devices get older, users tend to enjoy them less and therefore screw around on them less. This naturally results in less app usage, less browser usage, appearing in less statistics, etc...
So while the exact percentage of all iOS devices running iOS 6 might take longer than a year to hit 90%, I suspect app developers will have a fairly different picture painted for them by their personal usage statistics.
Thought: in-app "pro" version to take advantage of the fact that people pay $$$ for wedding stuff? Keeps you in the top music list because you're cheap, but some of the more advanced features might be worth a premium.
(Note: I had "pro" as much as the next version, but seems better than a multi-hundred dollar DJ)
Although I agree with your broader point, the iPod actually seems like a terrible example to me. They did innovate a ton- the mini, the nano, thin nano, fat nano, square nano, chewing gum shuffle, square shuffle...
True, true. My thoughts were along the line of the Classic - from year to year they didn't innovate much along that one line, but you're 100% correct they innovated to fill more niches with new lines.
I think the nail in net neutrality's coffin will be when they start charging (or discounting) other parties' services. That isn't the case here.
The way I see it you get all their content through a cable box today without paying data usage fees for the bandwidth TV uses on their network (that's the point of the TV subscription fee). Now they're allowing that content on another "set-top box", in this case the XBox. The implementation details (the fact it uses internet streaming vs cable tuner card) shouldn't matter to the end-user. You pay the TV subscription fee, you get it without additional fees.
If the situation were reversed and they were charging data fees for accessing content you already pay for, we'd be up in arms about that, too...
The XBox is not another set-top box though. It does not use the same network as their other boxes, it uses the customer's internet connection. The internet connection is capped at 250GB. If they are going to cap other services using the customers internet connection, they need to cap their own as well. Anything else is hypocritical & anti-competitive.
People are afraid of technology because of the crap tech from the past 20 years. What do you think happens when those people stop being afraid? Suddenly software development feels accessible to a bunch more people.
I'd argue that people won't stop wanting to tinker, that in fact more people will start to because they no longer think it's impossible.
My high school (1997-2001) reinforced this. They suspended kids from school for tinkering. And by tinkering, I mean "bringing up a DOS prompt instead of using the pre-canned IBM ICLAS menu system".
I'm a web developer and designer and I focus on developing web applications.
I have an eye for usability and well-placed pixels and take pride in my craft. I'm strong in both front-end (HTML5/CSS/JavaScript/jQuery) and back-end (PHP/CodeIgniter/MVC.NET) development and I'm able to take a product from the drawing board to release.
Recently I've started working with iOS and have one app in the store so far. I'd love the opportunity to work on more iOS apps and that's the kind of work that's most interesting to me right now.
But I worry about how it would hold up in terms of performance, given this recent benchmarking fest featured on HN. http://www.techempower.com/blog/2013/03/28/framework-benchma...