Someone sent me an article from Infoworld about “flaws” that may delay iPhone penetration in the enterprise.

While I think that many of the “must have” features mentioned aren’t real show stoppers nor available in most of today’s corporate devices, it is a good read into some potential barriers nonetheless.

It seems like we launched our company just yesterday. It is hard to believe how quickly July went and boy was it eventful! We have been hard at work building apps for our first wave of clients. The exciting news is that several of the apps we are working on are destined for the App Store. While we can’t say more now, we hope to be able to give you a glimpse into what we’ve been up to as soon as we can.

While our focus all along has been providing businesses with great apps for iPhone (including many that are for internal use and thus aren’t for the App Store), we do recognize that there are many really great ideas out there from individuals and small businesses for small but beautiful applications.

As a result we’ve decided to setup a group within our company that works on these apps for our customers. Our goal is to use our Small But Beautiful group as a training ground for new team members. This allows us to offer a lower price for small apps and operate at or near break even.

We define a small iPhone app as having between 1-3 screens, no to very little interaction with a back end server, and constructed with built-in user interface elements. Please recognize that we have limited availability to work on small apps, but please feel free to submit your idea by emailing us.

That brings me to one more thing…

We are actively recruiting and hiring for both Senior and Junior-level iPhone developers for our team based in Denver, CO. If you are interested or know someone that may be interested, please see our Jobs page.

Talk to you soon!

iPhoneDevCamp Colorado is in full swing here in Denver at the ID345 co-working space.
Day 1 wrapped up late last night after a fantastic turnout. We had a great opportunity to meet some of our fellow iPhone cohorts, discuss our various projects or companies, and brainstorm topics for the weekend.

Today started out with fantastic breakfast burritos provided by one of the sponsors. Breakfast was followed by several fantastic sessions including a talk by Brent Simmons creator of NetNewsWire and Bill Dudney author of a book on Core Animation. Next was lunch, provided by yours truly Double Encore, Inc. Talk about some tasty pizza!

After lunch we had some really fantastic demos of a few apps that are currently on the App Store. One particularly cool apps demoed was Radius, a unique 3D game that takes advantage of the multi-touch UI. Another neat app was Checkout SmartShop, which makes it easy to use iPhone to compare prices of products.

All in all, an eventful day and plenty of interest in iPhone! I would suggest that Colorado has one of the stronger “iPhone Communities”. The rest of Day 2 should be great, and we are all anxious for an action packed Day 3!

Truly innovative platforms are rare. For the innovative iPhone platform the first really exciting and innovative apps are beginning to appear. A great example is Shazam. I may not use it every day but boy is it cool!

It does makes me wonder. With a platform that almost serves innovation on a silver platter, why are there so many uninspiring apps on the App Store? Okay. We all know the reason. A reason that invokes imagery of the Richie Rich-style “money room”.

I get that the App Store has created a new economy that people are rushing to get a piece of but the platform makes innovation a breeze. Don’t people realize that iPhone owners can “feel” what makes a an app special? If you commit the extra time to leverage the likes of Location Services or Core Animation or just show that you thought through the small details of your user interface customers will be that much more inclined to recommend and rave.

It isn’t rocket science and that’s what makes it so mystifying.

Did man invent or discover fire? I believe man invented fire and I also believe that humans are inherently entrepreneurial. I am sure some will disagree so consider a more recent example. In the past two weeks, I have connected with dozens of individuals who see great potential in iPhone (and broadly the “modern mobile device”) and have unique ideas for the next useful applications. Much to my surprise the majority of concepts shared are unique and quite good.

In this time of uncertain economic conditions it would be easy to hunker down and focus on the day job. Instead people are brainstorming and innovating. Now to be clear not all of these ideas will materialize, but the mere fact that iPhone is fostering so much entrepreneurial activity is fantastic. It is compelling evidence that the mobile market will look very differently in six months than it does today and a refreshing glimpse into the human spirit.

We set out to build a company that brings out the entrepreneur in us every day. I am thrilled that iPhone is inspiring those outside our company in the same way. What exciting times!

In a week since iPhone 3G and App Store launched we have seen the good, bad, and ugly of iPhone apps for sale or free of charge. One question comes to mind: where’s the heck is the Open Source? The guys over at Toxic Software are doing their part via Touch Code but who else?

No doubt the iPhone platform has huge potential, but think how much greater it would be if there was a thriving Open Source community. Open Source would provide a proving ground for aspiring iPhone developers who are struggling to get up to speed with the quirks of Xcode and Cocoa.

My company is willing to do whatever it takes to support Open Source on iPhone. We’ll pay for technology, provide web hosting, sponsor projects, and contribute our own code when possible. I call on other iPhone shops to do the same. It is in all of our best interest as Open Source can go a long way in producing a healthy pipeline of great developers that can be our future employees.

Updates: A comment referred to the NDA Apple has with developers that may currently preclude Open Source iPhone applications. The point of the article is more of a long-term view. Let’s make sure we focus not just on the App Store Economy, but other means of making this platform take off as well.

Apple announced today that 1 Million iPhones were sold and 10 Million Apps were downloaded in the first three days. Developers should be thrilled, right? 10 Million is a lot of apps!

When I first read the press release I was genuinely impressed until I started breaking down the stats and thinking about my own experience from the past three days. Ten third-party apps per phone, right? Wrong. Remember, all prior iPhone and iPod touch owners have the ability to upgrade to the 2.0 software which contains the App Store. Even if only 1 Million of that audience upgraded the 2.0 and explored the App Store, the average number of third-party apps per phone cuts in half to just five.

Moreover, based upon my own experience I know that app downloads do not correlate to active usage. For example, Loopt (free) and Cro-Mag (paid) remain idle on my phone. I’m not in love with either app so they are just serving to clutter my home screens.

In the case Cro-Mag got their money so they likely don’t care that I am not using their app. Loopt is different. The app that was built as a means to create a service. One they no doubt hope will be indispensable for an iPhone user thus driving up their valuation. Not the case for me so far.

The App Store is a fantastic delivery vehicle, but quality and utility will be the key to winning the hearts and minds of users.

No doubt most iPhone owners have spent the last few days scouring the App Store.  From Texas Hold’em to AOL Instant Messenger, native applications on iPhone a year from now will seem like something we’ve always had and can’t imagine ever being without. 

There are a handful of terrific applications such as Pandora and Texas Hold’em which I have already found quite addictive. At the same time, it is also very clear that many apps are half-baked.  

I wonder why more third-parties are not acting like the best of third-party vendors on the Mac. The ones that “act and feel” like something that could have come out of Cupertino. Comic Life immediately comes to mind. The iPhone SDK is so rich that it is very shocking to see apps like Cro-Mag shipping with a “Settings” menu that looks like it was drawn by a second grader.  A second grader who could have built a better menu via the built in interface elements in Interface Builder.

Double Encore offers a rapid iPhone application development service.  In just eight weeks, we take your idea through a full design and development cycle. From the drawing board to completion, we deliver a high quality final product from our expertise, processes, commitment to excellence.

I have read a few blog entries lately questioning the value of open source. The most over-the-top comes from Andy Patrizio. In his posting, titled “Big Money and Open Source May Not Compute”, Andy sounds like a school yard bully angry that his turf is finally being challenged:

Oh yea?! Well, open source hasn’t produced a billionaire. Take that!!!

I have some experience in Open Source, so I am compelled to opine. In 1999 I co-founded a Linux company. Terra Soft Solutions, Inc. is the developer of a flavor of Linux for IBM’s POWER microprocessor family intended for the High Performance Computing market segment.

Over the last decade, the company has seen some amazing accomplishments. Our customer list includes every Department of Energy national lab, all the major defense contractors, and corporations such as Boeing. One of our proudest moments was landing a contract with Lockheed Martin and the US Navy to provide a complex sonar solution that was deployed on-board the US Navy Submarine fleet.

All this and more from a small technology company out of Colorado. How did we do it?
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