Developing Perspective
226 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 8 years ago - ★★★★★ - 130 ratingsDeveloping Perspective is a podcast discussing the news of note in iOS Development, Apple and the like. Hosted by David Smith, an independent iOS developer. Never longer than 15 minutes.
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Episodes
Developing a New Perspective
November 04, 2015 13:57Under the Radar RSS Feed Overcast Link iTunes Link PocketCasts Subscribe Link I am delighted to announce that today I am launching a new development related podcast with Marco Arment. It is called Under the Radar and starts today on the fine Relay FM Network. I have been doing Developing Perspective since July 13, 2011 (roughly 4.5 years). During that time I have chronicled the rises and falls of being an independent developer in the App Store. I am immensely proud of Developing Per...
#225: Users per Day.
August 12, 2015 16:27 - 14 minutesI tend to think of my app business in terms of revenue per day. Breaking it down to that level helps me keep a close eye on it and know how well or poorly I’m doing. Today I walk through the reasoning for this as well as do a thought experiment of what the numbers might look like for a new business.
#224: Unplanned Absence.
July 31, 2015 14:27 - 14 minutesSome thoughts on the implications of having to take an unplanned absence from your work when you are self-employed. There are a lot of benefits of being independent that manifest themselves in a situation like this but also a few things to be careful of and plan for.
#223: What to expect this summer.
June 26, 2015 14:12 - 14 minutesAn overview of what to expect this summer: the beta schedule, timing for release, the importance of RADARS, my growing interest in Swift and an encouragement for everyone to build something new this summer. Will Hains’ iOS Beta History
#222: WWDC 2015 First Impressions.
June 08, 2015 17:49 - 12 minutesFirst Impressions from WWDC 2015. These are my initial reactions right after the Keynote, I’ll probably do another episode later in the week which has more considered reactions.
#221: Circular Revenue.
May 29, 2015 15:09 - 14 minutesSome high level thoughts about WWDC and my excitement for it. Then, a few thoughts about whether mobile advertising is in a precarious position.
#220: The Essential Experience.
May 22, 2015 18:14 - 14 minutesToday I begin a new Start-to-Finish series discussing the creation of an application from idea to the App Store. My Essential Experience Target: An application focused on surfacing the data currently collected by the Apple Watch and iPhone and presenting it in a useful, actionable, and encouraging way. Blizzard’s Games I discuss: Hearthstone Heroes of the Storm My previous Start-to-Finish series discussing the creation of Check the Weather: #91: Thank you and the Road from Here. #90: ...
#219: Accidental.
May 14, 2015 14:06 - 13 minutes2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts (4 days to order, ends May 18.) One of the most dangerous traps when learning from someone else’s experience is ascribing intentionality to what in reality was accidental. This can make it feel somehow magical or impossible to learn from. We are all just muddling along. Pedometer += 1,000,000 Joe’s Extraordinarily Kind Words
#218: Blazing Trails.
May 08, 2015 12:52 - 14 minutes2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts (1 Week left to order.) Once again the topic of sustainable revenue has surfaced around our lovely community. I’ve recently been changing/adapting my thinking on the subject so it seemed the time to wade in again. Tim on the App Store “The app store had its best quarter ever, with a record number of customers making purchases, driving a new record for revenue, and 29 percent year on year growth.” App Store Metrics In April, 2015: 1,561 apps per day...
#217: The Brand.
May 01, 2015 15:41 - 14 minutes2015 Developing Perspective t-shirts My WatchKit Apps Release Notes Conference In some ways this week’s episode is a follow up to last week’s show about hustle. All that thinking about the role that asking for money plays in my business got me to thinking about some of the complications that being the face of your business carries. When you are an independent business owner your own personal brand becomes the brand of your products. This can be awesome but also makes certain parts of ...
#216: The Hustle.
April 23, 2015 17:41 - 13 minutesThinking through why I have such a hang up about talking about and asking for Money. Why this is probably not such a great thing for my business and what I might do to fix it. My WatchKit Apps
#215: Insidious Features.
April 17, 2015 14:30 - 13 minutesHow to build little features into your applications that re-wire your user’s brains to come to expect a certain behavior. These ‘insidious’ features are a delightful way to help build loyalty with your customers.
#214: App Store Snowstorm.
April 09, 2015 14:54 - 13 minutesSimultaneous Invention or setting realistic expectations for uniqueness. Simultaneous Invention
#213: Showing Up and Shipping Apps.
April 02, 2015 16:50 - 14 minutesAfter a longer than typical break I’m back with another episode…on a related note I’m talking about how to get unstuck. How I manage the situation that seems to happen often enough where I get stuck in a creative rut. Then I talk a bit about how to manage the process of submitting WatchKit apps. Chart of my consistency track record for Developing Perspective:
#212: Four Phases of a Gold Rush.
February 27, 2015 18:35 - 14 minutesIn the run up to Apple’s media event on March 9th I keep hearing the phrase ‘Gold Rush’ over and over again. Today I unpack that concept and whether it might apply to the Apple Watch. The Phases of Gold Rush: The Rumor The Legend The Rush The Reality Luck = Opportunity + Preparation My WatchKit Series Scott Forstall, “Whole new Gold Rush” The California Gold Rush Trism WatchCon 2 There is unfortunately no shortcut to gaining expertise in a subject. You can only truly understand ...
#211: Asterisk Free Marketing.
February 11, 2015 21:14 - 12 minutesPrompted by some thinking I did around building the App Preview for Pedometer++, I start to wonder about honesty in advertising. How honesty should I be? What level of candor is appropriate, helpful, reasonable? Building an App Preview
#210: Polymaths.
January 30, 2015 15:47 - 14 minutesI’m not a huge fan of the term polymath. It sounds kinda pretentious but sometimes the best word for something is that way. Today I was struck by the wild variety of tasks and skills that it takes to run a business principally on your own. So I wanted to walk through some of disparate aspects of the ‘job’. Hopefully giving someone who is considering going out on their own some good food for thought. My intention isn’t to scare anyone off, but just to help you understand the inherent comp...
#209: Not so Fast.
January 23, 2015 15:16 - 14 minutesToday I walk through my history thinking about Swift. From WWDC to now I’ve done a lot of thinking about Swift as whether I should be using it. The result makes me feel a bit conflicted, but the brutally pragmatic part of me is winning out. Swift on Apple.com My WatchKit series
#208: Sam Soffes.
January 15, 2015 20:45 - 47 minutesI take a break out of my normal 15 minute format for a return of my occational interview series. This week I’m delighted to talk to Sam Soffes about balancing your own product work with doing consulting, different ways of thinking about success and deciding what it is you want to do with your time. Sam has been developing for iOS since 2008 and has worked on a wide variety of successful products. He is currently working on Whiskey, a Markdown editor for Mac and iOS.
#207: Irresistible Complexity
January 10, 2015 17:02 - 14 minutesRather than wading into the hullabaloo regarding Apple’s software quality directly I instead decided to take a step backwards and consider the forces that have driven us to this situation in the first place. My goal is to consider the forces that make keeping software stable over time difficult. The result can apply to small projects as well as to a company as large as Apple. Marketing Complexity: The pressure to keep adding features in order to keep software relevant in a marketplace. I...
#206: Can the App Store be Full?
December 12, 2014 16:19 - 14 minutesToday I think out loud about the implications of an App Store that is functionally full. Where applications cannot realistically thrive simply because of novelty or freshness. Whatever you do now you are facing up against a hyper-competitive marketplace. I think this changes significantly how we need to pursue things from a business perspective as well as helps us be realistic about what to expect. As an experiment I also recorded this episode as a video. I’m not really sure how valuab...
#205: AILW - Economics of WatchKit Apps.
December 05, 2014 16:45 - 14 minutesThinking out loud about why I recently starting my series called As I Learn WatchKit. I’ve learned a lot about the creative process by giving myself permission to put unpolished things into the world. My first attempt at Youtube Then, I dive into the economics of building WatchKit apps. In general I think that the economic realities of building apps for it are consistent with any other app endeavor. If it was a good idea before it is likely doubly so to add a Watch extension. If it is ...
#204: Delightfully Pragmatic.
November 20, 2014 18:49 - 14 minutesMy first reactions to WatchKit. I’m really glad Apple has given is some genuinely powerful capabilities with this first generation of APIs. Getting Started with WatchKit My Initial Impressions Apple’s Main WatchKit page Developer Forums
#203: Divided by One.
November 14, 2014 21:01 - 13 minutesFor a while now I’ve had an episode idea discussing some of the ‘interesting math’ about working on a project by yourself. I discuss how working on something by yourself is so very different than in working on any other sized team.
#202: Four Quadrants of Ideas
November 06, 2014 15:09I’ve had a few folks ask me about my plans and ideas for Apple Watch. While I don’t try to be too coy about what I’m working on I’ve definitely kept some of my ideas close to the vest. I’m well aware that ideas, in general, are useless on their own. But that doesn’t mean that being promiscuous with your ideas is still always a good choice. Derek Sivers on ideas. Trying to formularize this I came up with the following structure for ideas and where sharing them is likely a good and poor c...
#201: On Expedition.
October 31, 2014 13:41 - 14 minutesWith the impending arrival of the AppleWatch next year and the WatchKit SDK next month I’m starting to shift my focus towards ‘wearables’. They present a few challenges to me as a developer, not the least of which is that I have almost no experience with that type of device. I used to wear a watch years ago but haven’t consistently for a long time. I saw the Pebble when it first came out and it looked kinda janky. But now it is clear this is an area that the larger companies that I piggy...
#200: Sustained.
October 22, 2014 14:28 - 14 minutesI recently hit a few milestones that got me thinking about the attributes of sustained projects. My 7th iOS (iPhone) Developer Program My first app approved 6 years ago 200 Episodes I tried to boil them down into four keys: Purpose Diversity Flexibility / Ruthlessness Patience / Tenacity
#199: Resolution Irrelevant.
October 17, 2014 13:03 - 15 minutesThinking through the Retina iMac in a world where pixels stop mattering. Also, what’s going on with the iPad? Marco Arments’s thoughts on Retina iMac vs Mac Pro AnandTech’s Hands-on
#198: Boring and Superstitious.
October 08, 2014 13:56 - 14 minutesWhile a single button might seem somewhat boring or mundane to discuss I unpack the process of thinking through a single button in Emoji++. Specifically how to handle editing of favorites. Ultimately I went with an Edit button rather than a gesture based approach. While somewhat benign superficially decisions like this can make or break your user experience. Also, why I didn’t make the icons wiggle. The Boring Designer Creating Passionate Users Creating Passionate Users - Feature Curve
#197: Speculative Development.
October 03, 2014 13:14Talking through the process that ultimately lead to the creation of Emoji++, my recently launched custom keyboard for iOS 8. 🎉
#196: Faust had it easy.
September 24, 2014 13:39 - 14 minutesGetting an app ready for day one of an iOS/device launch is impossible to do right. As a developer you have a variety of options available for how you approach it, none of which are perfect. Trade Offs: App Review Marketing (good and bad) Bugs and Issues Helpdesk load New features and their worth Wasted effort Approaches: As ready as you’ll ever be: Work feverishly, battling through buggy betas and API changes to be as possibly ready as possible for the estimated release date. Me...
#195: Pincer Maneuvers and Stubbed Toes.
September 17, 2014 13:29 - 14 minutesWith the rollout of iOS 8 upon us I consider two aspects of the current Apple ecosystem that appear to lie in tension. Pincer Maneuvers Apple is fantastic at laying groundwork. When you take a step back and how their offerings both on software and hardware have evolved over the last few years you can clearly see how much forethought has gone into their approach. Apple doesn’t just throw things over the wall as soon as they are ready. Instead they prefer to gradually expand and enhance t...
#194: In Review.
September 04, 2014 12:57 - 14 minutesToday I wanted to take a quick run through the App Review Guidelines. Love ‘em. Hate ‘em. They are one of the most core parts of creating and distributing apps for the App Store. I will give some high level thoughts about the state of App Review and then walk through some of the recent changes Apple published. I’ll also touch on the new page Apple published listing the Common App Rejection reasons. I went ahead and organized the changes into a more readable format. Accessibility Note:...
#193: Update Treadmill.
August 08, 2014 15:35 - 14 minutesToday I’m going to dive into the world of app updates. Why we do them, how often we do them and whether they are important. Context I did a long analysis of the update trends in the App Store. I recommend you visit that yourself but the short version is: 50% of Top Apps are have been updated in the last 3 months (26% overall) 86% of Top Apps in the last year (60% overall) 300,000 apps were updated in the last 3 months. 480,000 apps are effectively abandoned (no updates in last year) ...
#192: Nobility of Effort.
July 30, 2014 13:12 - 14 minutesThis past week has seen an explosion of writing and discussion about the business of making software for sale on the iOS App Store. Personally I love it when these little bubbles of discussion appear. If you’ve listened to me for any period of time you’ll know that one of the things I really like is being a student of the App Store. These discussions provide the opportunity and motivation for all sorts of anecdotes which help expand my view on where things stand. I must confess I was a b...
#191: Insulated Perspectives.
July 24, 2014 15:25 - 14 minutesBack from a delightful, extended vacation I want to take a minute (or 15) to talk about the importance of stepping back from the day to day inputs that can so easily mold or distort your views on things. The world is a varied and complex place and likely very different than the people and perspectives you interact with on a daily basis.
#190: Everything but a Business Model
July 03, 2014 15:30 - 15 minutesI will be on vacation for the next two weeks, so unless something monumental happens in between now and late July there won’t be any episodes of Developing Perspective. Back at WWDC, basking in the glow of the river of great new announcements I had quipped “Wow, they gave us everything but a business model.” That comment is clearly absurd but it does drive towards a more honest and worthwhile point. In many ways the situation iOS developers find themselves in heading into the Autumn of 2...
#189: In the Loop
June 26, 2014 13:53 - 14 minutesThis past week we had a bit of drama about the role of podcast networks. I don’t intend to wade into that discussion but as a result of it I was asked about the role that linking and recommendations play in expanding my own audience for this show. Which is considerable and measurable. I wanted to return the favor this week by talking about how I stay informed about the goings-on in Apple development. This isn’t an exhaustive list but these are the places I always make sure I’m up to date w...
#188: Thoughtful Accessibility
June 20, 2014 13:36 - 14 minutesASCIIwwdc Accessibility is an important aspect of software development. Apple’s platforms provide a wide array of tools for easily adding it into your apps. The return for this effort is often somewhat ephemeral but nevertheless rewarding. Basic Accessibility overview Triple-tap home shortcut Thoughtful ordering of controls Thoughtful ordering of words Design the experience, not narration. Pedometer++ (the app discussed).
#187: Explorers
June 13, 2014 19:42We are exploring a new territory within the Apple developer landscape. Here is how I plan my expedition. Get a solid grasp of what’s new Start with Apple’s own overviews: iOS 8 for Developers What’s new in iOS API Diffs Keep in mind questions like these: What does this enable that isn’t currently possible? How would Apple promote this feature? Is this a evolutionary or ‘revolutionary’? Does this seem to be a dead-end or a beachhead? Short list your paths Start to think about how...
#186: Dropping Bombs
June 02, 2014 17:10 - 14 minutesMy initial impressions on the 2014 WWDC Keynote. Wow, it was a big one.
#185: Pick up your Kite.
May 27, 2014 17:41 - 14 minutesThis year I’m going to skip my usual soapbox speech about WWDC tips and etiquette. Given the way the ticket distribution played out it seems neither kind nor productive. If you are going to WWDC I commend these two #128: WWDC Tips and Etiquette. #53: Please, be polite at WWDC. Today I’m going to talk through a bit of my thoughts heading into WWDC. If the last episode bummed you out a bit this will hopefully put a more positive spin onto things. I also talk a bit about what I’m expecti...
#184: The Middle Path?
May 16, 2014 20:31 - 14 minutesI wax philosophical about the future. Trying to wrestle with the uncertainty that surrounds our industry. Some products succeed, some products fail. Where will mine fall?
#183: Anxiety and Inertia
May 02, 2014 17:46My thanks to everyone who purchased a t-shirt in the last two weeks. They should be at the printer and then on their way to your door within the next week or so. Anxiety and Inertia I’ll be taking a quick break from the Unconventional Wisdom series today. I want to ruminate a bit on something more topical for my personally. Feed Wrangler hit its one year anniversary this past week. That accomplishment in and of itself is rather significant for me. If you have been listening to this po...
#182: Unconventional Wisdom, Listen to Spock.
April 25, 2014 13:03 - 11 minutesT-shirts I am doing another run of t-shirts for the show. After I did the campaign for them last fall I heard from a lot of people that they missed out. This year I’m giving the campaign a nice long run (through April 28). The shirt design this year combines three distinctly geeky things—underscores, square brackets and fixed width fonts. Shirts are $14.59 (never longer than 15 minutes). Get one at http://teespring.com/developing. My thanks for the dozens of people who have already got ...
#181: Unconventional wisdom, pricing.
April 18, 2014 13:41 - 15 minutesT-shirts I am doing another run of t-shirts for the show. After I did the campaign for them last fall I heard from a lot of people that they missed out. This year I’m giving the campaign a nice long run (through April 28). The shirt design this year combines three distinctly geeky things—underscores, square brackets and fixed width fonts. Shirts are $14.59 (never longer than 15 minutes). Get one at http://teespring.com/developing . Wrapping up I have published the consolidated, summari...
#180: Enduring Features.
April 11, 2014 14:57 - 15 minutesI hope you fared better in the WWDC lottery than I did, though I’m hopeful for a possibility of a second round on Monday (maybe?). The system and process generally went really well and I think this is likely the process we’ll see going forward. It isn’t perfect but is as good as I could imagine. Improving the App Store: Part 5 Ratings The star rating of an application is the most important aspects of the sale experience that is outside of the developer’s direct control. It is displayed...
#179: Avoiding the Stampede.
April 03, 2014 20:27 - 14 minutesA few words of appreciation for the new lottery based WWDC ticket sales. Get your name in the hat by Monday morning. Then I talk through some of the tradeoffs involved in choosing the level of abstraction to use for your web-service backends, explaining my own tendency to go pretty low level. Starting from these few posts: The Parts of Your Platform Web Hosting For App Developers On Running Your Own Servers, and Why We’re Not
#178: Customer Escape Hatches
March 27, 2014 16:57 - 14 minutesAfter taking credit ;) for Apple’s experiments in search improvements I dive into a few changes to the App Store that could improve doing business in the store. Make the App Store Refund policy more obvious I really don’t understand why Apple makes the refund process so opaque and awkward. I know from my own experience in physical stores that a clear and easy refund policy helps drive sales. It is far better than a ‘trial-mode’ because it sustains the value of the app (rather than giving...
#177: Something in Mind.
March 14, 2014 01:50 - 13 minutesI will be at NSConference next week, if you are a listener of the show please make sure you find me and say hi. Continuing my series of Towards a Better App Store, trying to find practical suggestions for how we could improve the App Store. Today I’m going to focus on Search. Physical Design: Make the cards interface for search optional (if not eliminated). Ranking: Rewards or punish applications based on objective measures. For example, recently updated, crash frequency, refund request...