Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

Accidental Technologist

iOS 7 and Seizing an Opportunity

IOS7

The past few days have been filled with all things Apple and I have been drinking from the firehose all things iOS 7. ?Apple announced an anticipated upgrade to iOS on Monday but not just any upgrade. ?The new operating system changes the way users will interact with their iOS devices and will change the way developers approach developing applications for these devices.

I started a post yesterday with my thoughts on how this new update would greatly affect developers and designers as they created new applications and how existing applications would be facing a difficult path. ?I felt good about my thoughts until Marco Arment posted an eerily similar post as mine. ??

iOS 7 is very different and I’m very skeptical the upgrade path for applications will be smooth. ?As Marco says:

iOS 7 is different. It isn?t just a new skin: it introduces entirely new navigational and structural standards far beyond the extent of any previous UI changes. Existing apps can support iOS 7 fairly easily without looking broken, but they?ll look and feel ancient.?

Developers who created complex applications will be faced with a fork in the road; attempt a transition or start over:

I don?t think most developers of mature, non-trivial apps are going to have an easy time migrating them well to iOS 7. Even if they overcome the technical barriers, the resulting apps just won?t look and feel right. They won?t fool anyone.

A new paradigm means a chance to start from zero and build great things.

Apple has set fire to iOS. Everything?s in flux. Those with the least to lose have the most to gain, because this fall, hundreds of millions of people will start demanding apps for a platform with thousands of old, stale players and not many new, nimble alternatives. If you want to enter a category that?s crowded on iOS 6, and you?re one of the few that exclusively targets iOS 7, your app can look better, work better, and be faster and cheaper to develop than most competing apps.

Developers will be tasked with porting their applications to iOS 7 but it will be a difficult task. ?Design is completely different so not only will developers have to ramp up but so will designers.?

iOS 7 is a great opportunity to create new applications, taking advantage of the new way of doing things. Maybe this is the opportunity and *not* upgrade applications but start all over and build new experiences in iOS 7. ?Can we convince clients this is different enough that apps are worthy of rethinking the user experience, leveraging what’s new and building great experiences? ?Some will fight the idea. ? Some will refuse. ?Those looking not where the puck is but where it’s going to be, will embrace a rebuild.

I for one, am devouring all the material I can get my hands on for iOS7 include the new Human Interface Guidelines and the Transition Guide. ?I also have Xcode 5 running and installed iOS 7 beta on an old device. ? If you’re interested in a really detailed article on iO7 user interface differences, go read Matt Gemmell’s article.

I will be ready to help clients move forward from older versions of iOS as well as ready to guide them on new applications. ?As far as my applications, I will see how the transition goes. ?This could be an opportune time to redesign, retool and rebuild for the paradigm shift to iOS 7. ?

The design changes to iOS 7 are brilliant, very exciting times ahead.

Free Ultimately Always Has a Price

Gr logo

I bet by now you have heard the news Google Reader will be shutting down on July 1, 2013:

We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Reader (the actual date is July 1, 2013). We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We?re sad too.

There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we?re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.

To ensure a smooth transition, we?re providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative feed-reading solution. If you want to retain your Reader data, including subscriptions, you can do so through Google Takeout.

Thank you again for using Reader as your RSS platform.

That’s it..thank all of you for signing up for our service, relying on it but we have to go now. ?Virtually everyone I know jumped at the chance to use Google Reader to keep track of their RSS feeds and synchronize them with a supporting client application on your Mac, Windows PC and any iOS and Android device. The ease of use and integration with the platform almost eliminated the market for desktop (Mac and Windows) RSS reader clients. ?

What happens now when Google Reader has its plugged pulled this summer? ?We lose all of the conveniences afforded to us by Google Reader and we have no where to turn to at this point.

Marco Arment points out this may not be a bad thing:

Now, we?ll be forced to fill the hole that Reader will leave behind, and there?s no immediately obvious alternative. We?re finally likely to see substantial innovation and competition in RSS desktop apps and sync platforms for the first time in almost a decade.?

I think he’s right but at a cost. ?All the RSS reader applications who use Google Reader will now need to scramble and retool with their own sync platform or work with others to create one that many can use. ?It won’t be free to build, support and maintain.

Possible solutions do exist today but not really 100% replacements for Reader; both NewsBlur and Feedly have been mentioned but they seem to be having some scaling issues at the moment.?

It seems others, such as David Smith, envisioned something should be available that is not run by Google. ?David announced last night that he is working on such a platform and has for months:

Feed Wrangler will be a paid, subscription based service. I believe the reason that Google turned its back on Reader and left its users hanging is that they were users not customers. I?m not interested in building a platform designed to attract as many users as possible and then work out how to sustain it later. I want to instead build something that is sustainable from Day 1. I want my customers to feel confident that they can expect this to be around long into the future. I want to build a relationship with them and make something they really, really love.?

I agree and this sums up my thoughts on free. ?Free services are not good for its users in the long run, they’re not sustainable and the company operating the services has no real obligation to keep it going. ?I like to give money to the services I use, it makes me feel good that the service I rely on will be there tomorrow. ?I would have gladly given Google money for my Reader account, but they never asked. ?It gives them an out.

I don’t trust Google will not shutdown other free services, such as Feedburner. ?Those of you consuming free services probably should take this opportunity to take a look and reflect on what would happen if they went away. ?How would you replace them? ?Are there comparable services you could pay for that may be a more sustainable business model? ?Entrepreneurs creating free services?do you think that’s the best way to go? ?Me either.