Apple has released two ads just in time for Christmas to roll around. They are pretty cute, and bring PC and Mac owners together for the holiday season.

It shows you what a great product Apple has in the App Store, when a rival market releases a product for your platform. Microsoft has now officially released their first ever iPhone App. It is a pretty cool app too.

Seadragon Mobile will give iPhone users a better option when wanting to view images at a ultra high resolution. You don’t have a whole lot to lose, as Seadragon Mobile is a free download.

Seadragon Mobile iPhone App Page

I’ll be honest, I’ve always thought of Target as the store that people who don’t want to admit they shop at Wal-Mart go to. That feeling hasn’t changed, but I will give them props for creating a pretty nifty app. If you’re getting desperate for finding Christmas presents, then Target’s Snow Globe is for you. You give some info about the person your buying for. Then you shake the iPhone like a snow globe, and then the app spits back gift ideas. Of course they also provide local stores that have the item, or you can order it online.

App Store

Craig Hockenberry, of furbo.org has written a very interesting letter to Steve Jobs about the current state of the iPhone App Store. It’s mostly a letter of him whining about trying to be successful on the App Store. I might not agree with much he has to say, but it’s still none the less worthy of mentioning.

The main statement of Hockenberry’s letter is how the ‘$0.99 ringtone apps’ are starting to litter the App store market. He goes on further to say how this makes it hard to release more quality apps, like the ones his company provides…

“Before commencing any new iPhone development, we look at the numbers and evaluate the risk of recouping our investment on a new project. Both developers and designers cost somewhere between $150-200 per hour. For a three man month project, let’s say that’s about $80K in development costs. To break even, we have to sell over 115K units. Not impossible with a good concept and few of weeks of prominent placement in iTunes.

But what happens when we start talking about bigger projects: something that takes 6 or even 9 man months? That’s either $150K or $225K in development costs with a break even at 215K or 322K units. Unless you have a white hot title, selling 10-15K units a day for a few weeks isn’t going to happen. There’s too much risk.”

The problem I have with Hockenberry’s letter is how he thinks this line of reasoning is somewhat new in a capitalist market. Especially when said market is in the middle of a recession. Of course people are going to favor cheaper options in terms of electronic media. When the people look to favor that certain product, then developers will try and comply with the demand.

I’m not saying that particular line of reasoning is right or wrong. It’s just the way that markets work. The App Store market isn’t immune either, and we shouldn’t expect it to be. My personal feeling is why would I want to waste a $1 on an app that I’ll never use? When I can pay upwards to $5 for an app that I’ll get continual use out of. That’s my own personal feeling though, not a direction that I think everyone should follow.

Another problem that Hockenberry mentions is the vast amount of apps that are available to download. He believes it’s going to be harder, and harder for developers to compete as more apps are added daily. I whole-heartedly disagree with the point he’s making here. The prospect of continually trying new apps is my favorite thing about the App Store. Sure, there are a ton of crap apps out there but that’s what user reviews are for. The App Store market will always correct itself, because no matter the price (to a certain extent) quality will always trump cost in the App Store. I mean people have invested a large amount of money into their iPhones, and iPod Touches for a reason.

The thing that annoys me most about Hockenberry’s letter is that he gives no ideas on how to fix the problem. The entire tone of the letter comes off as desperate and a bit whiny. Developing software for mass production is always a costly venture. You should know the risks before getting into development like that. Don’t expect Apple to change anything to help your business. Apple is going to do what is best for the consumer, and themselves. Developers like Hockenberry should follow suit.

Why not try advertising your App through a blog or site? Heck, I feature apps all the time on here and I’d love to feature developer’s work, especially if the app is solid.

I hope you’re reading this Hockenberry, and other developers. Quit trying to write Apple about your unsuccessful app creations. It’s up to the consumers to decide what they want. Not for you to try and get Apple to decide for them.

I must admit that today’s iPhone App Of The Day is here based solely on my love for Batman. I was disappointed that The Dark Knight wouldn’t be receiving a video game treatment. Which might be a good thing considering most movie-video game adaptations aren’t any good. The iPhone is here to my rescue. I might not be controlling Batman, but I’ve got the next best thing. The Batmobile. The game is short, and really doesn’t lead to anywhere. The gameplay is tight though, and for $0.99 you’d be hard pressed to find a better way to spend it. Especially if you’re a Batman fan.

App Store

It’s never been a secret that Apple has always been behind when it comes to video games. Mac owners have pretty much come to learn that it takes a massive financially successful game before it’s ported to the Mac.

This norm is starting to change in a way. Little by little, Apple has unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly staked some claim in the video game world with the iPhone. The release of the App Store was pretty much the beginning of the golden age of the iPhone. Up until that time, the iPhone was a pretty cool gadget which only saw its full potential if you jailbreaked(broke) it.

With the release of the App Store, games on the iPhone have started to be noticed. More and more developers are getting in on the action, and you’re seeing more legit iPhone App releases. In a Time Magazine online article, Fieldrunners an iPhone release was #9 on the top video games of the year.

It’s pretty obvious that the iPhone is pretty far from the gaming success of the Nintendo DS. For what could be considered the relative beginning of the iPhone, gaming on the device isn’t something to take too lightly.