Some Indie Mac Thought - Part One

Daniel Jalkut over at Red Sweater Software posted this idea about a co-operative advertising scheme for the independent Mac developer community. I’m not currently a Mac developer myself, but I hope to take my first steps in that direction some time in the near future (just as soon as my ideas solidify and I stop learning new languages which aren’t objective C - it was ruby this week), and over the last few months I’ve given quite a bit of thought to the problems associated with advertising your product when you’re an independent. At heart it’s a matter of getting your software in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Let me digress...

I’m old enough to have heard tales of a time when teenagers were becoming millionaires selling by mail-order programs they wrote in their bedrooms. I’m not quite old enough, however, to be sure whether these tales are true or merely a rose-tinted view of some more innocent time. And they were more innocent times back at the dawn of the personal computer era. The business was new to everyone and consumers didn’t know that software should come in a big cardboard box from off the shelves of their local PC warehouse, rather than through the post from an advert in the back of their favourite computer mag. But times changed. And then they changed back again. The internet - as we were repeatedly told at one point - remade the level playing field. Take a look at a selection of software company web sites - some mac indie, some “professional” - and ignoring the range of products on offer you’ll see that the indies are every bit as adept at putting on a good face.

(This doesn’t seem to hold for Windows indies, though. A quick tip: it doesn’t say much for your software if you need Google AdSense to support your site.)

In a comment to Daniel’s post (a rare instance of my sticking my head above the parapet), I half-made the suggestion that instead of trying to attract customers from other indie developer’s sites - people who in all likelihood if they are interested in what you sell should be able to find it on their own - it may be a better use of your resources (and yes, I know Daniel’s idea was to make it free, but time is a resource too) to try and snag some of the less mac-savvy, the switchers or new-to-computer users. I introduced a thought experiment involving the readers own theoretical parents. Without you there to guide them, where would they look? I was suggesting a single, well-publicised catalogue which could bring together all (or just most) indie mac products. But that’s the subject for another post. Let’s go off on a tangent.

Say that, instead of software, I want to get my band’s album in front of as many eyes (ears. besides as many ears? into?) as possible. (Please note: I have no band, and the very idea that I might have is laughable to anyone who knows me.) What are my options? Well, there are a couple of services which will get you onto iTunes and Amazon. How about if I want my book published? (More likely but still laughable.) Well, there’s lulu.com. Now, I know a little more about lulu.com than the music example, so let’s concentrate on it instead.

For those of you who don’t know, lulu.com runs a print-on-demand service for books (and a few other services, but we’ll concentrate on books for now). You upload your manuscript and should anyone wish to buy it they can. You set the price and when an order is received a copy is printed and dispatched and you get a royalty. So far so what. But the best bit is that for a one-off fee of around $100 your book is also assigned an ISDN code (just like proper books have) and is added to a number of catalogues. So wh- and to Amazon. To reiterate: $100 gets you onto Amazon.

Returning to software, which developer wouldn’t happily pay $100 for access to a market that size. Just think, after giving up on Wall*Mart and starting to wonder whether their shiny white new toy may be able to help them buy more software for their shiny white new toy, this is one of the first places your parents are likely to look, because they can remember some people talking about this Amazon thing. (Plus, you only need to give Safari an “a” and it’ll suggest you go there.)

Okay, this being the Mac development community there’ll be some grumbling. We’ll ignore all those “but how am I going to support all these new users?” - with the extra money you earn you can now afford to bus in some Mexicans to do support for you. (You may even be able to afford to do things properly and fly in some Poles.) Sure, Amazon will want to take a cut, as will whoever runs the scheme. But just think of the extra volume. And if it works on the lulu.com nothing-down model (except the $100) then what have you got to loose?

So, like Daniel, I’m just tossing this idea out there to see if it gets any feedback. (Yeah, like this site would ever even get any readers...) There are lots of details to work out, like whether the product needs to be in physical (CD) form (which is just so twentieth-century), but I don’t see anything insurmountable. After all, there are already examples out there of this model being applied in similar markets. But to get it off the ground it will need the support of a community. And luckily we’ve already got one of those.

WiFi iPods Before the End of the Year

The reason I thought we’d never see these: aeroplanes. Even providing a simple switch for ‘flight mode’ seems a complication too far on a product which Apple have kept resolutely simple. For a similar reason I expect to see the music playing half of the iPhone able to operate completely independently.

Leopard Delayed Until October

Right, that’s it. I’m off to buy a copy of Vista.

Apple to Release Washer/Dryer Real Soon

Normally I wouldn’t give a story like this a second glance, but this time it comes from a reputable source, none other than MacUser’s Dan Moren. Specs to follow shortly, I hope. Either way, you may want to hold off on those major white goods purchases until you see what else the lads from Cupertino have up there sleeves. I know what’ll be tumbling my smalls in the very near future.

It Just Worked

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball posted some facts about AAC, Apple’s audio format of choice for iTunes and the iPod. Making the point that this isn’t an Apple-only closed format, he gives a short list (culled from Wikipedia) of other devices which support AAC, which includes Sony Ericsson phones. I have a K750i on to which I have copied a few tracks (I only listen to them when I exercise, which means they hardly ever get listen to), and reading this it struck me that I never once stopped to think whether these tracks ripped via iTunes would or wouldn’t work on the phone. Don’t you love it when things just work?

I Need to Loose Weight

I'm 5'10" and 14st 11lb. My BMI is 29.76. I'm finding myself getting out of breath far more than I used to. I really need to loose some weight. Working backwards, it would appear that 14st 2lb is my optimum weight. I’m sure I was that a few months ago. Secondary aim: get less flabby, too.

What’s the Opposite of Twitter?

Here’s the idea: there should be a service where you can tell all your friends what you should be doing at this moment in time. Is anti-twitter.com already taken? Here’s my current list:

• Write a Mac OS X application - Don’t know what type of application. Maybe a RSS news reader. We need another one of those.


• Finish writing my game - Being done in Dim3, which is a really great system with an excellent community supporting it.


• Install OS X on a tablet PC - Since I don’t have a tablet PC I’ll just have to wait for Apple to release one.


• Write my first novel - I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve started. Maybe one day I’ll get past the first paragraph.

Okay, time for another game of Quinn.

It Starts with an Earthquake

This may be one of the signs of the impending apocalypse: I just got an actual genuine piece of news from the British Mac podcast. Now, I’ve really enjoyed British Mac ever since I found it on iTunes a couple of weeks ago. Will Green is a top bloke, even if most of the time it doesn’t seem like he really knows what he’s talking about (or has ever heard of one of these “Mac” thingies). If John Shuttleworth did a tech podcast, this is what it would sound like. I’m even willing to overlook the use of the .com while britishmac.co.uk is still free (something which normally makes me come over all Al Murray).

Anyway, the news was that we Europeans get to choose to have our new octo-mac pre-installed with OS X Server and a 10 client licence for free, while the Americans have to pay $499. It almost sounds like a good deal, if you ignore the fact that the same configuration MacPro (dual-quad-Xeons, 4Gb, a single 750Gb drive, basic GeForce 7300 GT and all the standard trimmings) costs £3297 over here but only $4995 over there. That’s around £2775. VAT brings the prices closer, but there’s still a difference there.

Now, I’m going back to Googling for all combinations of “big blue pather/tiger/leopard” songs.

Falling Out Like Pixie Teeth

Coverage of the Apple[1]/EMI/DRM thing has continued apace with a piece by music journalist David Quantic on BBC Radio 4's flagship current affairs behemoth The Now Show. Good analysis with some of the more confusing terminology carefully explained (DRM: ‘It’s what we in the industry call “a bit tight”.’).

[1] ‘That’s the one who make the nice computers, not the one who keep releasing “new” Beatles albums.’

DRM and the Movies

This is getting a fair amount of discussion in the wake of the iTunes/EMI no more DRM deal. Steve (that’s Mr Jobs to you) seems to be on record as saying something to the effect that video is a completely different beast to music. The argument seems to run that while music isn’t sold in proper shops without any form of copy protection, movies - by which they mean DVDs - always have been. Okay as far as it goes, but inaccurate, especially for anyone with a long memory. Before DVDs there were these things called videos, and as far as I can remember they had no copy protection at all. In fact, I’d guess that preventing someone from copying them, given a simple double deck recorder, is pretty much impossible.

This was the world into which DVDs were released just over ten years ago, and from the start they had built-in copy protection. (I think we can make an educated guess and say that, had the music industry seen the introduction of a new technology at about that time, they would have made sure that it was as tightly locked down as well.) So it’s probably fair to say that copy protection within the movie industry is now firmly entrenched. After over a decade of selling copy protected movies without provoking a consumer backlash, what motivation does the industry have to change now?

My Current Favourite Waste of Time

I really souldn't've downloaded Quinn. It's all just too convenient, sitting there in my Recent Items menu (and it never seems to leave the Recent Items menu...), huskily whispering “play me, you know you want to”. Oh, the hours and hours I’ll never get back.

Hmm... time for another quick game, me thinks.

Cuts? What cuts?

I was listening to the eMacCast just now (I've really got into podcasts over the last week or so - what can I say, I'm a late bloomer...) and they mentioned some good news for us over here on the stylish side of the Atlantic. Apparently the price of iPods has dropped recently. This got me thinking about the drop in Cinema Display prices also announced today. The UK Apple Store seemed to be lagging a little behind its US cousin earlier today, but its been updated now, which kind of destroys the point I was going to make about price discrepancies, but I think the point is still there to be made.

In the US Apple Store, the 20”, 23” and 30” Cinema Displays are $599, $899 and $1799 respectively. In the UK they are £399, £599 and £1199 (all including VAT). According to Yahoo Finance, the £/$ exchange rate is £1 = $1.9706. Even working with the tourist rate of £1 = $1.8821 and rounding it down a bit these UK prices equate to around $750, $1126 and $2254. Adjusting for VAT gives $638, $958 and $1918, which is still quite some difference. So maybe it isn’t only songs on iTunes which are overpriced over here.

Still no Beatles. Good.

Firstly, the idea that the Beatles would choose to appear on iTunes - at all, never mind exclusively - never made any sense to me. It always seemed more like wishfully thinking on the part of Apple fans. Don’t forget that it was only last year that Apple Corp and Apple Comp were slugging it out in court. I don’t think that there’s any love lost between the two companies. Right from the day Apple’s founders took the name of the Beatles’ company for their own this clash of egos was destined to happen. Apple Comp lost the first round but now look to have won the match. So unless it was part of their settlement, I don’t see the Beatles ever appearing on iTunes.

But this is a good thing. Too much success can lead to complacency. Steve Jobs may be a big Beatles fan but he’s an even bigger Steve Jobs fan. Apple needs to remember that things don’t always have to go their way, and it’s better this happens with a (relatively) small thing like this than with some major project (such as the iPhone). There is a certain arrogance about Apple’s actions which, if left unchecked, can only mean bad things for consumers.