Monthly Archives: June 2009

Clipstart for iPhone?

You know it has been a good conference when you come back inspired, with ideas and tools to build new things. No surprise that WWDC was like that for me, as it is pretty much every year.

Even before the keynote was over I was getting questions — which continued all week — about whether I had iPhone plans. At the very least, Clipstart 1.1 needs to be able to import videos off of the 3GS. “That’s in beta now”:http://www.riverfold.com/forums/topic.php?id=26. But what about a native phone app?

I’ve convinced myself over the last couple weeks, after listening to what people are doing with their phones and evaluating the existing applications in the App Store, that Clipstart for iPhone would be a very useful app. Video on the 3GS is a big deal. Eventually I can see a new top-level Video category in the App Store, and whoever is in that list is going to do very well.

“Neven Mrgan”:http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/124025728/wwdc-2009 sums up the urgency:

“I’m sure Phil Schiller’s prediction of iPhone 3GS quickly becoming the most popular video-capable phone — if not the most popular consumer video device period — is right on the money. A message for those working on apps that help us shoot, edit, organize, and share quick, casual video clips: get ready to get busy.”

I’ll admit that after WWDC I panicked, thinking for a moment that I had to deliver Clipstart for iPhone immediately, and drop everything I’m doing to make that happen. I no longer believe that. The Mac version of Clipstart has a lot of potential and I can’t get too distracted from following up on that. But at the same time I will be expanding what I do on the phone, so we’ll see where that goes.

FastScripts 2.4

What I like most about the “FastScripts 2.4 release”:http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/823/fastscripts-2-4 is that Daniel was willing to completely change the product evaluation terms to give new life to the product and get it out to more users.

“I have been thinking for some time of eliminating FastScripts Lite. Customers found it confusing to differentiate between the versions, and I found it tedious to artificially maintain two versions. With the new, liberal evaluation terms in FastScripts 2.4, all of the old Lite functionality and much more is now included for free in the full version.

It’s always a risk to make a pricing or demo limit change. Whether accurate or not, I imagine the financial side of product development as a delicate tower of blocks, where the slightest change could cause your whole sales structure to come crashing down. For that reason I tend to not touch anything if it is working, but I recognize that I am probably holding my business back at the same time by not being more flexible.

Rogue Amoeba at Macworld

“Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba”:http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/2009/06/04/the-future-of-macworld/ on exhibiting at Macworld 2010:

“I’m delighted to be able to plant a flag and say that in 2010, Rogue Amoeba will again be exhibiting at Macworld. We still believe in Macworld and all that it provides. We believe it’s relevant, useful, and worth having. We believe that meeting new customers, talking to existing ones, and sharing a great time with all manner of Mac friends, is still worth doing.”

I like companies that make decisions based not just on spreadsheet numbers, but on belief and instinct too. It’s a shame Apple didn’t show more of that when weighing whether to continue exhibiting at Macworld. Because Rogue Amoeba doesn’t sell on the show floor, the conference has to be less about directly recouping costs and more about connecting with customers and building goodwill and name recognition. See also “Should I Exhibit At Macworld”:http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/2007/01/16/should-i-exhibit-at-macworld-part-1-costs/, from Paul Kafasis in 2007.

I haven’t attended or exhibited at a Macworld since the late 90s, and every year I miss it.