Iron Ink Media: Inked Up

Apple had rejected James Montgomerie’s eBook app Eucalyptus recently due to its ability to access “objectionable” content. Namely, there is a Kama Sutra book that you can check out on there. Well Montgomerie announced on his blog today that Apple has changed their minds.

Earlier today I received a phone call from an Apple representative. He was very complimentary about Eucalyptus. We talked about the confusion surrounding its App Store rejections, which I am happy to say is now fully resolved. He invited me to re-build and submit a version of Eucalyptus with no filters for immediate approval, and that full version is now available on the iPhone App Store.

We don’t get the whole “objectionable” content thing. Go into Safari on your iPhone and type in your favorite porn site. It comes up. There is “objectionable” content all over the web and you can see it on your iPhone. So why so strict with the apps? It’s easier for a kid to go on their iPhone and get a hold of porn than it is for them to do it on the family computer, which probably has kid blockers and crap like that all over it. If Apple would just address the “objectionable” apps and put age restrictions on certain app downloads they could solve the whole conundrum.

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard that the newest cell phone to take on the iPhone is the Palm Pre. We went to our exclusive cell phone source to find out more. And by exclusive source, I mean the official website.

The new Palm Pre will be available June 6, just two days before the start of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference where the newest iPhone will likely debut. Pre will use the Sprint network, and will be comparatively priced at $199… that is if you sign a new two-year contract and turn in your rebate. You know Sprint is banking on the fact that most people (like me) either forget about, or screw up, their rebate forms. However, Best Buy is offering to instantly rebate customers the $100. Smart move.

Now for the phone details:
– 3.1-inch touch screen with 24-bit color 320×480 resolution
– Physical QWERTY keyboard
– Microsoft Outlook
– Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
– Built-in GPS
– 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
– MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV compatable
– Supports WiFi and Bluetooth
– 8GB memory
– Width: 2.3 inches, Height: 3.9 inches, Thickness: 0.67 inches
– Weight: 4.76 ounces

People were already getting heated about the app store approval process, but add in a little religion and watch out! The latest idea that didn’t make the cut is “Me So Holy.” PC World explains,

Developed by Benjamin Kahle, the Me So Holy app allows users to snap a mugshot with their iPhone camera and then crop and scale it to replace the face on various religious figures, including Jesus. Khale says that Apple rejected his app because it contains objectionable material.

Kahle’s question, “is religion really to be placed in the same category as these violent apps? Sex, urine, and defecation don’t seem to be off-limits, yet a totally non-violent, religion-based app is.”

Heck, even the baby shaker app was approved for a bit until too many groups complained publicly. The saga continues.

I have to be honest… I had no clue what a Slingbox did until I wrote this post. So I went to the definitive source for all information. Wikipedia. For those of you who are just as clueless as I was:

“The Slingbox is a TV streaming device that enables users to remotely view their home’s cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (PVR) programming from an Internet-enabled computer with a broadband Internet connection.”

Now for the “why do I give a damn?” part. Slingbox is now available on the iPhone. If you have a Slingbox at home (standard definition retails for around $180), you can shell out another $30 for the iPhone app and watch TV on your phone. The cool part is you can watch the shows you have on your home DVR. The crappy part is you have to be on WiFi to do it. AT&T will not allow users to stream shows on the app on 3G. They pulled the network congestion card, just like they did with Skype.

We’ve spent a lot of time complaining about the app store approval process. But after reading about this case on TechCrunch, we can’t point the finger in that direction. Kuan Yong created a Twitter app (do we really need another?) called Tweetspotter but received a notice saying:

Hello Kuan,

Your application, TweetSpotter, cannot be posted to the App Store at this time because it does not achieve the core functionality described in your marketing materials, or release notes. Applications must adhere to the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines as outlined in iPhone SDK Agreement section 3.3.5.

The user could not sign in with the demo account provided, please see the attached screenshot. In addition, though multiple Twitter accounts were used, the user still could not sign in. This review was conducted on iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 5.

In order for your application to be reconsidered for the App Store, please resolve this issue and upload your new binary to iTunes Connect.

Should you require more assistance with resolving this issue, Apple Developer Technical Support is available to provide direct one-on-one support for discrete code-level questions. Please be sure to include any crash logs, screenshots or steps to reproduce this issue in your request.

It turns out the coding was fine, but Twitter was down for a scheduled maintenance so no one could sign in. With the number of apps that have to go through the approval process, we don’t blame the reviewer for not knowing Twitter was down. The developer should have thought about that in advance, and if you’re submitting an app you should too. And, as a savvy TC fan commented, the app should have had a more specific error message signaling Twitter was off-line.

How do we know this? Simple! The Wall St. Journal says so! And that’s all the proof we need! Why are we yelling?!

At the most basic, marketers are taking advantage of the iPhone’s advanced video and screen capabilities by creating streaming video ads. But some are taking things further by offering ads disguised as apps. The latter allow users to do such things as play games or manipulate images by touching the phone’s screen.

CKE Restaurants Inc., based in Carpinteria, Calif., recently tried iPhone advertising. To promote the Western Bacon Thickburger at its Hardee’s fast-food chain last month, CKE launched an iPhone application called iBurger.

People who download iBurger can tap on the iPhone’s screen to open a Hardee’s box containing a burger photo. They can also take “bites” out of the burger by making lipsmacking sounds into their device’s microphone.

Steve Lemley, CKE’s vice president of media and field marketing, says he thought of the iPhone as a new way to target 18- to 34-year-old men who “are difficult to reach on television but spend a lot of time on gadgetry.” He adds that it is too early to gauge the effectiveness of the ad, which was launched April 27.

“A lot of the [ad] agencies and advertisers who were on the sidelines last year are excited about the iPhone realizing the promise of mobile phones,” says Jason Spero, vice president of the mobile-advertising network AdMob Inc. The San Mateo, Calif., company predicts mobile advertising will rise sharply this year, driven mostly by ads on the iPhone.

Industry executives estimate that the iPhone could help push overall mobile ad-spending this year to as much as $200 million, excluding search ads and ads sent via text messages. That would be nearly double last year’s $100 million.

The bottom line is that if something is popular then advertisers will find a way to get to you with it. And the iPhone is popular. Hence, they’ll find a way to gob it up with ads. Awesome!

What won’t these new iPhones have? Now, it looks like the next-gen iPhones will come complete with a magnetometer, which will allow the user to know which direction he or she is facing. This addition will also allow for turn-by-turn directions and work in tandem with the phone’s GPS.

Apple is currently working on a new iPhone for A-Rod and Manny Ramirez, where this function will give them turn-by-turn directions to the nearest box of steroids.

It looks like Apple finally caved. We knew if anyone could turn up the heat, it would be Trent Reznor.

Reznor’s NIN iPhone app was recently rejected, and he was not happy about the vague reason Apple gave. After expressing publicly how he felt, via the NIN message board, Apple reconsidered. The tech-savvy Reznor announced the approval via Twitter:

@trent_reznor: NEWS FLASH: Apple has approved the NIN iPhone app update. Should be live in a few hours.

@trent_reznor: The NIN iPhone app is unchanged, the “issues” seem to have been resolved.

Epson has joined the “print from your mobile device” party with an iPhone app that….well, let’s you print from you iPhone. The big problem? It’s $6.99!! Who in the hell is going to pay that? Why not just get HP’s free app and print to your nearest HP? Doesn’t make sense to us. Here is the press release:

Press release:
PRINT TO ANY EPSON PRINTER FROM AN iPHONE

May 4, 2009 – Printing on an Epson printer from an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch is now possible using the new EuroSmartz, Ltd. Print & Share app that lets users print photos, business documents, PDF files, Web pages, e-mail, and more.

“Smart phones, especially the iPhone, are increasingly being used in place of laptops,” said Steve Semos, product manager, consumer ink jets, Epson America, Inc. “As an iPhone user, I can print PDF files, business documents and brilliant photos stored on, or taken by my iPhone to my Epson Artisan 800 printer or any other Epson printer. Epson recognizes the need for mobile printing and is pleased to see that the Print & Share app makes printing available to all iPhone and iPod Touch users.”

The Epson Artisan 800 and Artisan 700 are ideal for printing photos and documents from the iPhone through a wireless network. Print & Share lets users print information from their iPhone or iPod Touch to a printer connected to a computer, via a network or through a USB connection. Smart phone printing to an Epson home or office printer is now a reality with the Print & Share app, available for $6.99 at the iTunes App Store.

“Epson is an internationally celebrated brand known for superior print quality, particularly when it comes to photo printing,” said Ian Schenkel, co-founder, EuroSmartz, Ltd. “We’re pleased that Epson finds value in our Print & Share app for iPhone users around the world.”

SOURCE Epson America Inc.

This makes me smile. Wired is reporting that Nine Inch Nails front man and creative entrepreneur Trent Reznor created an iPhone app that Apple rejected. Reznor, not known for being shy and politically correct, let Apple know he was pissed by posting on the NIN message board. He feels his app was rejected because a song you could stream through the app contained one curse word. Here are some (non kid-friendly) snippets of his post that Wired has put together:

“‘The Downward Spiral,’ the album, is not available anywhere in the iPhone app,” wrote Reznor. “The song ‘The Downward Spiral’ I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app,” he continued. “Thanks, Apple, for the clear description of the problem — as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid fucking standards?”

“You can buy ‘The Downward Fucking Spiral’ on iTunes,” he continued, “but you can’t allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it … Hey Apple, I just got some spam about fucking hot Asian teens through your e-mail program. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone! Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck’s sake get your app approval scenario together.”

We’ve reported in the past that Apple’s approval process can be confusing, and that developers are demanding better explanations of why their apps are rejected so they can fix them. It’s only a matter of time until this situation boils over, and Trent Reznor could be the one person who can blow the lid off.

Trent Reznor is bummed out about the Apple approval process