Although the iPhone 4 has been on the market for over a year now it is still proving to be wildly successful, easily outselling the majority of its rivals on a like for like basis. Apple announced this month that in the three months from the start of April it shipped over 20 million iPhones across the globe, proving that this is one brand that is not going to be ousted from the top of the market in the near future.

It has also emerged in recent days that the fifth iPhone is likely to arrive at the start of September. Delays due to component shortages which were caused by the Japanese earthquake back in March have forced Apple to exchange its usual June launch for a new iPhone for a later date.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer was quoted as saying that while revenues dropped 12 per cent year on year in the third quarter of 2011 the firm is hoping that a new product launch in September will help it to recoup any lost income.

The reason for the drop-off was of course as a direct result of the iPhone 5 having its release date rescheduled . While Oppenheimer would not explicitly say that the firm`s revenue will increase in the autumn as a result of a new iPhone arriving, it is being seen as heavily implied by many in the media.

The iPhone 5 is likely to bring a handful of new features to the table when it eventually does launch, although few can agree on what precisely this might entail. A dual core processor is almost a cert given that rivals including the Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC Sensation already have dual core chips onboard. A larger four inch display is also being rumoured to be a key feature, bringing the Retina Display of the iPhone 4 onto a larger form factor.

There are counter-rumours which suggest that Apple might be launching an iPhone 4S this September, with only a few minor changes made over its predecessor, rather than completely reimagining the handset that has won them millions of sales.

Part of the inspiration behind this move might be problems with overheating processors which were rumoured in the last few days. Apple is not exactly in a rush to get the iPhone 5 to market given the continuing dominance of the iPhone 4. However, it is clear that the iPhone forms a key part of its revenue stream and that a real boost could be gained by launching a new handset on the same annual schedule as it has kept since the original arrived back in 2007.

Hi All,

Big news in the iPhone world today with Apple revealing the iPhone 4. As usually I am updating you all with the full conference as posted by the lovely people over at  live.gdgt.com

So without futher hesititation, here goes

10:01AM – Okay, that’s different — tons of applause coming from behind, and standing up. “What a Wonderful World” just came on the PA significantly louder than the other tracks.

10:01AM – The lights are going down, here we go! Steve’s up, huge applause.

10:01AM – Standing O — “It’s great to be here. Thank you.” Screams — we love you Steve! “Thanks. I think.” Read More

Hi All,

Thanks to the loverly people over at live.gdgt.com I bring to you the full break down on the latest iPhone OS, and may I say that it is absolutely amazing. Thank you Apple for listening to what people want
So without any more hesitation here is the full conference as posted on gdgt.com

10:03AM – Steve!

Read More

Hi All,

Now here is what I’ve been waiting for, Apple are having another talk on April the 8th, this time about OS 4.0. I will be trying to watch the talk via a live feed, if that isn’t possible I will post the conversation about 10-15 after it finished (or in sections during the talk) based on the live comentary from live.gdgt.com.

So what has currently been confirmed so far about OS 4.0, well, rumours about the Multitasking support seems to becoming more of a reality now which is great news. The thing that makes me wonder is how exactly will they enforce the quality of applications with multitasking. At present some apps take up a lot of memory and some even have pretty bad memory leaks. If these apps were allowed to run in the background, think of the effect on the iPhones performance in all the other areas. I personally think they are going to run more stringent tests with the App submissions if the app is going to support multitasking to ensure stability and performance.

My guess is that the multitasking support won’t be available to all apps unless approved by Apple (therefore all existing apps won’t be multitasking compatible). Along with the performance factors there is also the security issues of allowing apps to run in the background. One of the reasons why Apple didn’t include multitasking supports is due to the effect of malware and virus, such as bluetooth sniffers etc. This is why I think there will be more enforcement on application approvals (so possibly expect longer times getting apps approved).

I have also heard word of higher screen resolutions in the pipeline, not sure if this will be possible with the current iPhones on the market but definately for the next model (the 4g).

Hopefully OS 4.0 will see some improvements to the way Push notifications are handled to make them more user friendly. At the moment you have the issue of not being able to end calls if a notification is on screen and if you don’t respond to the notification with a set time (when your phone is locked) it doesn’t always seem open the application it is related to. Plus if you miss what a notification said, tuff, there isn’t anyway of viewing it again.

People are still hoping on a revamped interface (nice homescreen etc) and the one thing that I have seen mentioned around the place is the support for folders and grouping icons. This will make things much easier to manage and find (even if it does take a few extra second to navigation in a few folders, better than scrolling 8 screens )

Leave a comment if you’ve heard anything I’ve not mentioned or just say what you are hoping makes it in.

Anyway, let’s all get ready for the big chat on Thursday when all will be revealed

Hi All,

Apple have officially invited developers to start submitting their apps to the AppStore to have the reviewed in time grand opening of the iPad App Store  on the 3rd April.

If you want to get your app ready for the launch make sure you submit your app to Apple by the 5pm (PDT) on the 27th March or you will miss the launch date.

Here are the basic rules to ensure your app is ready for launch day.

• Build and test your app using the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5. You will not be able to submit your app if you use an earlier version of the Beta.
• Submit your app by 5pm (PDT) Saturday 27th March.
• If your app is selected for inital review you will recieve an email with more information about the final review.

So get testing if you want to hit the launch day, only 5 days to go.

*NOTE*    Make sure you submit your app early as you will probably only have access to the simulator, which will mean you won’t be able to hardware test, so prepare to fix bugs that may appear on the iPad version.

Hi All,

The latest iPhone/iPad SDK (version 3.2 beta 4) has added some nice new features to the XCode system. The latest feature sees the implementation of the ‘Validation Application’ function within the XCode Organiser that will run all the tests that Apple run when reviewing your application. This will allow you to run any tests for bug fixes before you submit your application.

Along with this comes the ability to share applications by converting the project into a .ipa file. This will allow you send a version to another user and all they have to do is double click the .ipa file to install the app using iTunes. The other user does need to have their device ID added to your development profile that signs the app or it won’t install.

3.2 will also see the implementation of the Submit Application feature that will allow you to submit your app to the App store from inside XCode. Now doesn’t this makes things a whole lot easier, no longer will you need to package your binary files. All you need to do, is select ‘Build and Archive’ from the XCode menu and the apple will be bundled into the Organiser for you, from here you can even chose to resign the app with your deployment profile if you built it using your development one.

Some nice features added there, definately makes life easier for me.
What do you think XCode is currently missing or would make your life easier?

Feel free to leave a comment
Matt

Hi All,

New rumours have emerged stating that the iPhone OS 4.0 (due for iPhones this summer) is set to allow multitasking; according to AppleInsider

The iPhone hardware already supports the ability of multitaskings, such as sending e-mails and SMS in the background and handling the phone system. The nike application also supports use in the background along with the obvious iPod functionality.

The reason why it has never been implemented so far is due to the security protocols set in place in the current OS. Background application support was never enabled to protect users for installing apps the could potentially install Malware and viruses onto the device (makes sense really).
Gizmodo states that the iPhone multitasking system may look similar to the expose system on Mac OSX. Personally I can’t quite see that happening due to the size of the screen on the iPhone, could work on the iPad mind (which is due for release on the 3rd April for you Apple users over the seas in the USA, over here in the UK we are set for a late April release). I reckon the iPhone version will look more similar to the simple ALT + Tab version or if they do go for the expose style, it will probably just display icons of the apps.

There is also talk of an improved gesture system (according to the SDK diggers out there) that will support long taps and 3 finger taps, however there is not word on the uses for these features. Not like the 3 finger tap is something new, it is already in place on the iPhone at the moment, just enable the zoom feature from the accessibility menu in settings.

What features are you hoping for in the new OS 4.0?

Leave a comment so we can get a little discussion going on

Matthew

Swapping between landscape and portrait views

In this tutorial we will be covering:

Creating an app that allows for iPhone rotation from side to side, as well as creating functions that take multiple arguments and writing a custom class, additionally we will be adding segments to our segmented control and making the various segments act differently based on which one is clicked.

Setting up for the rotation:

So, we have finished the first tutorial, but what now? Well, the one common thought would be to add landscape view mode into the application.

If you are wondering why someone would want to put their application into landscape view here are a few reasons:

• Wider screen
• Increased zoom without having to scroll horizontally
• Easier on the eyes (because most of the information on the screen will be larger than it was in portrait mode)

To start off working on this modification (yes, we are going to be modifying the previous program) we will need to butcher it a bit. This is because we did all the previous code within the AppDelegate class, which is really only meant to delegate the initial memory needed for the application then hand control over to another class. It also cleans up after the application has finished (by releasing the class that had control). Read More

Introduction to xCode and Objective-C

Requirements before starting this tutorial:

You need an Intel based Mac (most of the new ones are Intel based, so if you got it with say OS X you should probably be fine here)
Internet connection

Downloading xCode:

First off, go to http://www.developer…ne/index.action and log into your Apple ID. This will allow you to see the more link required to download the iPhone SDK and xCode bundle.
Once you have logged in scroll to the bottom of the page (you should once again be at the index.action page). Select the appropriate download for your Mac and wait for it to finish (this can take a little while, it is about 2.3 GB file for the Snow Leopard download.

Installing xCode:

This is a very simple step. Click on the iPhone SDK desktop icon, then the iPhone SDK and Tools for <Snow Leopard/ Leopard> and follow the onscreen instructions.

Finding xCode, and the other Development tools on your Mac:

This step seems like it would be very simple, but it took me a little while to figure it out (never mind that I had only owned a Mac for about an hour at this point in the process…). Click on the documents icon in the system tray, then say “Open in Finder”, once the window opens click on “Macintosh HD” under “Devices”, if you followed the standard install paths and options there should be a folder here labeled “Developer”, click on that to open and then open the “Applications” folder under that to find the tools we will be using to develop iPhone applications.

For the basis of this tutorial we will be using xCode only and programmatically creating our user interface (UI), this is not to say it is the most correct way of doing things, but I just prefer having all my control objects stored in the same place instead of having everything scattered across multiple files and having to get them working together. The other option is to build your UI in Interface Builder and then only place the code for functionality needed in your Objective-C files.

For the moment just fire up xCode.

Creating a new project: Read More

Hi All,

Time for another tutorial to show you how you can use an instance of a class to share data across multiple class files and instances. Think of it as a similar effect to using sessions in languages such as PHP or ASP.

The following system works by creating an instance of a class and passing the same instance to any class that requires use of the classes features. You can/probably will use this style for more advanced systems when you want only one instance. Good examples of this used on a larger scale is the Cocos2d system which uses a shared instance for handling the whole game framework.

So here goes:

The header file

The first file you will create will be the header file, for this example we are going to create temporary settings file for remembering details such as form variables (such as login names) or in game volume levels etc. (note this example is hypothetical and there are much better ways of saving settings information such as NSUserDefaults, this just makes for an easy to understand example) Read More