Mobile Evolution - Thoughts, insight, and experiences related to the mobile software industry

Date Wheel is not your usual date calculator. While it may have been said that "anyone can write a date calculator," not everyone can write a GOOD one, and we like to think ours is the best. Date Wheel has won awards in the past and has been recently nominated in the 2009 Best App Ever Awards, sponsored by 148apps, in the category of "Best Time Management". This post was inspired by Dan Grigsby's challenge over at Mobile Orchard and will spell out some key features and design insight in an award-winning app that has celebrated a decade in existence. Read on to see if you agree and, if so, please nominate us by Dec. 31, 2009, and/or vote for us in January if we make the cut. Thanks!

We put a lot of thought into the aesthetics for our iPhone app, Serving Sizer recipe converter. We wanted the app to follow Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, but also set itself apart by polishing the basics to an appealing, graphically designed user interface. Right now Serving Sizer recipe converter has been nominated in the 2009 Best App Ever Awards in the category of "Best Visual Design." Let me take a little time to give insight into our design process in this post and perhaps you'll add your nomination as well (deadline Dec. 31, 2009) and then vote for us in January, if we make the cut.

We're thrilled that the The iPhone Mom recently reviewed Serving Sizer and she loves it: "...I must say that it is a TERRRIFIC tool for moms." She cites that she found it "extremely easy to use" and it eliminates the need to worry about frustrating fractions. "For me converting recipes usually involves fractions and counting on my fingers and lots of frustration. I am thrilled to have an app that’s smarter than me and is going to eliminate that frustration."

Full review is here.

Thanks iPhone Mom!

When you are new to a platform, sometimes things take some time to learn. I find out a lot of things via Twitter (I follow a lot of iPhone and other mobile devs), plus by reading developer blogs and following recommended links. Today I learned something very valuable and rather than "tweet" about it, I decided to start adding short "tips" to our blog, so there's an easier way to find and record them for future reference.

So without further ado, today's tip covers reviews:

Yes, the AppStore review system is archaic and out of our control. Yes, the discoverability is frustrating and when the store breaks, we're out of luck. But would you really want to go back to the 'old way' of distributing mobile software? Let's look at what the AppStore fixed in terms of mobile software distribution.

Getting one new app noticed in a sea of 100,000 apps is impossible. However, each app gets one (guaranteed?) opportunity to gain a certain sales momentum through exposure on the by Release Date (aka new releases) list. If you're in a competitive category, your app may get a few days on the front page, or perhaps your app gets nearly a week. Either way, without this jumpstart, your app is destined to only garner a few sales. However, the Release Date lists are now broken--many apps appearing on the list have 2008 release dates (some are outdated releases for 2.0 only--not even updated for 3.0 software update for the iPhone and iPod Touch). If this problem is not fixed soon, ALL apps released in this current timeframe will be DOA. Our Serving Sizer Recipe Converter app falls under this predicament! Our first day of sales can be counted on one hand, instead of 10x that amount for a partial first day of sales.

We're pleased to announce that our Serving Sizer Recipe Converter app is now available on the AppStore!

With Serving Sizer you can convert any recipe ingredient from one serving size to another. Great for scaling for crowds, or down-sizing for 1-2 person meals. Units are both in Imperial and Metric, so you can convert from European to US recipes in a snap as well!

More details in our previous post. Enjoy!

During design of our Date Wheel and Serving Sizer iPhone apps, we wanted to include an "about" page with information and links for contacting us, sharing our apps, and upselling. We considered several options, but found using html to this end was the best solution for us. Since it worked well, we thought we'd share the method. This post will describe the steps necessary to create an html "about" page.

To make an html "about" page with Interface Builder, you need to:

Add a View Controller for the "about" page to your project. Then, change the class name from UIViewController to something like AboutPageViewController. Next, add a Web View to the View Controller:

Serving Sizer recipe converter has been 'ported to iPhone. We recently submitted it to the AppStore for approval.

Serving Sizer scales recipes by serving size--enter recipe's serving size and the new number of servings and this cooking calculator will handle all the fraction math for you. Some examples:

• Your favorite recipe serves 4, but you have a family of 5--use Serving Sizer to convert ingredients to your needs.
• Holiday dinners are around the corner and the guest list is for 14. You want to make your favorite corn pudding, but the serving size is 6. This app will do the math so you make enough for everyone.
• Dinner for 1 tonight, but you don't want 3 days of leftovers. Convert that 4 serving recipe to a 1-person meal.
• You're catering a big event for 100. You have an 8 serving recipe to increase for a crowd. The app will help calculate the right amounts to buy and make.
• Sure, anyone can double a recipe from 4 to 8 servings, but what if you have 10 people coming and don't want to run out of meat? Serving Sizer will tell you how many pounds of meat to buy for your dinner party.
• Got a cookbook you bought in Europe, but the recipes are all in metric? Serving Sizer can help here too--all calculations are displayed in both Imperial and Metric units. Converting to and from metric and imperial units requires no additional steps. Just tap on "original" serving size and you'll see amounts in both ml and cups.

Here's some screenshot teasers for you:

Date Wheel 1.1.0 update is now live on the AppStore today. The update increases the number of calculations you can save, adds accessibility for visually impaired, plus includes optimization.