The iPhone That Saved Christmas

Like many dads on Christmas Eve, I found myself out on an important, last minute, errand with the kids to give mommy time to wrap presents.  All was fine until we needed an emergency potty break on the ride home.  I pulled off and ran into the first restaurant we saw.  We made it to the potty just-in-time to avoid any accidents.

After we washed hands and put jackets, hats, gloves and boots back on (yes, my daughter can't go potty with her shoes on), I grabbed the door handle and SNAP.  The handle snapped off in my hand, locking us in.  I banged on the door for several minutes, but no one heard us.  Christmas was coming fast and the girls were not happy.

Finally, I reached for the "does everything, there's an App for that" technological wonder in my coat pocket: the iPhone.  Since I was in such a hurry, I didn't remember the name of the restaurant we in...not a problem.  I used Maps to get my location, then a local Google search to find the name and phone number of the restaurant.  I called the restaurant and told them I was trapped in the bathroom.  Within seconds someone can to rescue us.  Apparently, the restaurant was closing when we snuck in to use the bathroom, so there were only 2 people left doing the closing in the back room and hadn't heard us knocking.

Once again, the iPhone has proven itself as more than a great way to waste time, play a game or pick a baby name.  I'm just glad that I don't live in New York City, or I might have spent Christmas locked in bathroom.  At least, I would have been with family.

Proof: Product Placement is Everything

While doing a little late night grocery shopping, I couldn't help but get the feeling that I forgot to buy something else for taco night.  Awesome marketing for Meijer Antacid Tablets; brutal for the do-it-yourself Taco Bell gordita kit.

Ok, we bought the Gordita kit anyway. I sort of took the antacid tablets staring me in the face as dare.  We'll find out this Tuesday who is the winner.

"'Love you' doesn’t mean munchkins; 'love you' means big donuts."

-Ava, disappointed after my morning surprise didn’t quite meet her expectations

Throwing Out the First Toy

With three kids, its inevitable that toys will be damaged or outgrown. However, a strict catholic upbringing has precluded me from being able to throw anything away. Just ask my parents, whose basement is packed with boxes and boxes of my stuff that I just couldn't bring myself to toss. After all, some of those notebooks from 3rd grade are only half-used. I might be able to use them again later.

Fearing a cluttered basement of my own someday, I took a positive step forward and threw out a drawing table that was on its last leg. Sure, it still kind-of worked, and yes, I could have just tucked it in the back of the closet and probably forgot about it, but I fought my conscious and tossed it away.

Now I have to go to confession.

Other People's Children

The holiday season wouldn't be complete without all the accompanying parties.  Right now, I can count 7 parties that we will (or should) be attending over the next 3 weeks: Mom work, Dad work, kids daycare, neighborhood gift exchange, and 3 ill-timed birthday's.  When you have so many events stacked back to back, you start to recognize some reoccurring phenomenon that can't be explained simply by holiday cheer.

The series of events that led to this epiphany started at our daycare center holiday party.  We arrived late (as usual) and were seated near the back, but within plain sight of the desert table.  I guess I have to be thankful that my daughter's shoe, which had miraculously gone missing, ended up being found in the pots and pans drawer or I might have never witnessed what transpired.

The desert table was adorned with a delicious mix of cookies, cakes, pies and a modest collection of fruit.  As the night progressed and the children began to run around, I noticed one mother, who was notorious for not allowing her children to eat sugar, freely handing out cookies to any kid who happened to be within am arms reach.  At first, it didn't seem that out of place, that was until her child approached and asked for  a cookie; she handed him a plate of fruit.

Daddy, Daughter Review of Elf Command iPhone App

I'm completely resigned to the fact that my iPhone is no longer my iPhone. While I am charged with carrying it, I'm merely holding it for whichever of my kids wants to play on it. At 2 and 4 years old, my daughters have pretty much mastered it (much better than their grandmother). They can both unlock it, find their favorite apps, and launch them. Thanks to cover flow, they can even navigate through my iTunes library to find their favorite songs.

Lately, my 4-year old has become tired of the drawing and memory matching that have held her attention for so long and has taken an interest in games. It's actually quite difficult to find games that work for pre-kindergarten. They have to be simple, easy to play, and fun.

In the spirit of the season, we downloaded a new game Elf Command from Retro Dreamer. They are the creators of the popular Sneezies game. The premise of the game is simple: you help a robot elf sort presents for Santa.

A 4-Year Old's Review
Judging from the time amount of requests to "see" my iPhone, Elf Command is a big hit. She was able to pick up the concept as well as the gameplay very quickly. The only downside was that she felt bad if she didn't score high, because that meant the "some boys and girls might not get their present".

Dad's Review
In general I'm not a big iPhone gamer, nor a big gamer in general. I still have my original Nintendo hooked up in my den, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I enjoyed this game. It's an old-school game (both graphics and sound) that's simple and mildly addictive. Most importantly, it was great to have a game that I could enjoy playing with my daughter.

One thing that was a little frustrating for my daughter was the location of the pause button in the interface. It is easy to accidently hit it, pausing the game and launching a new screen. Even after many plays, she was hitting it quite often, and would end up closing the app and relaunching it. I've found that this is a common problem with many of the kids apps. It's too easy to exit the main screen or exit the app.

Wrap up
Elf Command is free, so it's a no-brainer to download and give it a try. Too bad it will be cleared off my our iPhone is a couple of weeks. Who knows, maybe there will be a Bunny Command for Easter.

Stork Drop Social Edition: A New Class of Apps

In the Beginning
On the first day, Steve created the iPhone...and everyone thought that was good.  He looked around and saw the iPhone had no companions, so he allowed native Apps. On the second day there was Paid apps, but the people said that was no good. On the third day there was Free apps, but but the developers said that was no good.  On the fourth day there was Lite apps, but everyone felt a little screwed.  On the fifth day there was Freemium apps, but no one is quite sure how that's going to work out.

Today, on the sixth day, there is Social, a new class of iPhone apps. On the seventh day, everyone has to shovel, because the Midwest just got a ton of snow dumped on it.

Stork Drop Social Edition
Today, BabyBinks is proud to announce their latest iPhone application, Stork Drop Social Edition.  This is a free version of their not-very popular, but highly rated baby naming application Stork Drop.  Stork Drop SE has all the features of the full Stork Drop app, with a limited database of names.  You might be thinking, that sounds just like a Lite version.  Yeah, it pretty much is...but with a social twist.

Being Social Has Its Benefits
We are also introducing a new class of apps: social.  Social apps allow you to unlock additional functionality by sharing via your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts.  When you download Stork Drop SE to your iPhone, you will have access to the name, meaning, and origin of the top 100 baby names of all time.  If you choose to sign-in to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, you will unlock 900 more names.  While signed in to either social networking service, your status will be automatically updated with your top 5 favorite baby names.

Of course, if you want access to almost 10,000 baby names you can always purchase the full version of Stork Drop.

It's Not a Marketing Secret; We Want You to Share
The biggest obstacle to success in the App Store is visibility.  Getting featured on the front page of the iTunes Store, either as a Favorite, Noteworthy, or in a Top 10 list increases your visibility.  Having websites or blogs review your app increases visibility.  Of course, getting this kind (or any) of visibility is difficult, especially for small, unknown developers.

So, with over 115,000 apps (and growing), how do you let people know about your product?  We decided to turn to social networking (my local news told me its all the rage).  By rewarding Stork Drop SE users to link their social networking, we enter in a mutually beneficial arrangement: users get more functionality; BabyBinks gets more visibility.

The Bottom Line
A Lite app allows customers to try before they buy.  A Social app allows customers to try before they buy...and tells the whole world about it.

The Holiday Spirit Overcomes the App Store Approval Process

I was originally reluctant to write about this, thinking that I had somehow won some undeserved sympathy from an App Store reviewer who had looked up my download numbers and took pity on me.  That I had somehow been give some of the 'white glove' treatment that some of the prominent developers are accustomed to.  I felt the warm, understanding embrace of the App Store and didn't want to share.  But in the continued climate of negative press about the App Store approval process (and in the Holiday spirit), I thought I would share my recent good experience.

No, Apple was not visited by three ghosts and did not show up on my porch with a fattened goose to celebrate the holidays.  They did not choose to place my app on the prominent front page of the App Store.  They did however approve my last update of Stork Drop despite using non-public APIs.

I was aware of the non-public APIs in my code, namely a text field in a UIAlertView, but it was just about the time that the automated rejections were just starting to show up. I submitted both a lite and paid versions using the same code base. The lite version was a first time submission, the paid version was an update.  Immediately after being "in review", the lite version was rejected.  The paid version remained "in review".

Precisely, 14 days after the original submission, I was surprised to see the "Your application is Ready for Sale" email in my inbox.  Even more surprising, was the "Application Submission Feedback" email that followed the next day.

What a great way to handle this, especially with the big shopping season coming up. I guess I was on the "nice" developer list and received an early Christmas present. Now, if I could only get on the front page of the App Store...but that would be "naughty" to ask.