[Merged] Interest in an iPhone or iPad App for MacRumors.com

[iSpaghettiCat]

I was kinda caught off guard when I saw in AppSniper, but then I saw the developer name and I was like ehh.

But they are promising In-App Reading for the front page stories and forum browsing, which I'm looking forward to that. Unless it's just the iPhone format theme of the forum.

 

[diesel]

well Arn might want to take a second look at that app, because based on the one screenshot of the app, it looks as if the dev has advertising up top that i'm sure he's hoping to make money off of. Not sure if making money off of another person's site content is............exactly legal?

 

[hitekalex]

Not sure if making money off of another person's site content is............exactly legal?

Pretty sure it's not illegal.. Just look at the various Craigslist browsing apps in the App Store.

 

[sniffies]

That app is absolutely atrocious as far as these things are concerned: UI, usefulness, features, icon, etc. etc. etc.

 

[adomanico18]

well Arn might want to take a second look at that app, because based on the one screenshot of the app, it looks as if the dev has advertising up top that i'm sure he's hoping to make money off of. Not sure if making money off of another person's site content is............exactly legal?

I am the developer for this app and I checked with the site admin before proceeding with any development. They did not mind as long as I didn't use their site logo and the app was FREE.

 

[EarthDawn]

I am the developer for this app and I checked with the site admin before proceeding with any development. They did not mind as long as I didn't use their site logo and the app was FREE.

Well i just downloaded it and i like it !

Nice and clean and simple and loads fast.

Glad to hear you got permission and did it the right way.

Nice job in my book

 

[adomanico18]

Well i just downloaded it and i like it !

Nice and clean and simple and loads fast.

Glad to hear you got permission and did it the right way.

Nice job in my book

Thanks. Its nice to see that some people appreciate others hard work. I was going for the simple and streamlined approach.

 

[arn]

no. it's not associated with the site.

arn

 

[braddick]

Nine reviews with a single star average.

 

[dthmtlgod]

Thanks. Its nice to see that some people appreciate others hard work. I was going for the simple and streamlined approach.

Does the job.

Would like to see the whole thing open up in the mobile version instead of the ful version.

 

[-aggie-]

Considering we offered to make a full app that would allow you to browse the forums and post, search, etc, and never even got a response from Arn, I highly doubt it.

This is what I would expect the app to do. Anything less, forget it.

it says Rodgers in the iTuenes store for the screenshots, and as far as I know, Arn lives in the US.(?)

You can only obtain that knowledge after reaching the 33rd degree.

Does the job.

Would like to see the whole thing open up in the mobile version instead of the ful version.

Does the job? It just opens up webpages of stories from what I can tell.

 

[TwoBytes]

something like TUAW?

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=325711945&mt=8

saving and caching the days articles would be great!
push notifications for new stories would be amazing!

i've really wanted some sort of news story subscription to my mail account so i can get it pushed to my mobileme. A simple forum adjustment is easy to do which i've posted about previously

 

[redgaz26]

no. it's not associated with the site.

arn

why let them use the sites name????
this may confuse people, and apart from that its awful

 

[techfreak85]

why let them use the sites name????
this may confuse people, and apart from that its awful

I dont think there was any "letting".

 

[ziggyonice]

Any updates on the status of the app?

Looking forward to its release!

 

[Saladinos]

Update

 

[redgaz26]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Looks really nice, any idea when it's coming out??

 

[ziggyonice]

Update

Excellent work! Glad to hear it's still on its way!

 

[RedTomato]

Submit it now!!!

Any bugs can be tweaked in updates. You'll get useful feedback on formatting and layout.

What's the holdup at the moment?

 

[Saladinos]

Submit it now!!!

Any bugs can be tweaked in updates. You'll get useful feedback on formatting and layout.

What's the holdup at the moment?

Some things still to do. Also, since I'd imagine quite a lot of this site's users have an iPhone/iPod touch, this will be quite a popular way of accessing the site. That means it has to be very well tested before release. Also, I'd imagine the site's owners will want me to incorporate advertising, so I'll have to speak to arn about adding in the site's AdMob account or whatever other advertising he wants in.

I'll be PMing around for some AdHoc testers from the staff (mods, demigods..etc) soon for that feedback. It's been quite difficult to come up with a nice UI whilst retaining the MacRumours colours and general feel (I mean, we all love the site, but it's not exactly on the cutting edge of design).

 

[jaysen]

glad to see sites are dedicating their efforts into making apps for different platforms... (i.e. engadget) - Now lets see one for Android

 

[-Ryan-]

Looks really good. Can't wait to play around with it!

 

[Mindzi]

Some things still to do. Also, since I'd imagine quite a lot of this site's users have an iPhone/iPod touch, this will be quite a popular way of accessing the site. That means it has to be very well tested before release. Also, I'd imagine the site's owners will want me to incorporate advertising, so I'll have to speak to arn about adding in the site's AdMob account or whatever other advertising he wants in.

I'll be PMing around for some AdHoc testers from the staff (mods, demigods..etc) soon for that feedback. It's been quite difficult to come up with a nice UI whilst retaining the MacRumours colours and general feel (I mean, we all love the site, but it's not exactly on the cutting edge of design).

Well, compared to other sites (appleinsider, tuaw, 9to5mac) the MacRumors site is clean and pretty. That's one reason why I like MacRumors more than its competitors.

As far as I'm concerned I wouldn't mind paying for the app. If you choose the free version, please make sure to implement the ads in an acceptable way. The New York Times would be a good example. I absolutely hate the following AdMob ads:

I would rather have no app at all than an app with these AdMob ads.

The two screenshots look really neat. Only thing I don't like so much is the background color (that kind of beige) and the frame around the pictures. The tab with the "News" back button could be filled up with something (for example simply "MacRumors" in text, a save button, refresh button, move an article forward/backward buttons or something similar). I think it's important to have a good looking entry page where the news are listed. I didn't like the main page you posted some months ago:

With that kind of design, it looks more like the app store rather than a news app.

Push notifications would be high on my wish list, although this would probably mean a paid app?

Anyway to sum it up: I really would love a MacRumors iPhone app and liked the two screenshots you posted.

 

[Saladinos]

Well, that shot really is quite old. It's using lighter colours now. It's still a list of text, because MacRumors articles aren't guaranteed to have images (and usually don't), and there isn't really any more information I can display on that screen. Articles which are available offline are going to get some sort of indicator there, as are new articles.

That said, I'm not a designer. This is a design that I've come up with, but no doubt the feedback I get will make me change some of it.

I've been looking at the AdMob terms, trying to find ways to better integrate ads. I really don't want to spoil the app with intrusive ads, so I'll do my best to make them as tastefully integrated as possible.

Push notifications are not expensive and could be integrated in to a future version of the app.

We also still need to figure out what to do for liveblogging. Currently, offline caching will make it a little dull.

Glad you like the look of the app so far! Thanks for the support everyone!

 

[RedTomato]

I also like the clean look of MR - that's partly what drew me here.

I've been looking at the AdMob terms, trying to find ways to better integrate ads. I really don't want to spoil the app with intrusive ads, so I'll do my best to make them as tastefully integrated as possible.

I couldn't see the screenshot of the 'intrusive' ads, but I really don't like the type of ads that hang around at the bottom or the top of the screen while I'm trying to read content. Screen space is tight enough as it is.

I would be happy to pay $.99 or even $1.50 for an app with no ads, or at least with no ads while I'm reading the front page or other pages. That's a one-off cost, wheras ads next to content get more annoying over time.

I don't know much about iPhone app support costs, but from what you said, you implied there is some sort of ongoing cost for sending content / updates to the app? Does that mean there's no cheapish way to have a totally ad-free version?