WWDC Concerns From An Indonesian iOS Developer

Apple opened its 23rd annual Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday by featuring what apparently is Siri’s latest ability, being a comedian. Siri cracked jokes ahead of Apple CEO’s Tim Cook’s appearance on stage, referring to many local characteristics such as finding 396 venture capitals for the thousands of developers currently attending the week-long event, and taking jabs at Facebook, Instagram and Samsung. This year’s WWDC sold out in 1 hour and 43 minutes.

Tim Cook announced that Apple has over 650 thousand apps in the App Store, 225 thousand of which are specifically for iPads. The App Store has 400 million accounts, most of which has credit card details attached to them which puts the App Store among the largest online stores in the world, perhaps even the largest. It has had 30 billion apps downloaded and it exists in 120 countries, with 32 more to open later this month. The company also announced its latest line of notebooks as well as revealed more details on the next major versions of OS X and iOS.

Among the thousands of developers attending the event, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone from Indonesia, although our guest blogger Zeddy Iskandar obviously was there. There are very few iOS developers in Indonesia, given that this is a BlackBerry country and most mobile developers also prefer to develop for Android, simply because they don’t use Macs, don’t want to buy Macs, or can’t afford one. It’s also home to many Nokia developers who are also happy to develop for Windows Phone. As a result, WWDC isn’t on the radar of most software developers in the country.

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Update Besar-Besaran dari Harpoen Jadikan Aplikasi Ini Lebih Bermanfaat

Beberapa hari yang lalu, Harpoen merilis update bersar-besaran dari aplikasi mereka. Dengan versi 1.1.0, aplikasi Harpoen, yang memberikan fasilitas bagi Anda untuk meninggalkan jejak ke mana pun Anda pergi, kini menjadi lebih sosial dan lebih berguna. Fitur yang paling banyak diminta telah ditambahkan yaitu untuk melihat ‘harps’ yang telah dibuat dan komentar yang ditinggalkan. Update terbaru ini menambahkan keduanya dan masih banyak hal lain lagi.

Dengan menghindari antar muka tab tradisional atau tampilan sidebar yang diperkenalkan oleh peramban Dolphin dan dipopulerkan oleh Facebook dan Path, Harpoen memlilih untuk mengubah fungsi ikon di bagian atas dari layanan mereka yang kini menampilkan menu yang lebih komprehensif dengan beberapa opsi, termasuk menu pengaturan yang lama.

Perubahan terbesar dari pembaruan ini adalah fasilitas untuk melihat berbagai ‘harp’ dalam beberapa cara. Trail akan menampilkan dua daftar, satu ada Interaction, yang menampilkan semua ‘harp’ yang Anda tinggalkan di berbagai lokasi serta komentar yang diberikan oleh orang lain. Daftar yang lain adalah Read, yang di dalamnya termasuk berbagai ‘harp’ yang telah Anda baca, komentar yang Anda berikan ke ‘harp’ orang lain, dan juga ‘harp’ yang telah Anda tinggalkan, karena tentu saja, Anda telah membacanya.

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Massive Update to Harpoen Makes the App More Useful

Harpoen today released a huge update on the App Store. The app that encourages you to leave your mark wherever you go has become more social and more useful with version 1.1.0. Some of the most popular feature requests had been a way to see all your harps and the comments that people have left on them. The latest update incorporates both and more.

Eschewing the traditional tabbed interface or the more recent sidebar introduced by the Dolphin browser and popularized by Facebook and Path, Harpoen chose to repurpose the icon once meant for its settings menu for something more. Tapping the ellipsis icon on the top of the screen now brings up a more comprehensive menu containing several options including the old settings menu.

The biggest change in this update is the ability to see harps in various lists. The Trail view houses two lists, one is Interaction, which lists all the harps you’ve left in various locations and the comments that people have left on them and the other is Read, which includes the harps you’ve read and commented on, and apparently includes your own as well, because obviously, you’ve read them yourself.

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Toresto Updates its iPhone app, Adding User Generated Content Feature

I thought Toresto was no longer maintained when I tried it in February. This website, which related to information on restaurants from iOS and Android platforms and developed by Gits Indonesia, was running for about a year. Errors were popping up everywhere.

To be honest, then it seemed like Toresto would follow in the footsteps of Tasterous – a similar application that even the website is no longer existed. Apparently, just the other when I idly peeked into this application, in between my browsing around the App Store, there is a new update by early April. Fortunately, there are those of care for Toresto and it now offers a new feature related to user generated content (UGC).

Now, user can add their own restaurant venue and write reviews about various dining places they visited. This is reasonable because curated content with a list of restaurants in a city will be a tough homework, especially for startup that does not have many employees.

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Update Aplikasi iPhone Toresto, Tambahkan Fitur User Generated Content

Saya pikir Toresto sudah tidak lagi diurus ketika mencobanya di bulan Februari lalu. Situs yang berkaitan dengan informasi restoran untuk platform iOS dan Android dan dikembangkan oleh Gits Indonesia ini usianya baru sekitar satu tahun. Error bermunculan di mana-mana.

Sejujurnya, saat itu nampaknya Toresto bakal mengikuti jejak Tasterous — aplikasi serupa yang bahkan sudah tidak ada lagi situsnya. Ternyata saat iseng mengintip aplikasi ini kemarin, di sela keisengan saya menjelajahi App Store, terdapat update baru per awal April ini. Toresto, untungnya, masih ada yang merawat dan menawarkan fitur baru yang berkaitan dengan user generated content (UGC).

Pengguna bisa saat ini bisa menambah sendiri venue restoran dan menuliskan review tentang berbagai tempat makan yang baru saja dikunjungi. Ini merupakan hal yang wajar karena curated content yang berisi daftar restoran di sebuah kota bakal menjadi pekerjaan rumah yang berat, apalagi untuk startup yang rata-rata tidak memiliki banyak pegawai.

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Aplikasi iOS dari Axis Sediakan Fasilitas Bagi Pengguna iPad untuk Lakukan Top Up Pulsa Secara Mudah

Mengingat ketergantungan pada aplikasi smartphone, cukup mengherankan jika sebagian besar perusahaan telekomunikasi mobile Indonesia belum memaksimalkan aplikasi sebagai sarana untuk berinteraksi dengan pelanggan mereka. Di sisi lain, jumlah pengguna smartphone mungkin belum mencapai jumlah yang dipertimbangkan oleh para telco/operator sebagai justifikasi untuk membuat aplikasi mobile bagi berbagai platform smartphone. Lagipula, sebagian besar pelanggan mobile masih menggunakan feature phone dan mereka sepertinya cukup puas dengan berbagai cara yang ada (SMS, call center) untuk mengakses berbagai fitur dan layanan yang ditawarkan oleh telco.

Satu operator mobile yang mencoba memberikan layanan lewat aplikasi adalah Axis. Meski mereka bukan operator resmi iPhone, baru-baru ini Axis meluncurkan aplikasi iPhone bagi konsumen mereka yang memungkinkan penggunanya untuk menjalankan fungsi utama yang berkaitan dengan pembelian layanan paket data. Aplikasi ini memungkinkan pelanggan untuk melihat detail akun mereka, melakukan top up pulsa, membeli paket data serta melakukan transfer pulsa.

Ketika pertama kali menjalankan aplikasi ini, Anda akan diminta untuk membuat akun yang membutuhkan nomor telepon Anda, nama, alamat email serta password. Setelah mengatur akun, Anda bisa menjelajahi aplikasi tersebut.

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Axis iOS App Lets iPad Users Top Up Prepaid Credits Easily

Given the reliance of smartphones on applications, it’s a wonder that most Indonesian mobile telco companies have yet to embrace apps as their means of interaction with their subscriber base. On the other hand, the number of smartphone users may not have reached whatever threshold considered by the telcos to justify creating mobile apps for different smartphone platforms. After all, most mobile subscribers are still on feature phones and they seem satisfied enough with the existing ways (SMS, call center) to access the features and services offered by the telcos.

One mobile operator that has defied this possible way of thinking is Axis. Despite not being an official iPhone carrier, the company recently released a an iPhone app for its customers which allows them to primarily perform functions related to purchasing data service packages. The app lets subscribers to check their account details, top up prepaid credits, purchase data plans, and transfer credit balance.

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Bubbly Comes to iPhone Users in Indonesia

Voice blogging service provider from Singapore, Bubble Motion, brings convenience to Bubby users in Indonesia. Bubbly application for iPhone is now available and can be downloaded for free. Bubbly is already used by 15 million people throughout Asia, including celebrities. In Indonesia, Bubble Motion has been working with XL Axiata to bring XL Cuap.

What can we do with this Bubbly application? We can share our recorded voice to the Internet and share all of our emotions and feelings there. These recordings can be accessed anytime and anywhere. With iPhone application, all of this becomes much easier. There is also premium content, where you can access contents by celebrities from. As expressed through its press release, there are a number of celebrities using Bubbly. They are Nidji, D’Masiv, Pee Wee Gaskins, Geisha and Vierra.

Apart from Indonesia, the application is also available at the same time in the Philippines. Previously, Bubbly application has been made available in various countries in Asia including India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Bubble Motion is also planning to make it available globally this year.

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Which iPhone Distributor is TiPhone Looking to Acquire??

This past week, much of the discussion in the local tech scene had been about the expansion of Tiphone (TELE) which, following its IPO, plans to acquire 3 companies. Of the three companies, there is heavy speculation on its plans to acquire an Apple product distributor. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2012, pending the completion of the financial auditor’s report, but the company’s name remains secret. TELE, owned by flamboyant businessman Hengky Setiawan, will spend between US$10 million to US$40 million for this acquisition.

Many people are saying that perhaps the biggest distributor that is said to be acquired is iBox which indeed is the largest Apple Premium Reseller in Indonesia today (actually it’s not – Ed). Nevertheless, without any insider information, I would say (and speculate) that the one that will be acquired is not iBox. Why would I say that?

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Tinggalkan Jejak Digital di Seluruh Penjuru Kota dengan Harpoen

Jakarta kedatangan aplikasi iPhone baru yang bernama Harpoen. Aplikasi apa ini dan mengapa penting untuk di bahas? Harpoen menyediakan layanan bagi Anda untuk meninggalkan catatan, foto, tanda, komentar di seluruh kota, secara virtual. Aplikasi digital graffiti ini memungkinkan Anda untuk menempatkan apa yang disebut “harps” di seluruh kota dan bisa diatur apakah akan permanen atau sementara, Anda bisa melakukan pengaturan agar harps ini bisa hilang dalam beberapa waktu yang telah ditentukan.

Saya telah mencoba aplikasi ini dan sejauh ini saya bisa menemukan hal baru serta fungsi potensial dari aplikasi ini. Harpoen bisa berfungsi sebagai papan pengumuman publik atau sebagai papan yang berfungsi untuk mencari koneksi yang hilang dimana orang akan meninggalkan pesan untuk ditemukan oleh lain berkunjung di tempat yang sama.

Lucunya, aplikasi ini mengingatkan saya akan toilet graffiti dimana orang meninggalkan berbagai macam pesan di dinding toilet. Dengan aplikasi ini, Anda bisa meninggalkan catatan dimanapun di kota Anda, dan apabila Anda memiliki artwork yang tersimpan di aplikasi foto Anda, ini juga bisa diperlihatkan pada pengguna lain, asalkan orang lain juga menggunakan aplikasi Harpoen. Saya telah melihat orang meninggalkan tautan ke video di YouTube atau rekaman di SoundCloud dan cukup menarik untuk melihat berbagai hal yang disebarkan di sekitar Anda.

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