Reading the Twitter and App.net reactions to the mostly positive reviews of the iPad mini today, I’m left with the impression that many people wanted $199 price point Retina display 10-hours of battery aluminum case, and all the fit and finish you expect from Apple And anyone who doesn’t criticize Apple for not having all of these is a shill. But design is about compromise, remember? There’s no physical way Apple could have kept its “legendary” battery life (Tim Cook’s word, not mine) with the…

There I sat, in my home office, two minutes after midnight, white 16GB iPad mini in my shopping cart on the Apple Online Store. One click away from preordering a new Apple product for the first time in years. But then I decided I would miss the hipsters in the Marina too much. So I went to bed. Yes, that means I’ll be in line again this coming Friday. Call me crazy, but at this point it’s just too entertaining. I am hoping there won’t be rain,…

I was really happy that I was able to learn enough Objective-C to make my own app, put it on the App Store, and see other people getting use out of it. The response has been great so far, and I’m planning lots of new improvements already. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there was one thing, visually, about the app that was bugging me. And that was the default Apple keypad. Not that I don’t think Apple’s keypad is a great design.…

Apple’s Favorite Strategy Game Is a Financial Disaster | Game|Life | Wired.com: “What Stewart doesn’t understand, he says, is why the game was only downloaded half a million times. Half a million people playing your game would be great news for any app developer. In the free-to-play world, it’s death. Stewart says he needs 3 million players to break even.” (Via. wired) Fascinating story about a freemium game that has been featured by Apple several times and is still a financial flop. As I said in my…

Dissecting the New AppStore – Adapt and Redesign your Shelf Space! | Mobile Evolution: “All said, the new AppStore design should be embraced as a big improvement and step in the right direction for both Discovery and an appealing Shelf Space design.” (Via. creativealgorithms) I’ve been highly critical of the changes in iOS 6’s App Store app. My friend Justine Pratt over at Creative Algorithms has written a comprehensive review of most of the changes and offers a much more positive perspective. Kudos to her for putting in the work…