This past weekend several Organics
attended the NYC iPhone Dev Camp at Brooklyn Polytechnic University to share their views,
questions, and experiences with development on this exciting new platform.

I was able to attend two sessions,
one on user experience/interaction design and the other on business models. Most
agree that the UI conventions employed on the device are well thought out and
user-friendly, but there’s a lot to consider when designing an iPhone app
and there are still some areas where there is room for improvement. UX designers
will want to think carefully about balancing the intuitive standards they need
with some unique elements that differentiate and improve on the core app set.

The interface builder emerged
as a hot topic for its promise of WYSIWYG development for the non-coder.
Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near ready.  

There are still a lot of unanswered
questions about Apple’s app store. There is also a great deal of enthusiasm
about its potential to improve the mobile app economy. Most developers seemed to
like the idea of iTunes for apps. In particular, developers seem to like the
idea of setting their own prices. If the opinions of the Dev Camp discussion’s
participants prove an accurate gauge, we can expect to see most apps released at
somewhere between free and $15 dollars.

Dan
Neumann