Rumours of new iPhone in development

An iPhone app for patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Photo / supplied.

Although the actual facts of any reception issues with iPhone 4 are still unclear, Apple's iPhone 4 sales seem hardly affected (it's still pretty hard to actually get an iPhone 4 here in New Zealand).

But there are already rumours of a new iPhone model being sped through internal development channels to address the issue - or maybe just to address the perception that there is an issue.

Either or, it's clear Apple is taking the whole thing seriously, at least behind the scenes. Mark Papermaster, who headed the hardware division responsible for iPhone 4, has just left Apple - or been asked to leave, depending on which source you believe.

Papermaster's exit was reported by the New York Times.

Local app developers

New Zealand app developers are really getting into gear these days.

Moa Creative has developed an app called 3News that puts New Zealand's TV3 News on your iPhone. It delivers the latest news, Campbell Live, 60 Minutes and The Nation in good quality video.

You can sync the app using 3G or over WiFi networks - and it includes the latest news and sports plus featured video from TV3's flagship programmes.

It updates instantly for breaking news in all categories - news, sports, entertainment, politics, business, technology, environment and lifestyle.

It also enables you to become a reporter - you can send news and weather pics with the 'Report' function, email the TV show anchors right from your device, and download articles through 3G or a wireless connection (to save on your 3G data cap).

It's free, too! But iPhone-only, so far.

Moa Creative has also created a little app that lets you generate and track Lotto and Power Ball numbers. The app lets you pick numbers based on those that have the highest occurrence of being winning numbers, and lets you keep track of your previous tickets. This app costs $1.29.

Helping with disability

iPhone 4s might be hard to find, but iPads seem to be appearing all over the place. They're very popular with travellers as the perfect interim between carrying a 'big' laptop and a too-small iPhone, although I'd rather use an iPhone for navigating around foreign cities, myself.

I've been looking at iDevices as assistive devices - a friend of mine who suffered a stroke over a year ago really loves his iPad. It's much easier to use than his Mac, since he can only use one hand properly, now.

He's been drawing, exploring the world again on Google Earth, reading the NZ Herald and trying the talking buttons of AutoVerbal (he can't communicate very well with words, yet).

A New Zealand app will be of use to many more people than its direct target audience. This is an iPhone app specially for local Crohn's and Colitis sufferers. The app is a toilet map that uses GPS with existing maps to locate the nearest public toilet.

It's an innovative and useful tool for Crohn's and Colitis sufferers who often find themselves desperately in need of a toilet - and if you've ever had to try and find a toilet in Auckland for any reason, you'll understand how useful this will be for anyone - not just visitors, but Aucklanders too.

A Toilet Map website was created with the generous support of Abbott, the mapmakers.

Ceiba Solutions (a New Zealand-founded company that develops IT solutions for Life Sciences) and Modica (a digital media developer) paired up to develop the iPhone Toilet Map app. This is a first - a Toilet Map app for New Zealand hadn't previously existed.

Geosmart (a NZ mapping services and geospatial solutions company) also donated its maps to the effort. These maps have basic toilet information for over a thousand public toilets. The launch version was free but a later version will add additional toilets, facility information and the capability for users to add toilets. This premium sold version would work as a fundraising tool for CCNZ.

The app and site were launched on July 29th in Wellington, but the app is not in the App Store yet, that I could find.

Pretty much every NZ city and town is listed. I recommend this to any traveller within Aotearoa.

Dispatch and database apps

iPhones and iPads are being accepted into business more and more, and NZ is not lagging there, either. VisFleet sells a web-based dispatch product, vWork, that works over the iPhone.

The Parnell, Auckland-based company targets trade and professional service companies; the resultant despatch app is called vWork.
VisFleet recently deployed 80 iPhones running vWork to McCarthys logging.

This has since been featured in a TV commercial.

VisFleet is picking up customers in diverse areas, from emergency response to security companies.

The app is free, but requires a vWork subscription of NZ$99 per worker per month - you can get a free ten-day trial at the company website if you want to give it a go.

Meanwhile, FileMaker Go, FileMaker's iPhone/iPad implementation of the world's biggest database software, allows mobile users full access to databases while away from their computers. In New Zealand's strong FileMaker development community, FileMaker Go has generated quite a bit of interest - I hope be able talk about that in more detail soon.

Note that if you have an interest in developing yourself for iOS, or in the stories of NZ developers big and small (KIWA Media, Rob Beck), in Adobe workflows for iPad software designing, or you want to link up with employers, students and employees, the CreativeTech conference in Auckland this September covers all these bases - and adds a lot more for absolutely anyone with an interest in Apple hardware and software. FileMaker's software engineer David Head will also be presenting at CreativeTech, on FileMaker, Bento and Go.

www.creativetech.net.nz

Once again, I am always interested in New Zealand app (or Mac) development stories. Please keep 'em coming - just email me at mac.nz@mac.com.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com