iMalt

Version 2.2 of iMalt was just submitted to Apple for review. Here is a brief walk-through of all the new features.

New Dashboard with Live Updates

The dashboard is the new starting point of the app. The purpose of the dashboard is to give the user a quick overview of what the app does. At the bottom of the dashboard you can see the latest updates from the iTasteNote users. Content updates from the iTasteNote Cloud will also appear here. If you tap the live update area (on an iPhone 3GS or newer) you will see a list of the latest updates. The cloud button in the upper right corner lets you manage your iTasteNote Cloud settings.

CSV Export

The new version of iMalt also makes it possible to export data in the CSV file format. In every whisky list view you tap the compose button in the upper right corner to send an e-mail containing the data in the list in PDF and CSV. In the whisky detail view the compose button is in the bottom tool bar.

Personal and iTasteNote Statistics

If you tap the info button in the upper left corner when viewing the dashboard, you will be able to navigate to personal and iTasteNote updates. You will also be able to toggle Wi-Fi only on and off. This determins which connnection types should be allowed for fetching live update. The personal statistics gives you an overview of your collection, whish list etc. in numbers. The iTasteNote statistics gives you an overview of the most active iTasteNote Cloud users.

Post Your Rating to Twitter

From the My Tasting Notes view it is possible to tweet your rating of the bottle. Just tap the Twitter button in the lower right corner to compose the tweet automatically once your have rated the bottle.

Re-order Single Malts Category View

The last new feature in iMalt 2.2 is re-ordering of the single malts category view. Tap the edit button in the lower left corner start re-ordering.

Well, that’s it. I hope you will find it useful!

I recently bought an Android phone. Yes, I did.

About two years back I got contacted for the first time about making an Android version of iMalt. I looked into Android development, their Marketplace setup and sales figures and quickly decided that the whole platform was too immature and the potential market too small. My limited time for development was much better spend on iOS development. Since then I have gotten many requests for the Android version of iMalt but every time I have looked into it, I decided to wait. However, time has changed. The crowd of Android users have grown too big to be ignored. And fortunately development for Android has become more easy. Furthermore the Android Marketplace has improved a lot. Also, I like the idea that users can switch between iPhones and Android phones and still have access to their tasting notes and collection via the iTasteNote Cloud.

So I bought the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus (the second Google phone) with the new version (4.0) of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. I will not go into many details about Android and the phone but the biggest difference I have noticed between Android and iOS is that Android allows much more customization of the user interface. For example I installed a nice “live wallpaper” for Christmas with waving Christmas trees and falling snow. You also have much more control of your home screen where you can arrange widgets and icons as you like. Some users may see this “openess” as a big advantage while others will find the more “limited” iOS easier to use.

Without to much trouble I installed the Android development environment on my Mac and wrote the first few test apps. Then I was set for developing iMalt for Android. Basically I wanted iMalt for Android to look and feel exactly like iMalt for the iPhone. Bad idea. First I wanted to create the bottom tab bar. I searched Google for answers and found that Android users expect tabs to be at the top of the screen. Okay, no problem.  Then I created a list view but struggled to find the back button once I tapped a list item. In iOS it shows up automatically but in Android, I later found out, you always use a hardware  button to go back. Hmm okay. I concluded that I  needed to read the Android design guidelines.

Apple has very strict design guidelines that you MUST follow. In an earlier version of iMalt I wanted to use the e-mail compose button to create an e-mail with whisky listings. When the button was pushed, I gave the user a choice whether to create the e-mail in plain text or HTML formatted, before the compose view was shown. Apple rejected the app saying that when pushing the e-mail compose button you must show the compose view immediately. Android design guidelines are just that – guidelines. You can choose to follow them or not and I see this as a problem in terms of user friendliness.  When you open most iOS apps you instinctively know what to do whereas Android apps does not have a common look and feel.

Google has tried to improve this situation by defining some design patterns that you can choose to follow. I came to the conclusion that the dashboard design pattern fitted iMalt best. Basically you have a dashboard with up to six icons/buttons that takes you to the most important places in the app. This way the user will quickly learn the different elements of the app. Then you have an action bar at the top where you can put the title of the screen and controls like search. Much like the iOS navigation bar. At the bottom you must have an area that present “something new” to the user every time he/she opens the app so that the user keeps coming back to the app. Quite clever in my opinion.

In the case of iMalt it was obvious to present user ratings of whiskies as they come in. But I wanted to take it a bit further. I therefore chose to also show when a user opens or empties a bottle and when a user adds a bottle to his/her collection and wish list. In that way all users can get a feeling of which whiskies are most popular and that might help you decide which malt to buy next. Now I find myself starting iMalt several times a day just to check the updates

I actually like the idea so much that I just had to implement itin iMalt for iOS. So the dashboard and the live updates will be the new major feature of iMalt version 2.2. But wait, there is more:

• CSV export
• Statistics view
• Re-ordering of single malts root menu
• Minor UI changes
• Twitter support (tweet your ratings)

I hope to have iMalt 2.2 ready by the end of January and iMalt HD 2.2 (without the dashboard) in February. My goal is to have iMalt for Android ready this summer.

I have been so busy lately with iMalt and the iTasteNote Cloud Service that I completely forgot to celebrate the second birthday of iMalt. Yes, iMalt is now 2 years (and a couple of weeks) old. Two years may not sound as much, but I can assure you that a lot has happened with the app since the first version was released on June 18, 2009. I therefore thought it would be fun to write a few articles about the history of iMalt. I hope you will enjoy it!

Why Another Whisky App?

I have always enjoyed software development even though it is not my main occupation. The best way to learn a new programming language is of course by using it. For me it is not by reading a book and follow its examples but by writing a real program that I would use myself. This way I can stay motivated when things are getting complex.

Some years ago I started to enjoy single malt whisky and I began to carry Michael Jackson’s book, Malt Whisky Companion, with me every time there would be an opportunity to shop for whiskies. Even though the book is small, it is not that handy to bring with you everywhere.

In 2004 I bought my first Pocket PC, an HP iPac H4150. At the same time I was becoming tired of carrying the book around and I thought it would be the coolest thing to have the tasting notes on the Pocket PC instead. I searched the Internet for Whisky application and found none but it didn’t matter. I wanted to learn C# (C Sharp, a programming language) and here was the perfect opportunity. And I had the perfect name for the application – Pocket Malts! After a few months I had something usefull up and running and since the application was only intended for my own personal use, I started to fill in some of MJ’s tasting notes and ratings. However, it soon became quite boring to type these notes in and I lost interest for the application some months later.

I have not seen Pocket Malts in five years or so, so it was quite fun to fire it up again on my old Pocket PC. Pocket Malts is actually closer to a final version 1.0 than I remembered.

In December 2007, my wife brought home an iPhone from London and it was the most awesome mobile phone I had ever seen. When Steve Jobs announced the App Store and the upcoming release of the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) at the WWDC in June 2008, I was thrilled. I knew I had to learn how to develop iPhone apps. In November 2008 I began to play around with Objective-C (the iOS and Mac OS programming language) and short thereafter I started the development of iMalts (now iMalt) for the iPhone.

Developing the First Version of iMalt

Back then I used my wife’s old 13″ MacBook for development. I had some ideas from Pocket Malts that I could reuse but since the iPhone user interface is so different, it was more or less back to square one.

My idea was to make a single malt whisky app where it should be possible to maintain lists of single malt whiskies and distilleries. Furthermore I wanted a tasting note framework, that could be used, without typing a single word. One obvious reason for that was that typing is much harder on a phone than using sliders and pickers. The other reason was, that by having every tasting note metric as a number, it would be a lot easier to collect the values of those metrics and calculate an average of the them. So as you can see, the iTasteNote Cloud Service was in scope from the beginning.

To create the tasting note framework I read a lot of tasting notes to find the best the structure. Furthermore I began to look at every tasting/nosing wheel I could find. The structure you see today has not changed since then. However, at first, there was only one field for written notes.

I also wanted to include some good quality photos of whiskies. I contacted a few online whisky merchants, but the only one who responded with a positive response was The Whisky Exchange. Luckily for me, they have the most complete collection of whisky photos I have seen. The distillery photos are all under some form of open source license.

One very important thing for me is to do this the right way in regard to copyrights. I would not add any information to the app without the right permission. Therefore I cannot just add Micheal Jackson’s and Jim Murray’s scores in the app even though I would have loved to.

In late May 2009 I submitted the first version of iMalt to Apple. Read how that went in the next part of the iMalt history.

iMalt version 2.0.1 is now ready for download in Apple’s App Store. It has some bug fixes and it offers two new iTasteNote Cloud Service subscription options:

180 days for $14.99

360 days for $19.99

This Tuesday (June 7, 2011) the second edition of the popular Scotch single malt whisky app for the iPhone and iPod touch was released into Apple’s App Store. Since 2009, the iMalt app has been the whisky lovers’ prefered app for keeping track of whisky collections and tasting notes. This new version takes the iMalt app online.

With the all new iTasteNote Cloud Service for the iMalt app it is now possible to share your tasting notes and ratings with thousands of single malt enthusiasts. A long with the classification system this makes the iMalt app an even better tool for finding your whiskies.

By subscribing to the iTasteNote Cloud Service you will also receive regular updates in the form of regions, distilleries and single malt whiskies. The first update consists of 150 single malts from Knockando, Balvenie, Mackmyra, Royal Brackla, Brora, Loch Lemond, Rosebank, Port Ellen, Amrut and Glendullan. But that is only the beginning. The vision is to create the most complete database of single malt whiskies from all over the world.

The iTasteNote Cloud Service does also provide online backup and it enables synchronization of data between your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The iTasteNote Cloud Service is offered as an in-app-purchase and costs $9.99 / 7.99 € for 90 days. You do not need to subscribe to see the iTasteNote rating of each whisky.

While we are waiting for Apple’s approval of iMalt 2.0 I will tell you a little about the experiences I have had with Apple’s App Store review process.

When submitting a new app to Apple you have to make a description of what the app does and specify some details such as a link to the app’s support site, meta tags, name of the app in the App Store and so forth. You also have to upload a high resolution version of the app icon and some screenshots. Last but not least you have to upload the app itself which is signed with your developer profile. For updates you have to write a description of the changes and upload the new version of the app.

When the app is uploaded the review status changes to ‘Waiting for review’. Then you will have to wait in line for some App reviewer to look at your app. If you find a bug in your code in the meantime and upload a new version, then you are put back last in line again. Back in 2009 when I released the first version of iMalt (my first app) I had to wait more than two weeks for the review. It has improved much since then so now you only have to wait a few days.

Then the status changes to ‘In review’ and your app is reviewed. This will normally take a few days or less. Then the app is either approved and ends up in the App Store or it is rejected. Earlier the reasons for rejecting an app was e-mailed to you and if you wanted to continue the dialog with Apple, it would be by e-mail. Not so long ago Apple introduced the Resolution Center to handle everything around app rejections and I must say that it is now much easier to get an understanding of what should be fixed. It is also faster to get questions answered by Apple.

To be a but more specific let’s look at the approval process for iMalt 2.0:

April 28, 2011: iMalt 2.0 uploaded.

May 5, 2011: iMalt 2.0 in review.

May 5, 2011: iMalt 2.0 rejected. The iTasteNote Cloud icon was looking to much like the MobileMe icon – I agree I made some function calls to Apple’s private part of the iOS which I am not allowed to. I guess I must read the documentation better next time

May 8, 2011: New build of iMalt 2.0 uploaded.

May 8, 2011: iMalt 2.0 in review.

May 13, 2011: Apple sends me an e-mail telling me that the review process will require additional time.

May 25, 2011: I send an e-mail to the review team and ask how much longer the review will take.

May 28, 2011: Apple responds to my e-mail. They have no additional information. Hmm…

Is the Lodsys Effect causing the delay???

June 1, 2011: Rejected. Apple calls me by phone. They want me to change the in-app-purchase subscription model that I am using.

June 2, 2011: New build of iMalt 2.0 uploaded.

June 2, 2011: iMalt 2.0 in review.

June 7, 2011: iMalt 2.0 approved!

While waiting for the approval by Apple of iMalt 2.0 I have decided to make a new home for iMalt. I actually think the result is pretty nice and finally iMalt gets the display it deserves. Previously I have mainly used the open source CMS called Joomla when creating “simple” websites but with this site I have decided to learn something new and went for WordPress instead.

I must say that WordPress impresses me. It was really easy to install and the administrator user-interface is intuitive and easy to use. Joomla is a bit more complicated for the first time user. As with Joomla there are many good looking templates/themes to choose from but I actually think that the theme from WooTheme that I chose, is one of the best I have seen so far. Compared to Joomla templates (themes), this WordPress theme is much more “modern” and complete. To have the same (sliding) effect in Joomla, you would have to install a separate module to handle that effect.

As for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) WordPress also wins. I went for the “All in One SEO” plugin and so far it has all everything I need. SEO in Joomla as not that obvious.

I am looking forward to play around with WordPress a little more but not as much as I am looking forward to the approval of iMalt 2.0.