There is a not-so-secretive secret to those of you out there who are curious about iPhone application development and desire a more structured learning experience outside of a book.

The Stanford University iPhone course is a great resource, and best of all, it’s free. Yep, it costs nothing more than your time and some bandwidth (assuming you already have everything needed for iPhone app development and iItunes).  Employees from iPhone and iPad development teach the course and post the videos of the lectures and lab sections online a few days after they occur.

I found this course last year, but it was only the presentations and posted after the course was completed.  This time around, you can be taking the course in near real-time, watching the video lectures, downloading example code, and working on the progressively more difficult (and fun) assignments.  Last year’s course gave me a firm foundation, where I learned more from these slides and reading documentation than the random tutorials found online.

I am taking the course again, this time taking notes and immersing myself in all things iPhone OS.  If you’re the least bit interested in iPhone development, check it out!

I’ve been researching how to gain momentum in the App Store in preparation for a relaunch of That Movie Game. There are hundreds of websites out there with ideas, but basically its all 1) create a website 2) hit up social networks (fb, twitter) 3) be active in developer forums 4) submit to review sites 5) stay up-to-date by interacting with all of these.

With That Movie Game I’ve been pretty lackluster on marketing, outside of a few twitter updates, news on this blog, and a placeholder site.  And by looking at my sales, it shows.  Now I’m working on TMG 2.0 and I want people to take notice when it launches.  Here’s the plan:

• Updates to the app: include a giant increase in the size of the database of actors, films, and connections, meaning a much more fun game with less repeats; ux/ui tweaking; and a few other items.
• Splitting the app product family into FREE and PAID versions (with wittier titles other than those), with the difference being the database in the free version being much smaller.  This will let skeptical users play the game without spending a thing and determine if it’s worth a purchase.
• Social bonanza.  Facebook fan page, Twitter updates, etc.
• Updated webpage with movies of the game being played, descriptions, and a nice big iTunes link, of course.
• Submission to review sites.  Check out this list.
• Buying adspace.  I’m conjuring up a Google AdSense plan and also will buy some rotating banner ads on targeted sites.
• Hitting up message boards, forums, and any other online resources that are playing the inspiration for TMG.  Just a simple Google search brings up quite a few hits.
• Stay up to date with my userbase.  I’m going to go all out for these guys and gals with TMG (and future titles), responding to questions and comments as well as incorporating suggestions.  This is tremendous.

Thanks to all of those out there who’ve purchased the app.  Comments, ideas, suggestions, and recommendations on TMG are very welcome.

You’re my lifeline to the future of this app!

In January 2007, Steve Jobs took the stage at MacWorld and dropped a bomb:  Apple was releasing a cell phone.  But not just any cell phone, but a touch-based device that works as an iPod and internet communication gizmo, all in one.

If you were like me, you knew this was going to be big and you couldn’t wait to get your hands on one.  And if you were really like me, you would have to wait for your cell phone contract with another, non-iPhone carrying provider to expire so you wouldn’t have to deal with a seemingly draconian “early termination penalty”.

Fast-forward to July 2008.  The App Store was opened up for business, and a few short months later, NDAs expired allowing a deluge of information to hit the internet.  Sometime in August of that year, I was driving around Austin, Texas with a friend thinking off all the things that we could do with iPhones.  That conversation soon evolved into what could we create with the iPhone.  Ideas literally erupted from our heads as we drove the eight hours back to the city of New Orleans.  The next week, he and I would get our iPhones, and be hopelessly addicted.

A month later, I would make the jump and get a MacBook Pro.  The iPhone got me hooked on Apple, more so than the handful of iPods I had been through.

In March of 2009, I finally started working on an original concept for an app, which would become That Movie Game.  I spent weeks learning as I went, picking up Objective-C documentation while twiddling around the SDK.  I found a few websites with tons of resources that I worked with for a few months.  Juggling a full-time + overtime job while trying to create the greatest movie trivia game (believe me!) does take time. But eventually, I stopped adding features and hit the submit button, sending version 1.0 to Apple in July.

I expected a rejection after hearing the countless stories of other developers.  Weeks went by – the status was still ‘In Review’.  What torture!  I eventually developed a case of the swine flu that knocked me out of commission for over a week.  But alas – in the middle of the worst I’ve ever felt in my life – I received notification that my app was approved!  That Movie Game was out in the App Store for a day already and had sold three copies, one sale coming from overseas!

I wrote Facebook status updates and told my friends but left further marketing on the shelf.  I eventually created a website for the app, but it is more like a placeholder.  The important thing was that I had a goal – an original iPhone app design, implemented and released – and I achieved it. Although there are over a hundred thousand apps out there now, I’ve set myself apart by realizing a personal goal that took plenty of time and energy.

Now it’s time to move again.  Expect to see more out of this blog, with continuous updates and features.  Get ready for an expanded, visually overhauled That Movie Game and a new, free app that I’m going to create that will be a “thank you” to everyone out there.