Apple has fixed the issue preventing iPod Touch owners from being able to download or install Cinder on their device! If you have already downloaded Cinder, go back to the store and “buy” it again. iTunes will re-download Cinder and replace the broken version with the new and improved one.

I’m really sorry about the delay, but now everything is right in the Cinder world! Enjoy!

Over the weekend I received an acknowledgement from Apple that they are looking into the issue. They asked that I give them 3-5 business days for their investigation. I know this wait is no fun, for you and me.

I do want to offer an idea to make sure you get a chance to download Cinder while it’s available for free. Instead of trying to download from your iPod Touch, do so from iTunes on your computer. iTunes shouldn’t stop you from downloading, although it will stop you from trying to install it on your iPod Touch.

Downloading it now means you get it for free, and then whenever the issue is resolved you’ll be listed as an owner of the application. That way, whatever update is needed, you shouldn’t be charged for the application as you already own it.

I’ll keep posting updates as I have them. Thanks for your patience.

Hey gang, there’s an interview with yours truly over at Mac Fanatic. It ranges across topics from the recent Cinder acquisition to my favorite Mac apps. Thanks to Matthew for the questions.

Shortly after the launch of Cinder, I began receiving reports that iPod Touch users couldn’t find the app in the store via searches on their device as well as folks who bought it in iTunes on their computers but couldn’t install. It turns out there is a misconfiguration of Cinder on the App Store that has marked it iPhone only.

After some research, I have come to the conclusion that this is a misconfiguration on the App Store side of things. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear that there’s a way for me to correct the issue on my own and I need Apple to take care of it. I’ve open an issue with the App Store folks and I’m awaiting their response. I will post updates here as I have them.

I apologize for the inconvenience this is causing for my iPod Touch customers. Cinder will run on your devices, it just isn’t able to take photos due to the lack of a camera. It’s just this glitch on the store that’s preventing the installation. I’m hoping this will be resolved soon. Fingers crossed.

Cinder has been approved for sale on the App Store! You can read about it here or go download it here. Remember, Cinder will be free for 2 weeks until the end of the day March 17th. Enjoy!

BitBQ now has a Page on Facebook, stop on over and become a fan! I know you want too.

I’ve received several questions from owners of LittleSnapper for iPhone whether or not they are going to need to repurchase Cinder once it becomes available. The answer to this is yes. Before you howl, let me tell you that Cinder will be FREE for two weeks after launch. After that, Cinder will become a paid application. To reiterate:

Cinder Will be FREE for the first two weeks.

The background behind the need to repurchase is this: Apple doesn’t transfer apps between developers when the apps change hands. To Apple and the App Store, Cinder is a brand new application. What means for end users is that they are forced to repurchase the application to continue to receive updates. I learned this lesson from the acquisition of FitnessTrack and Emergency Information. 

I want all previous users to continue to get updates, so that’s why I’m giving everyone, even those that didn’t own it before, the opportunity to get Cinder for free. So keep an eye on this blog, on the the BitBQ and Cinder twitter accounts for the release announcement.

I have just submitted Cinder 1.0 to Apple for review, which is very exciting! It means the wait for the replacement for LittleSnapper for iPhone is almost at an end. App approvals have been a lot speedier of late, so I’m hoping to see Cinder released to the public very soon. Keep an eye on this space (or on twitter) to know when Cinder hits the App Store.

In the wake of the introduction of the iPad, I’ve been thinking about iPad software pricing. Apple is strongly encouraging developers to make a single binary that runs on both the iPad and the iPhone, so called “universal” applications. What that means is that while the user experience is enhanced because a user won’t need to buy both versions of an application, it means pricing is going be very tricky.

During the iPad keynote, Apple showed off some very nice looking versions of the iWork products. Apple has set the price point of these applications at $9.99. That’s a price point a lot of iPhone apps tried to start at during the opening of the App Store. Most notably Twitterrific Premium from The Iconfactory, Dark Slide Premium from Connected Flow and Trip Cubby from App Cubby, all of which now sell for much less than that. With this “race to the bottom” on the App Store, customers cry foul over incredible applications that are priced “too high” at $3.

Apple has also said that existing iPhone applications will run on the iPad and that they will be able to be “blown up” in size to be full screen. From reports I’ve heard and my own experience in the simulator, this doesn’t look very good. Developers will want to have an iPad specific interface built into their app. The amount of work to get an iPad app’s UI to have the great polish it should have is going to exceed that of the iPhone. This will mean higher development costs. Presumably with higher development costs, higher prices will come with it. The rub is that these universal applications are going to be subjected to the same price pressures from the iPhone side of the market because users will buying a single binary.

Being the optimist that I am, I see this as a potential turning point in iPhone app prices to try and raise them from the floor. I also hope this means a lot less “toy” applications being built for the iPad. At that point, the realist in me steps in and realizes it’s still a gold rush from the developers side, so be prepared for “Fart for iPad extreme edition”. As well, be prepared that the app store buying public are still going to be upset at any price.

One suggestion I’ve heard is to sell the universal app at an iPhone market price point and have in-app purchases to unlock iPad specific functionality. This is a reasonable idea, but I still think a developer would want an iPad specific UI even on first launch on the iPad, so the extra costs problem remains. You also risk backlash from the market of iPad only users.

Maybe the long term answer is to buck Apple’s suggestion and create an iPhone version and an iPad version, both with separate price points. While that will be an increased cost for an owner of both platforms, it will hopefully foster more sustainable development for the iPad. The current iPhone market is certainly not sustainable from the development point of view unless you’re in the small percentage in the top 100 lists or on the front page of the App Store.

FitnessTrack 1.5.1 is now live on the App Store. This version includes a couple of fixes and a small tweak:

• Fixed decimal data loss issue with locales that use decimal separator other than period
• Fixed stuck highlight issue for currently editing field
• Workout Name field now starts editing as blank if name is default name “New Workout”

Enjoy!