I found out about Jack Nutting when I stumbled across his presentation on the App Store - I Can't Believe I'm Not a Millionaire. I'd already released my first app for the iPhone and was well on the road to finishing up my second. I really wish I'd read this PDF before starting out, but there's nothing like learning things the hard way! 
I contacted Jack about doing an iPhonespaz interview and he was pitch in even though his latest game Diabolotros was due for release.
If you haven't checked out Diabolotros yet, you should. Diabolotros is a Space Invaders-Galaxian-Galaga clone that uses the accelerometer to move the ship. Loads of fun!
The Jack Nutting iPhonespaz Interview
JG: Thanks for doing the interview, Jack! You've got a couple project brewing right now...
Jack: Yep! I'm currently writing a cocoa book for apress. I'm also close to releasing a new iPhone game (Diabolotros).
JG: Well, let's jump right into it! First thing's first... How many apps do you have on your personal iPhone and what got you hooked on the platform?
Jack: At the moment I've got 145, but I do occasionally hit the 148 maximum, and then I try to find a dozen or so to trim away. They're pretty well organized by page: 1 page of Apple-supplied apps, 2 pages of utility/"productivity" apps, 1 page of music-related apps, and the rest is all games. The only defense I can offer to explain the compulsive game-hoarding is that many of them I keep on there for the sake of my kids who love to play them, but really, I'm sure I'd keep it just as full even if I had no kids 
The platform appealed to me immediately when its Mac OS X-like underpinnings were first described. Later, when Apple announced the official SDK and the App Store, I saw the future unfolding in front of me. I've been programming in Cocoa and its predecessors (the tools and frameworks included with NeXTStep and OpenStep) since 1994, so seeing these technologies deployed on a new platform, with a built-in marketplace, seemed like a great opportunity, and so far it's definitely working out well for me!
JG: I really, really wish I'd read "I Can't Believe I'm Not a Millionaire" before I uploaded my first app, but I have to thank you for it because it's been a big help since. Are there any other tricks/tips you've come across since putting together the presentation?
Jack: One new piece of data, for me, is that there is now "anecdotal evidence" that when Apple first sends you the "your app is now ready for sale" email message, you have a short window of time where you can actually change the release date of your app, including pulling it forward if the previous date was in the past; And this is supposed to work in some way for both new apps and updates. So, a first-timer who gets stuck in the spot I was stuck in (my first app didn't come out until a month after its "release date" thanks to Apple's "finalizing contracts" phase which kicks in after you submit your first app) may have a way to salvage their day-one App Store "new releases" positioning after all. So far I haven't had an opportunity or reason to test this out, this is just something that I've heard and read, but from enough sources that it seems likely to be true.
On another note, there are also companies popping up that are proposing new and exciting ways for game developers to monetize their free games, which do *not* involve advertising. I can't give you any specifics yet, but hopefully I'll have something available soon that will demonstrate this. The important thing as a developer is to keep an open mind, and look for synergies wherever you can find them!
JG: Absolutely! You have to keep a very open mind. What is your favorite iPhone app and why do you love it?
Jack: For the past couple weeks I've been playing a lot of FlightControl which I love, but really, my favorite app may seem like a really mundane choice: Safari. For me, having a real browser on the phone is one of the main things that really makes the iPhone a "game-changer". Being able to google things while out in the real world, instead of needing to wait until I'm back at my office or at home, is just enormous. This dawned on me just a few days after I got my iPhone. I saw a pair of speakers at a flea market, and wanted to see if the asking price was a good one. My first approach was to start Camera and take a picture including the manufacturer and model number to look up later, but just as I was taking the picture I realized, "hey, I can look this up right now!" I've had phones with 3G or at least GPRS for years, but the built-in browser is so abysmal on most phones. Opera Mini is a huge step up, but it still doesn't hold a candle to Safari.
JG: You noted that you're writing a book on Cocoa for apress. Will it be focused on general Cocoa development or something more specialized?
Jack: This book ("Learn Cocoa on the Mac") is really focused on getting developers who are new to Cocoa started on the right track, learning the basics of all the key technologies.
We're not aiming to provide an encyclopedic reference (Apple already provides that in digital form with their SDKs), but rather provide a clear path through the maze of available technologies, to help you learn the fundamentals that almost every application uses, so you can spend your time developing the unique features of your applications without getting stuck trying to figure out how to do the basics. I'm writing this together with Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche, whose "Beginning iPhone Development" book has been hugely successful at getting new iPhone developers up and running; Hopefully "Learn Cocoa" will help a new generation of Mac developers start off on the right foot as well!
JG: Dave and Jeff are great. I'm hoping to get them here on iPhonespaz soon! Loved their book. Alright, let's wrap this up so you can get back to knocking out that book! What's the geekiest thing you've done with your iPhone? The thing that made people go, "Uh... right. Note to self: Restraining order."
Jack: Honestly, the geekiest thing is probably spending all those hours working on Scribattle! Especially for the people around me who couldn't quite understand what I was doing, or why I was so excited about it... Of course, after the fact, some of those people have changed their tunes! Maybe it's a thin line between geekiness and success, sometimes.
JG: Having just wrapped up my first game (WordFlipper) I know exactly what you mean!!!
A final thanks to Jack for doing this interview. You can find out more about Jack Nutting by visiting his blog at Nuthole.com or by dropping by his software company at rebisoft.
[Good luck with Diabolotros, Jack! ]
A special thanks to the iPhone dev community
Getting ready for an app launch is a crazy thing and both of our apps happened to launch on the same day. I also want to leave a word of thanks here for the general iPhone developer community. Interviewing all the wonderful people for this site is only part of the contact I've had with this great group of innovative and creative folks, and I really appreciate all the support and camaraderie.
0 comments…