I’m just about ready for App School, starting on Monday morning. I’ve updated all my notes so they reflect the latest updates to the iPhone SDK and App Store policies, SQT has processed all the bookings and printed all the material (thanks, Kim!), Big Wave Media Training has their training location all set up and ready to go with the SDK set up on their machines (thanks Jenny and Liam!)… this should be a good one!

We have an interesting class coming in this time, with a nice group of people coming from different backgrounds: it should make for some great ideas bouncing around! The better the variation in the students, the better the class dynamic. Lunch-time also always gives opportunity for app-related discussion (you’d think everyone would be grateful of the break from it, but that hasn’t been the case yet!).

It will be interesting to see how the new location works out. Big Wave’s training room is much more central than previous courses, and it will be great to have the LUAS stop just a few doors down, as well as the great selection of restaurants!

If you are interested in attending App School, please check out our dates on the home page or the side-bar.

I have some very exciting news today! App School’s own John Long, who attended the first run of the course, has published his first iPhone app!

AerBrowse is an app to allow you use Aertel (RTE teletext) on your iPhone or iPod touch.

AerBrowse made a very nice tweet this morning too!

Thanks to #appschool I exist! AerBrowse allows users to easily and intuitively browse Aertel on their iPhone/iPod Touch!

—AerBrowse

It’s so exciting to see apps being made by App School students and I’m sure this one will be a great success!

Check it out on the App Store!

Today Apple has updated their License Agreement with all developers. Comparing it with the previous agreement, this is making way for In-App purchases from free apps.

In-App Purchases from Free Apps

Today Apple has circulated an email to its developers stating the following:

In App Purchase is being rapidly adopted by developers in their paid apps. Now you can use In App Purchase in your free apps to sell content, subscriptions, and digital services.

You can also simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses In App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app. Using In App Purchase in your app can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases.

The updated license agreement make many small changes throughout the document, largely removing the term “Paid Application” and instead making no distinction between “Paid Applications” and other applications. Previously the term “Paid Application” was only used in the context of In-App Purchases.

Still no VoIP

On the 6th Oct, AT&T announced that it was allowing VoIP apps (such as Skype) make calls over its 3G network. Previously Apple rejected any apps attempting to do this, and required developers to check that Wi-Fi was available before making any VoIP calls.

Now would seem to be the time to update the license agreement. However, in the new license agreement section 3.3.20 remains the same, stating that apps “may not have Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) functionality using the cellular network”. This may be disappointing for some developers, but perhaps carriers other than AT&T do not want to carry VoIP over their cellular network? If this is the case, I wonder will Skype have to decide which carrier the device is on before making calls?