App Store Insider: August Trometer Part 1

Posted by Tom Hesser on February 23rd, 2009


App Store Insider: August Trometer, FoggyNoggin Software

Website: http://foggynoggin.com/

Contact: Contact FoggyNoggin

Bio: Web developer by day, Mac and iPhone developer by night.

- Created iPodderX, the world's first podcast client
- Wrote "Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari" prior to the SDK being released
- Loan Shark was chosen early on by Apple as a "Featured" app, and is also featured in Apple's own "iPhone Your Life" pages.

Favorite apps:
Fieldrunners, USA Today, Blocked, Touch Physics, Things, and Pandora



Interview with August Trometer: Part 1: [audio:http://148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/AugustTrometerP1.mp3]
To listen to the audio interview, click the play triangle above.
To download the .MP3, right click and choose "Save Link As...".

Note: My apologies for the horrible quality of the audio on my side of the conversation. Due to some problems, I had to use a low quality microphone which recorded poorly, and then had to tweak the sound level afterwards. This resulted in an audible hiss during my parts. I hope this doesn't distract from your enjoyment of the audio content. - Tom

In Part 1 of the interview, August recalls the launch of the App Store and working on Loan Shark, his first app submission. He also describes his observations on the App Stores pricing "paradox" and his experiments with the pricing of his own apps to increase sales.

We discuss August's history as a Mac software developer and how that led to his programming for the iPhone, which he felt was a logical step. August also explains his "mantra" for developing software, which involves making it easy to use for everyone, and relates his experiences with programs that are popular, yet have difficult to use interfaces.

Lastly, we discuss August's popular software for the Mac, and his reasons for not developing a version for the iPhone. We get some insight on what it is to deal with Apple when they are the "800 pound gorilla" in the room and discouraging others from infringing on their domain, plus the economic factors involved.

In Part 2, we discuss August's latest project, Yowza! and the unusual circumstances that brought him together with his business partners. He also describes how this project is much different from past iPhone projects.

Links to all of August's apps are below. Let us know what you think of the interview and any feedback for August on the apps.

Enjoy!