Christmas has come early - ustwo has just price dropped the FULL version of Steppin™ for iPhone and iPod touch so it’s now FREE!! That’s right nada, nil, zero, zip, nothing! You can get your hands on this exhilarating racing game that tests speed and dexterity across 5 stunningly designed levels from the app store now - http://iphone.ustwo.co.uk/get/steppin.
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Me and dain will be giving a presentation on wednesday for Mobile design uk.
A light hearted look over the short history of mobile UI and UX, and were it might go in the future. This short talk will specifically look at the progression of mobile UI, personalization and overall user experience over the last decade or so, and how we as mobile designers can push the boundaries to create fresh, intuitive interfaces and user experiences.
Looking forward to meeting some more of the every growing mobile community in London, and thanks to Bryan for inviting us.
Seren Partners Limited
55-57 Rivington Street, London
Wednesday April 22rd, doors open 6:30pm
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Although the iPhone appstore and the iPhone has nothing to do with flashlite, i thought i would take a bit of time to write this article. One of the main issues developers have with the flashlite platform is that there is no direct route to market for your apps, and of course, many a developer has quoted the success of the iPhone appstore, and how (note inverted comas) “easy” it is to sell your content and make lots and lots of money. There has not been a lot of transparency in this process as of far, and it almost seems to be becoming an urban legend of sorts, that if you develop a iphone app and get it on the appstore , you are in line for instant success.
At ustwo™, over the last couple of months, we have created and distributed 2 very different applications for the iphone, each with polar differences in functionality, development time and success. Mills has been releasing figures over the last few weeks of sales, and has spoken in detail on twitter of the processes we have used to try and increase publicity ( you can follow him on @millsustwo if twitter is your thing).
The first application we developed and released was Steppin Lite , a free game for the iphone and ipod touch that uses the touch screen to ‘run’ across a pond filled with Lilly pads as fast as you can. The users time is recorded @ the end, and uploaded to online scoreboards. This was then followed by a paid version, which retailed @ £0.59p, and added numerous more level styles with a much improved online score boarding system.
In contrast to that, Mouthoff is a much simpler ‘novelty’ application. The idea is to hold your iPhone in front of your mouth and talk, shout, laugh, scream or sing to get your new lips moving. The unique thing about MouthOff™, and what sets it apart from other similar apps, is that its sound reactive, so the animations move in real time with your own voice. This application had no free version, and also retails at £0.59p.
To give a comparison of the development time involved in these projects, Our first release, steppin (lite and full version) took a couple of months, with 2 people working on it. This was the first application/game developed in OSX, so there is obviously a learning curve to take into account. For those of you that haven’t played the game (which indecently you can down load from here )
Mouthoff was at the opposite end of the spectrum. With 2 people working on it for a week, it was ready to go live on the appstore.
Steppin is very much a full featured game, which is reflected in the development time, where as mouthoff has very simple functionality, but i suppose is very ‘novelty’. It’s important to note, that as a working development company, having people working on this full-time can be very expensive for a daily developer rate, so it is important to get that money back in revenue. And this is were the trend very much bucks the urban legend of the appstore. If you have spent ages creating a really cool app, surely you should make a fortune? With access to millions of users, all linked into itunes/appstore on there iPhones and iPod touches… According to the marketing given by apple on release of the appstore and the press, surely we should be millionaires in a month or two?
Unfortunately that has not been the case so far for us, although admittedly, the apps have only been on the market a short time ( so here’s hoping 
). Below are a couple of images that show the sales for steppin’ and mouthoff, since they were released. I have only added the last weeks numbers here, if you want full details, check out the mills™ moblog , and you can get figures and downloads over the whole month.
The first thing you will notice is the difference in total revenue. To put that in to true perspective for you, steppin and has been out for 4 weeks, and mouthoff has been out for two and a bit.
When you start to see the figures, you start to get a true idea of the secret to success on the Appstore, which to put it bluntly , is marketing and exposure.
The mouthoff application has been heavily promoted , initially by us, but more recently by other blogs, and also tv shows. The viral campaign we started with the website (showusyourmouthoff) has played a large part in getting this exposure by giving users the chance to get their videos featured on the site, and showing people what great fun the app can be.
You’ll notice the massive spike in numbers when it was featured on bbc2 ’something for the weekend’ show. Before this the numbers were falling from the original release, but this picked things up again. The application suddenly shot to number 11 in the uk top paid apps chart. Later in the week, Creative Review magazine did a video blog post reviewing the app, which again has started to make figures rise, and since then , the application has been featured on a number of other reputable blog sites.
We have also been spreading the mouthoff application through Twitter, facebook, moblogs, Press releases and any other social marketing tool that Rowan & mills™ (self proclaimed PReam team) can get there hands on.
All this is a far cry from the ‘post it on appstore , and they will buy’ attitude that seems to be prevalent belief. If you look at the actual number of hours put into marketing and PR , it soon starts to add up.
Again, this is reinforced when you look at steppin’s sales. Even though they are much lower than mouthoff’s, you can see as soon as it became a ’staff favorite’ on appstore, sales tripled initially, and are now starting to rise again.
So, are appstores nessecary to make decent money as a mobile developer/company? I’d have to say yes, but with a ‘BUT’. They are completely essential as a way to distribute your mobile content to your potential users. Without an easy to use, pre-installed way of accessing a market place to get these applications from, the user simply won’t bother. In my mind the reason apple managed to get the business model so right on their setup boils down to a few key elements.
The ‘BUT’ comes in the form of if you want to truly succeed and make your development costs ( and a profit ) , It is all down to exposure, and getting people excited about your content. Without that, your just lost within the ocean of the 15,000 other apps out there fighting for attention…
Now we just need a similar setup for Flash lite content, but that’s another story…. 
get mouthoff and steppin from itunes.
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To thank him for all his help with he flashlite community over the last year, we have created the one thing every mobile developer is without, the nodding dog-herty scrensaver for your mobile device and mac desktop.
Sit back and relax as you watch the rhythmic movement as his head sways from side to side, and he shares his love for adobe with you. You’ll never need to attend one of his presentations ever again!
go over to the uk adobe mobile and devices usergroup page to get it downloaded
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this application by ustwo™ should be hitting an apple appstore near you soon. imagine the possiblities 
ustwo™ are about to release a hilarious new game for iPhone that syncs an animated mouth with the sound of your own voice. Choose from 8 different mouths - rude-boy, robot, synth, grandma, kiss-me-quick, angry-emperor, dog or monster.
Popularity: 33% [?]
not strictly flash lite related, but thought i would post as a credit to the amount of effort and time the team at ustwo™ have put into making there first full iPhone game.
Congrats to PowPow and everyone else who has been working on this for the last few months
Steppin™ is an all new racing game that tests your reactions and co-ordination over 5 beautifully designed levels. Ranging from easy to hard, they each present a different challenge - skip across lilies in ‘Pond’, hop across icebergs in ‘Ice’, navigate a lava flow in ‘Lava’, go back to the playground in ‘Hopscotch’ and traverse a cliff-face in ‘Climbin’.
Steppin™ also has a new score board system that records your personal best time, player of the week, player of the day and best ever player. You can also make it onto the ‘Steppin™ Hall of Fame’, which calculates the best times in each level for the best players, and features the ‘Steppin™ Champion’ - the player with the best time across all levels.
So get Steppin™ to make the Hall of Fame!
buy it here :
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The winners of the Content awards 2008 where announced today, and i can happily announce that ustwo™ won the Themes and Graphics Award this year. As i have only just joined the team, i can’t take any credit, but would love to congratulate the team on this great achievement. Special kudos to Laffers, nick and edwardo, who put in a great deal of effort to really make the ustwo wallpaper and screen saver content shine.
You can watch the virtual award short film by clicking here
Flashion is the name given to ustwo™ created Flash Lite wallpapers. Flash Lite is a medium that allows us to create Premium wallpapers with intelligent triggers. For example - time of day change, battery indicator, music mode, charging animations, accelerometer controlled graphics.
Most mobile backgrounds are static images that do little more than look pretty. This year’s winner of the Themes & Graphics category of the Sony Ericsson Content Awards offers backgrounds that have both beauty and brains.
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Sony Ericsson has announced the nominees for the final round of the content Awards.
The categories for awards are :
I can happily say that ustwo, the design family i joined @ the beginning of January, has been shortlisted in the Theme’s and Graphics category, so congratulations to the team for getting this far, and fingers crossed for the announcement date.
We have been nominated for the wallpaper and screen savers we have been developing in flash lite, and it’s a great honour to have got this far in the competition, and to be listed with some other great mobile content companies from around the world.
Matt
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Hey all,
Thanks for the great turn out for the eSeminar, hope you enjoyed it and were
excited about some of the announcements we covered.
The recording is now available, and I have posted the link on the UK MaD
adobe.groups page as well as a full summary.
http://groups.adobe.com/groups/e5ecd800f7/summary
On the blog post, there are also answers from mark doherty to some of the
questions would could not answer for you on the night. Hopefully these
responses will clear everything up for you, but if you have any other
questions, I know mark views this list, and will be more than happy to
answer them for you.
I have also included the link to the new RSS feed off the blog on the UK
Adobe groups site, please feel free to subscribe, as we are trying to update
this as much as possible.
http://groups.adobe.com/resources/1bef7dc8f6/feed
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Through the Open Screen Project, Adobe has released the RTMP specification, which is a protocol used extensively for delivering data and services via the Flash Platform.
Flashlite 3.1 has enhanced RTMP support, adding features such as seek, video smoothing and enhanced video suport.
I have written a more in depth post on the UK MAD adobe group page, so check it out for more details by following the link.
matt
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via Alessandro,
The Boston Adobe Mobile and Device User Group is holding an eSeminar on January 29th, 2009 at 12pm EST (check your time), Bill Scott will present GetJar and their Flash Lite content distribution solution.
Use this url: http://experts.na3.acrobat.com/getjar/ to enter the eSeminar on Jan 29th.
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On the 28th January 09, @ 5pm GMT we will be holding the first eSeminar meeting for the UK Adobe mobile and devices usergroup this year.
Myself and Stuart Varrall will be speaking about the upcoming Flash Lite distributable Player, and how it will affect the flashlite developers in the UK.
We will be going into a bit more detail on how it works, sharing some of adobe’s road map for this initiative, and showing you some interesting data on current flash lite usage in the UK market.
Please join the group @ http://groups.adobe.com/groups/e5ecd800f7/summary and we will be posting details of the link closer to the time.
matt
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hi all,
this is my last day @ work before the xmas holidays, and thought i would say thanks to anyone that has been reading my blog over the last year, and wish you all a happy holiday.
It’s been another great year working with mobile and flash lite design/development for me, and 2009 looks to be even more exciting. It will be a new year, and a new job for me, as i am starting as a mobile UI designer @ ustwo down in london! I’m really looking forward to the new challenges it will bring, and working with a team that is just as excited about making great mobile experiences as i am. Can’t wait
So merry Christmas to everyone, have a great holiday!
Matt
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The family @ ustwo™ are looking for a Flash Master to join them making some of the most cutting edge mobile content on the market today. As well as working on amazing projects for big brand names, the ideal candidate would help develop a wide range of internal applications and content.
for full info on the job requirements etc, please check out the posting on the UK MaD groups site
check out their website
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Come and join the Adobe Mobile and devices team for a Birds of a Feather session on everything mobile and flash lite @ MAX Milan. From 6.30pm till 7.30 pm on Monday night in room Yellow 1, we will be having an informal, fun and open discussion of mobile technology and some drinks and refreshments.
For those of you that have not attended a birds of a feather session before,
it is a informal group meeting of people interested in Mobile , where a
number of topics are put forward for a group discussion, and you get a
chance to meet members of the mobile and devices community, as well as Mark Doherty, Mobile developer manger , EMEA.
Topics highlighted for discussion are :
* flash lite and c++ integration
* Project capuchin for Sony ericcson devices
* Discussion around the new flashlite distributable player + packaging.
* how are people making money from mobile?
* And many more
We will also be giving out some great Adobe Swag, so mark this event in your
diary! No need to register, just show up @ Yellow Room 1 at 6.30pm on monday night.
Look forward to seeing you all there!
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Adobe has launch a new community application called GROUPS.
This is a new space hosted at groups.adobe.com that provides an area
for all the usergroups to base their operations, and allowing members
to connect and discover more of the Adobe community.
The UK MaD has been working over the last week or so to setup a space,
and this is now available to access @ http://groups.adobe.com/groups/e5ecd800f7/summary
I encourage you all to join , as over the next few weeks we will be
moving over flashmobilegroup-uk.org and having our main base at
groups.
The new Groups site provides :
Blog, with all the latest usergroup news
Access to Group resources , such as videos, book reviews, tutorials
etc
A new discussion area/ forum board
Opportunity to link up will more members of the wider adobe community
And more features are been added daily
so please get over to groups.adobe.com and check out this great new
resource
Matt
Popularity: 60% [?]
Seems this week, this is becoming the ustwo™ blog_v2 ! The guys at ustwo have been working real hard prior to the release of there new Flashion™ branded mobile content, and they have released a new wallpaper/screensaver Flock™.
I managed to have a quick chat with Mills™ , CD of ustwo, and thought i’d get a bit of background for those of you that have not heard of ustwo before.
Brief description of ustwo™
Mills : ustwo™ is the studio of dreams, 33 super talented passionate designers working in the creative digital UI area. The end of 2008 signalled a change for the team, it was time to show the world that Flash lite + ustwo™ x granimation™ = flashion™.. 2009 is gunna ROCK.
Inspiration for the flashion brand
Mills : flashion is all about fashion and flash combined, time to add the ‘design’ to mobile flash.. we want the world to taste the source… literally!…
in all honesty we haven’t seen anything out there that we like, nothing that makes us go wow, too many pretenders to the crown of mobile flash lite.
We have been dormant for 4 years, but now the beast is waking.
2009 is time for the world to see what ustwo™ flashion is all about, its about true creativity, real passion, and colour to rock your world.
flashion is all about expressing ourselves, showing the public and clients that mobile is a portable magik box.
The ustwo™ team
the ustwo™ family will always put the culture of the studio as the top priority, if you create a great space of work, work becomes play, and play makes for the most innovative UI and motion
that’s why we only take on projects that excite and push us. Projects that allow us to bring our touch to the table… we also spend about 30% of our time on ustwo™ internal projects which we use to drive and excite new cliends™ (all our clients are friends… there is no point in working of hids people)!!
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Hi all
I attended a nokia-adobe eSeminar last night on the new s60 5th edition platform and was quite frankly blown away. The 5th edition is currently available on only 1 phone, the Nokia 5800 ( the new touch screen device ), and takes flash lite development to a whole new level.
Using Platform Services, you can now access the phone’s API’s directly through actionscript as you create your applications/content in the flash IDE. The following API’s are supported in the first release :
To access these , it’s as simple as importing the nokia AS class libarys ( com.nokia.lib.* ) and then using the service class to create specific service interfaces. (see slide capture below)
As you can see, this is a massive difference to the viability of the flash lite platform for creating truly integrated mobile applications that can take advantage of the mobile platform. Although this could be done previously with 3rd party applications, this is a much simpler solution.
Info snippets :
) , but it was hinted at in the seminar that there would be some back porting for older handsets I will post links to the slides/examples as soon as they become available.
I did however grab some screen shots as the seminar was going, and you can download these from here
Matt
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hi ,
ustwo™ are giving away a free Monster Mash wallpaper from their site this halloween.
Designed to thoroughly haunt your phone, a series of animated monsters continually swap heads, bodies, eyes, ears, noses and mouths as they creep on and off your screen. The result is an ever-changing parade of Halloween ghouls (which are actually quite cute).
grab it from their blog - Here
Plugin your charger, and see what happens
Matt
Popularity: 73% [?]
I own and have read these books, and would highly recommend them.
