June 27th, 2007
Surely you’ve heard by now that we over at the Iconfactory are sending hordes of squeaky wheels to grease up Apple in a bid to get Frenzic on the iPhone. That would be a good thing for the Iconfactory.
But this isn’t about that. This is about what’s good for Apple.
See, they’ve got this revolutionary new multi-touch interface, and I’ve figured out a few ways to take advantage of it and make the iPhone more popular than ever. Maybe even save it from being a flop. So listen up Apple – here are a few killer apps for that iPhone of yours:
1. Rotary Dialing
With the touchscreen, the iPhone’s interface can take any form imaginable. Slap a graphic of a rotary dial on the screen, and let users dial with circular flicks of their finger. Sure, the target market has probably never even seen a rotary dial, but that’s thinking small. Think of the buying power of the over-70 crowd. People who may be put off by a newfangled touchtone dialing interface would flock to a rotary dialed iPhone. Boom! You just increased your market share.
To bring this new demographic firmly into the Apple camp, 8-track slots should be integrated into all new Macs, allowing 8-track tapes to be ripped directly into iTunes.
2. Cupertino Thumb Wrestling Smackdown
The iPhone needs some games. What better way to leverage its capabilities than networked thumb wrestling? Challenge someone across the room or around the world to no-holds-barred, thumb-on-touchscreen smackdown action.
3. MMS
Sure, the iPhone has SMS, but what the interface is perfect for is MMS – “Morse-code Messaging System”. Forget all this nonsense about “increasing the target area” over the next key you’re likely to press. By using the touchscreen like a telegraph, you can tap anywhere on it to compose your message. Use your finger to tap out a quick series of dots and dashes and you’ll be messaging your friends quicker than ever. (Thanks to Dave Miller.)
Great ideas, huh? Well, there’s one more thing:
4. Dance Dance Revolution
The iPhone’s music capabilities, along with its touchscreen technology and color display make Dance Dance Revolution a no-brainer. You’d need several iPhones to play, of course, but you can borrow them from your friends. Lay them out on the floor in a grid, launch Dance Dance Revolution on them, and you’re ready for some dance magic. Just try not to step on the iPhones too hard.
Have any other great ideas for iPhone apps? Leave them in the comments.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Ant, the Dance Dance Revolution is actually not too far off. Think of a DDR game, but for your fingers! You’d have to tap in time, single taps, double taps, mini “jumps” and so on. Could compete against a friend over wi-fi and see who can hit the beat best.
Kinda like the finger skateboard craze, but for the iPhone. I think I just came up with a million dollar idea there. Quick, let’s add this to the Frenzic petition for Apple! We’ll call it Touch Touch Revolution.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Hey! The DDR app on the iPhone could be reminiscent of that old Simon game with the lights you had to hit. Remember that? You had to keep up as the lights lit up in sequence, faster and faster. Oh, the frustration and yet…nostalgia!
June 28th, 2007 at 8:29 am
I actually knew Morse code for a brief period of time back in high school when I tried to get my ham radio license. Also, I did a report on Samuel F. B. Morse back in middle school. “What hath God wrought?” could now be “What hath Steve wrought?”
June 28th, 2007 at 8:31 am
This is ideal for a virtual Chuck E. Cheese Bonanza…
Whack-A-Mole (smack your screen) & Skee Ball (flick your finger up the screen to launch the ball). They’ll need to come up with some iPhone attachment that will spit out worthless tickets that can be taken to your nearest Apple store for redemption. Perhaps you can buy a song on iTunes for 100 tickets. Or 10,000 Schrute Bucks.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Touch Touch Revolution – I like it! Get Talos working on the patent application…
And Jiffy, I thought the same thing – very Simon-like. It would fit in perfectly with the rotary dial and 8-track vibe.
@David: Impressive! My Morse code knowledge is limited to SOS, unfortunately.
@Brian: Whack-A-Mole would rock. And I love the ticket-spitter idea. Include a giant rat serving greasy pizza and we’re good to go.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
That rotary dial would be cool to use for fun.
Touch Touch Revolution and iPhone Simon would be cool too.
June 30th, 2007 at 9:33 am
On a serious note: The Morse Code Idea could be handy for older folks who have a hard time reading keypad letters and moving their arthritic fingers fast enough to text message, especially while driving. (OOPS, back to silly).
June 30th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Anthony, I don’t know a darn thing about what this post is about. I am a complete tech failure; my little 5 year old neighbor boy comes over and sets my VCR for me. But I have this site on my blog list because I love your art work, cartoons and anything else you do. Beside, from time to time you may get on a topic way down on my level which we can agree to disagree on. LOL Brenda
July 1st, 2007 at 11:42 am
brenda you’re too funny -thanks for bookmarking me.
by the way … I’m typing this on an iphone at the christiana mall in Delaware.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Hi,
Regarding the morse code interface: If you talk to most 50+wpm morse code operators, they’ll tell you that the touch tapping is not an ideal interface. There are a couple reasons:
1. Not great tactile feedback (most people like to use tactile senses to feel when a button is being pressed.)
2. The two finger “mouse button” like tap is not as natural as the “squeeze” techinque of iambic paddles.
20 – 30wpm is probably doable though and I don’t thing that there are any SMSers on the planet that can do 30wpm. Getting hams to try the interface may change that limit, however. Lots of morse ops at 60+wpm with iambic paddles.
I’ve started to write a morse MMS java midlet for my razr. Hope to have time to finish it soon.
Marc
July 6th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Thanks for the info Marc. Regarding number 1 in your comment, the same criticism can (and has) been leveled against typing on the touchscreen keypad as well. I’m sure you’re right, but hey – if you’re really into Morse code, something is better than nothing.
As for the speed comparison, that reminded me of this Jay Leno clip:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AhsSgcsTMd4
July 9th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Hi Anthony,
I agree, something is better than nothing. I wouldn’t know how to do it with the iphone until it’s hacked?
About a year ago, that Jay Leno clip pushed me from always wanting to be a ham to getting my license and learning morse code.
Marc