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9
Chapter 1: Getting Started with iPhone Development
Microphone
Support for the microphone is also missing in the
iPhone Packager. AIR 2.0 introduced the ability to
receive the sample data from the microphone, which
would enable you to encode the data and save it out.
This would allow developers to create voice-recording
applications or allow you to use voice as an additional
way to interact with your device.
AS1 and AS2
This may come as a surprise to some developers, but
there are still many developers who have not adopted
AS3 and are still using AS2 or AS1. If you are one of
these developers or have some older projects that you
are looking to convert, you will need to start learning
AS3 and start converting your projects. Currently, the
iPhone Packager works only with AS3, and there will not
be support for any earlier version of ActionScript. All the
tasks and code in this book are in ActionScript 3, so if
you are not familiar with it, I suggest you read up on
ActionScript in order to get up to speed first; I recommend
the book ActionScript: Your visual blueprint for creating
interactive projects in Flash CS4 Professional, available
from Wiley Publishing.
In App Purchase
One thing that has really helped developers sell
applications is the availability of a free version of your
application. These are sometimes referred to as Lite
versions. However, you were not able to really tell if any
of the customers who played the Lite version actually
bought the full version of the application. To help with
this, Apple introduced In App Purchase. This allows you
to set up a mini App Store inside your game. Now you
can provide a Lite version of your application and have
the customer purchase new levels or items from within
the game. The same App Store rules apply and Apple
takes 30% of any transaction. However, this allows you
to keep your users engaged in your application and offers
you control over what and how they upgrade. Currently,
In App Purchases are not available for Flash CS5 iPhone
applications. Adobe understands that this is a key feature
that will allow users to monetize their applications. Adobe
is currently looking at ways that it can provide this
feature in the iPhone Packager in future updates.
iPhone Standard Controls
One of the great things about iPhone applications, and
even OS X desktop applications, is the design and user
experience. Apple spends a lot of time creating controls
and components for developers to use so that
applications have a consistent look and feel, no matter
the developer. Currently, there is not an iPhone-specific
component set, nor do you have the ability to use the
ones in the iPhone SDK. However, there are some PSD
templates online that people have provided that have
most of the controls. This is not an ideal solution
because you will have to still develop the controls, but
the more you can make your app look like an application
built with the iPhone SDK, the better.
Push Notifications
Push notifications enable you as a developer to send
notifications to users who have downloaded or purchased
your applications. The great thing about this is that you
can receive notifications even when you are not running
the application. For example, an instant messaging
application could notify you when someone from your
contact list has come online. Push notifications are
currently unavailable for all Flash CS5 iPhone
applications. This does remain one of the most requested
features, and Adobe is looking at providing it in an update
to the iPhone Packager after the Flash CS5 launch.
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