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Bjork Brings Biophilia to Android With a Little Help From Apportable (YC W11)

129 points by collinjackson 13y ago

dirkdk 13y ago
congrats Collin, Zac and others! Awesome technology, perfect for porting non-standard UI apps from iOs to Android
- joshbaptiste 13y ago
  indeed.. wondering how this is done technically.
  - zbowling 13y ago
    This is a video I gave at iOSDevCamp on how it all works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHNq3D4ko74 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHNq3D4ko74 and the slides: https://slid.es/zacbowling/objective-c-for-android https://slid.es/zacbowling/objective-c-for-android
zbowling 13y ago
Original title was "YCW11 Objective-C for Android startup Apportable gets 2m led by Google Ventures". More on that story: http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFVW00020130717e97haongz&cid=32135029&ctype=ts http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFVW00020130717e97haong...
codereflection 13y ago
The Apportable people are sitting on a goldmine.
- pjmlp 13y ago
  Most likely, the cold truth about mobile development is that the guys selling middleware, trainings and even certifications are doing much more money than most app developers. It is the usual story about selling shovels in any gold race.
  - tsunamifury 13y ago
    Not even close. You think middleware and trainings are a 5 billion dollar market?
    - pjmlp 13y ago
      Which guys are getting 5 billion dollar from their apps?!
Kapura 13y ago
This seems as good a place as any to dump thoughts about "app-albums" in general. One thing that I always try to remember is that we're living in the future, and it's foolish to assume that things from the past will work the same way in the future. Hence, app albums. Album apps. Whatever. Point is, people have smartphones now. The music experience is changing because of that. I'm down with it. In fact, $13 for an album with all the extra app functionality seems pretty good, seeing as the standard iTunes album price is $10. But the problem with creating this sort of future-music experience is that it leaves some people behind. It used to be simply an iPhone app, but now there's an android port. Guess what: my phone still can't get it, because my phone's version of android isn't supported by the app. I couldn't get the Magna Carta Holy Grail app either. Apps aren't a universal format like a record or a cd or an MP3. They therefore necessarily leave some people behind. You could argue that every media shift does that. But when the album becomes a sort of multi-media experience, it's tragic that somebody would need a different device that in almost every other respect is functionally identical to their current device to experience it. Which is what makes a service like apportable important: it's expanding the audience of this numedia album experience. I doubt there are many people who want to limit who has access to what art or information, but the problem with being so future is that you're imposing those limits in the pursuit of making something unique. Maybe I'm overthinking it. But I hate feeling like I'm missing some part of the experience because I'm happy with the phone I have.
- jrochkind1 13y ago
  It leaves the _future_ behind too. Or a less paradoxical way to say that. In 15 years, I bet I'll still be able to listen to my mp3s, no problem at all. If I still have some CD's I haven't ripped, I bet I'll be able to rip them without too much trouble, even 15 years from now. I'll probably still have my turntable and be able to play my vinyl, even. Will I be able to listen/play to Bjork's app/album in 15 years?
  - lambda 13y ago
    Some art is ephemeral. Not all art needs to preserved for all time. Have you ever seen a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala? The monks spend weeks creating an amazing detailed geometric piece of art, and then carefully destroy it, pouring the sand into a nearby river. That said, I'm sure that the actual music will be released in a more portable/permanent format at some point. This really isn't that much different from other album concepts that depend on a particular medium. The Who's Tommy is a rock opera; but more people know just the album. I recall various artists releasing albums on CD-ROM with interactive graphics and animation back in the mid '90s; and of course those were platform specific, for now obsolete platforms (though you may be able to run them in an emulator if you want to try playing them). Enjoy the art now, in the context it was created for. Maybe it will exist in the future, maybe it won't. Don't worry about it too much.
yoda_sl 13y ago
If they are able to get the UIKit framework up and running, then they will have the killer platform overall. I can see already the advantages for games that are mostly OpenGL but with UIKit it will be 'game over' :-)
- zbowling 13y ago
  We have something new coming down the pipe for UIKit soon. Stay tuned.
  - yoda_sl 13y ago
    I am :-)... already signup for the free plan, and I can see the Indie plan has the "Advanced framework" Suggestion: you may want to have somewhere a screencast showing a standard UIKit app demoed, may be the standard Widget catalog demo that's available with Apple SDK.
    - collinjackson 13y ago
      Good suggestion, we'll make sure to include UICatalog
  - mgw 13y ago
    Apportable looks extremely interesting for our company. Can you give us an indication of how far we can get right now with a UIKit based app (no game, no OpenGL) and Apportable? I couldn't find any documentation about this on the web. I assume and hope your upcoming announcement is regarding non-game apps. :)
bornhuetter 13y ago
Apportable looks like a fantastic product. Does anyone know if such a thing exists going in the other direction (Android to iOS)? Anything to help with making it easier for developers to make reliable cross-platform apps is very valuable to the industry.
- BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
  That seems like the direction that would be less vulnerable to copyright/patent claims. I could easily see Apple raising hell over the compatibility layer Apportable ships with their "ports". Android, itself being an open-source project, would be immune to that.
  - jtheory 13y ago
    Sure, but Apple, being sometimes a little overeager to keep the apps they accept "of the right sort" -- ideally fully native, really -- could see an compatibility layer and decide to simply refuse to approve any apps using the bundled Android layer.
    - BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
      They would have in the past. These days they do allow a variety of mechanisms that let not-exactly-native apps run in iOS.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
zbowling 13y ago
Apportable blog post on the announcement with a more technical explanation on how Apportable works exactly: http://blog.apportable.com/apportable-raises-2-dollars-dot-4m-led-by-google-ventures http://blog.apportable.com/apportable-raises-2-dollars-dot-4...
- zbowling 13y ago
  Collin is doing an IAMA on the story: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_apportable_and_helped_bj%C3%B6rk_convert/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_app...
qwertzlcoatl 13y ago
I hope it doesn't come with the privacy intrusion of a Jay-Z.
BenjieGillam 13y ago
This couldn't have happened at a better time for the apps we're working on in the coming months! Congratulations on launching and all the best for the future :)
collinjackson 13y ago
I'm doing an IAmA about this story: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_apportable_and_helped_bj%C3%B6rk_convert/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_app...
nnq 13y ago
Side question, but... why develop for a closed platform like iOS first, and then port to an open(ish) platform like Android? (now, I know some answers, but I really hope people don't start doing this for new projects, even if Apportable is as good as they say...)
- pavlov 13y ago
  Why not? It's basically the same as developing a desktop app for Mac first, then porting it to Windows. It makes much more sense than going the other way -- you'll never get a good Mac app if the platform wasn't considered from the start. The more closed platform has a stricter standard for user experience. It makes sense to build around that standard, then port it to the "free-for-all" platforms with necessary adaptations.

129 points by collinjackson 13y ago

dirkdk 13y ago

congrats Collin, Zac and others! Awesome technology, perfect for porting non-standard UI apps from iOs to Android

joshbaptiste 13y ago
indeed.. wondering how this is done technically.
- zbowling 13y ago
  This is a video I gave at iOSDevCamp on how it all works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHNq3D4ko74 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHNq3D4ko74 and the slides: https://slid.es/zacbowling/objective-c-for-android https://slid.es/zacbowling/objective-c-for-android

zbowling 13y ago

Original title was "YCW11 Objective-C for Android startup Apportable gets 2m led by Google Ventures". More on that story: http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFVW00020130717e97haongz&cid=32135029&ctype=ts http://pevc.dowjones.com/Article?an=DJFVW00020130717e97haong...

codereflection 13y ago

The Apportable people are sitting on a goldmine.

pjmlp 13y ago
Most likely, the cold truth about mobile development is that the guys selling middleware, trainings and even certifications are doing much more money than most app developers. It is the usual story about selling shovels in any gold race.
- tsunamifury 13y ago
  Not even close. You think middleware and trainings are a 5 billion dollar market?
  - pjmlp 13y ago
    Which guys are getting 5 billion dollar from their apps?!

Kapura 13y ago

This seems as good a place as any to dump thoughts about "app-albums" in general. One thing that I always try to remember is that we're living in the future, and it's foolish to assume that things from the past will work the same way in the future. Hence, app albums. Album apps. Whatever. Point is, people have smartphones now. The music experience is changing because of that. I'm down with it. In fact, $13 for an album with all the extra app functionality seems pretty good, seeing as the standard iTunes album price is $10. But the problem with creating this sort of future-music experience is that it leaves some people behind. It used to be simply an iPhone app, but now there's an android port. Guess what: my phone still can't get it, because my phone's version of android isn't supported by the app. I couldn't get the Magna Carta Holy Grail app either. Apps aren't a universal format like a record or a cd or an MP3. They therefore necessarily leave some people behind. You could argue that every media shift does that. But when the album becomes a sort of multi-media experience, it's tragic that somebody would need a different device that in almost every other respect is functionally identical to their current device to experience it. Which is what makes a service like apportable important: it's expanding the audience of this numedia album experience. I doubt there are many people who want to limit who has access to what art or information, but the problem with being so future is that you're imposing those limits in the pursuit of making something unique. Maybe I'm overthinking it. But I hate feeling like I'm missing some part of the experience because I'm happy with the phone I have.

jrochkind1 13y ago
It leaves the _future_ behind too. Or a less paradoxical way to say that. In 15 years, I bet I'll still be able to listen to my mp3s, no problem at all. If I still have some CD's I haven't ripped, I bet I'll be able to rip them without too much trouble, even 15 years from now. I'll probably still have my turntable and be able to play my vinyl, even. Will I be able to listen/play to Bjork's app/album in 15 years?
- lambda 13y ago
  Some art is ephemeral. Not all art needs to preserved for all time. Have you ever seen a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala? The monks spend weeks creating an amazing detailed geometric piece of art, and then carefully destroy it, pouring the sand into a nearby river. That said, I'm sure that the actual music will be released in a more portable/permanent format at some point. This really isn't that much different from other album concepts that depend on a particular medium. The Who's Tommy is a rock opera; but more people know just the album. I recall various artists releasing albums on CD-ROM with interactive graphics and animation back in the mid '90s; and of course those were platform specific, for now obsolete platforms (though you may be able to run them in an emulator if you want to try playing them). Enjoy the art now, in the context it was created for. Maybe it will exist in the future, maybe it won't. Don't worry about it too much.

yoda_sl 13y ago

If they are able to get the UIKit framework up and running, then they will have the killer platform overall. I can see already the advantages for games that are mostly OpenGL but with UIKit it will be 'game over' :-)

zbowling 13y ago
We have something new coming down the pipe for UIKit soon. Stay tuned.
- yoda_sl 13y ago
  I am :-)... already signup for the free plan, and I can see the Indie plan has the "Advanced framework" Suggestion: you may want to have somewhere a screencast showing a standard UIKit app demoed, may be the standard Widget catalog demo that's available with Apple SDK.
  - collinjackson 13y ago
    Good suggestion, we'll make sure to include UICatalog
- mgw 13y ago
  Apportable looks extremely interesting for our company. Can you give us an indication of how far we can get right now with a UIKit based app (no game, no OpenGL) and Apportable? I couldn't find any documentation about this on the web. I assume and hope your upcoming announcement is regarding non-game apps. :)

bornhuetter 13y ago

Apportable looks like a fantastic product. Does anyone know if such a thing exists going in the other direction (Android to iOS)? Anything to help with making it easier for developers to make reliable cross-platform apps is very valuable to the industry.

BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
That seems like the direction that would be less vulnerable to copyright/patent claims. I could easily see Apple raising hell over the compatibility layer Apportable ships with their "ports". Android, itself being an open-source project, would be immune to that.
- jtheory 13y ago
  Sure, but Apple, being sometimes a little overeager to keep the apps they accept "of the right sort" -- ideally fully native, really -- could see an compatibility layer and decide to simply refuse to approve any apps using the bundled Android layer.
  - BHSPitMonkey 13y ago
    They would have in the past. These days they do allow a variety of mechanisms that let not-exactly-native apps run in iOS.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

zbowling 13y ago

Apportable blog post on the announcement with a more technical explanation on how Apportable works exactly: http://blog.apportable.com/apportable-raises-2-dollars-dot-4m-led-by-google-ventures http://blog.apportable.com/apportable-raises-2-dollars-dot-4...

zbowling 13y ago
Collin is doing an IAMA on the story: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_apportable_and_helped_bj%C3%B6rk_convert/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_app...

qwertzlcoatl 13y ago

I hope it doesn't come with the privacy intrusion of a Jay-Z.

BenjieGillam 13y ago

This couldn't have happened at a better time for the apps we're working on in the coming months! Congratulations on launching and all the best for the future :)

collinjackson 13y ago

I'm doing an IAmA about this story: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_apportable_and_helped_bj%C3%B6rk_convert/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1iiyxu/i_cofounded_app...

nnq 13y ago

Side question, but... why develop for a closed platform like iOS first, and then port to an open(ish) platform like Android? (now, I know some answers, but I really hope people don't start doing this for new projects, even if Apportable is as good as they say...)

pavlov 13y ago
Why not? It's basically the same as developing a desktop app for Mac first, then porting it to Windows. It makes much more sense than going the other way -- you'll never get a good Mac app if the platform wasn't considered from the start. The more closed platform has a stricter standard for user experience. It makes sense to build around that standard, then port it to the "free-for-all" platforms with necessary adaptations.