I want to implement Omniture tracking in an iPhone application. I just have a basic clue on Omniture, that it is third party software that helps you to track keyword searches by your users in your application, and it also helps to present similar searches to the users, and helps reporting. Please correct me if I am wrong as I still digging information on it.
I want to implement the same iPhone form in my application.
I have googled for the information about Omniture tracking, it is scare and there is no help as to how to implement it in an iPhone application.
Can any one guide me how it is done and how to do it iPhone?
I can't give much advice if you're building a native Objective C app, other than to say you should read Omniture's iPhone implementation guide. If you're building an embedded web application, and given that you want to integrate keyword search suggestions, I don't think you have much of a choice, but I'd recommend using their regular JavaScript library the same way you would if you were integrating Omniture into your web site. The js engine on the iPhone is fast enough that you probably won't notice any degradation in performance and the memory footprint's not that big.
It sounds like you only want to use Omniture because it's the one you've heard of. There are other tracking solutions like Flurry and Google Analytics that both offer iOS SDKs and are easier to implement and easier to find documentation about than Omniture.
I recommend Flurry personally as it gives you more device-specific data that Google does.
http://www.flurry.com/product/analytics/index.html
http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/ios.html
Related
I'm building an web application with react-native.
In this app I need to gather some information about users.
One of them is how much time they spend on other apps installed on their phone.
I couldn't find any library for this job, so I've decided to write the native code my self.
For android, apparently there is this UsageStatsManager that can help me achieve what I want.
But when I searched for sth similar in ios, I found lots of old forums saying that this is not possible.
But I recently I saw this:
It is asking for permission to gather other apps data. SO IT IS POSSIBLE?
Any suggestion is appreciated. How am I supposed to this?
There is no API by apple itself for retrieving data of third party applications. This is called "Sandboxing" where applications are restricted from changing the device settings or retrieving/changing other apps data. Hence, why iphones are secure.
What you have shown in your screenshots is to track application data for personalised ads and such. This can be achieved using the AppTrackingTransparency framework provided by apple. You can read more about the framework here.
TL;DR - You can use AppTrackingTransparency for personalisation
Is this a violation of Apple app development rules? In some forums I just saw that thing. So am afraid of getting rejected by AppStore if I use the same. Help me with this please. And if I can't use Google Analytics SDK then which will be the best analytics method I could implement for my App?
This is not legal advice, but, as of right now, no apps have been rejected by Apple for using Google Analytics.
Google has released an official iOS Google Analytics SDK, and there is no record of Apple explicitly forbidding or discouraging its use.
Google Analytics is the most widely used analytics solution around, and unless your operations are based out of Germany, you likely have little to worry about.
I'm not sure about Google Analytics vs Apple rules, but if you're just looking for any way to have stats, have a look at Flurry Statistics - it's quite powerful and completely free. Also I never heard of any legal issues with it (I think you just need to inform users in your app's EULA that you collect data to make the application better).
my name is Peter and I'm with Flurry. Thanks to delirus for pointing out that we have a free service. We support iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WP7 and JavaME. Regarding iOS, we have no knowledge that any app has been rejected during the app submission process due to the inclusion of Flurry Analytics. Over 38,000 companies use Flurry Analytics. You can learn more at www.flurry.com. Thanks, Peter
Google Analytics is under scrutiny in certain regions of this planet because some people believe they are not respecting data protection laws and legislation.
So even if Apple accepts your app you run the risk of somebody filling a complaint with Apple and as result your app could be withdrawn at a later stage.
If you don't know yourself which analytic tool is best for your needs then I assume you have not really thought about what data you really require. Take a moment or two to come up with a list of requirements and then start looking for the tool best matching the needs.
I am pretty new to iPhone and spent some months on it but.....But i think my learning went waste when i read about web application for iPhone...These can be developed even with a nil knowledge of Objective c...
I am very shocked about that what is need of an iPhone native app....i mean iPhone developers are less required now?
please suggest........
Well it's not that simple.
You can do quite a lot on the iphone with html5 and css3. Especially effects using webkit transforms are really impressive and performant. Furthermore, you can for example access the GPS hardware using javascript.
On top of that it is also possible to write 'enhanced' webapplications using a framework like phonegap (http://www.phonegap.com/) that enables you to use things like the accelerometer or tab controls via javascript as well as makes your webapplication into a compiled app that can be destributed via the appstore (and used offline).
Combine these features with a framework like sencha touch (http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/) or the currently developed jquery mobile and you can write really usefull applications that feel like native iphone apps using mostly just web technology. Another benefit is, that these applications can also be ported to android devices rather easily.
But this all comes at the price of performance. Thomas Fuchs blogged some of his experiences in speeding up web applications for the ipad here: http://mir.aculo.us/2010/06/04/making-an-ipad-html5-app-making-it-really-fast/
Generally speaking it is extremely hard to write realtime or image heavy applications that perform smoothly on the ipad and it is close to impossible to match the performance and smoothness of native core animation effects.
Furthermore things like file access, core data (some hacks exist) or direct access to the 3d hardware require you to write cocoa code anyway.
In my current applications i usually start with a bare-bone ios app containing some webviews. Then i sketch up features using web technology and implement performance critical parts using cocoa
I have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, there are two ways to develop applications that can run on the iPhone: web applications and native applications. Yes, web applications don't require you to know Objective-C. Yes, Objective-C is more difficult than HTML/CSS. But you can't do everything in a web application that you can in a native application. So no, native apps aren't going anywhere any time soon, and neither are the programmers who write them. They are no "less required" now than before.
It's the same thing on the desktop. You can write web applications that the user runs in their web browser, or you can write a native app in Objective-C. There is a place for both, but native apps aren't going anywhere any time soon.
You can choose to take the easier route, if you choose, but you won't end up in the same place as someone who has taken the time to learn Objective-C and written a native app. Whether you need that additional latitude and functionality is up to you. As long as you're making threats like "help me or I will leave this field", I suspect that very few of us will miss you.
A huge portion of possible apps that don't require the highest performance, special device hardware features not yet supported in HTML5, nor the security of compiled code, can be done as web apps.
But if you need the highest frame rates or a lot of number crunching, a native app can run from around 20X to over 200X faster than Javascript in a web app. A native app can also do audio processing and real-time video analysis, background VOIP or GPS tracking, use other brand new iOS APIs (MIDI keyboard support, etc.), and include lots of compiled libraries and other unix code that just isn't available in HTML5.
I've summed up my thoughts on the whole "native vs. web" discussion in a blog post here: http://www.springenwerk.com/2011/09/thoughts-on-mobile-ui-design.html
In a nutshell: You can't get around getting to know the platform you are targeting if you want to provide a great user experience. Plus, you shouldn't try to mimic native UI/UX in a web application, it will only disappoint your users.
A client do not want to consider MonoTouch for a new project.
MonoTouch.info has a long list of apps, but I have not found any on the caliber that can convince a client too choose a technology. The client has seen the list, and actually use the bland screenshots as an argument against MonoTouch.
Where can I find examples of applications useful as motivation. High profile apps created using MonoTouch, the apps you call home about. The apps that made it to the top 25 lists in their category.?
I responded on Twitter but thought I'd reply properly here;
The first app I will mention is iCircuit - http://icircuitapp.com/ - this application is featured on the Apple website here - http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/apps/index.html#workflow-icircuit - and is a pretty good seller.
Diggify is a Digg application which hit the top #8 sold application in Canada apparently - http://www.intomobile.com/apps/diggify/359756952/
An application that I built myself (it's a little old now admittedly) but I do think that it looks rather nice - http://bit.ly/gfxmasappstore :)
London Bike App is another nice looking application - http://www.londonbikeapp.com/
Update: Wow, this is an old question, there's a whole bunch of great apps using MonoTouch at http://xamarin.com/apps
Hope this helps,
ChrisNTR
I know of a couple apps that were built using Monotouch and sold very well but due to the uncertainly surrounding the terms when MT first came out and later the 3.3.1 mess the devs didn't make a big fuss out of it. I suspect they aren't the only ones not publicizing what technology they used to make their app.
If your client is using a handful of screenshots on a website as the reason to rule out using Monotouch then you might want to rethink your pitch. Whether or not an app has been developed in native Objective-C or C# via Monotouch makes no difference on the overall design or appearance because both rely on the CocoaTouch framework for UI. Being able to deliver an app that meets your client's idea of what makes a great app has nothing to do with the language you use and has everything to do with your ability to translate the essence of their ideas into a solid design and UX. Sell that, not the framework.
I found this article to be helpful when I'm trying to explain to others why I use Monotouch over native objective-c.
"Why we chose MonoTouch to write the Diggify iPhone app"
This just saves time.
Since I already have a web applciation.
I can just stick it inside a webview.
The question is: Does it turn off many users? How many users will be disgusted that the entire iPhone app is written in WebView?
I think it's pretty safe to say that most iPhone users are expecting apps to use the power of the iPhone, not just be a portal to a mobile website.
Think about facebook mobile compared to iPhone facebook app. If you're an iPhone user, I'm assuming you'd much rather use the app than a mobile version of the site (or mobile version of the site contained in a WebView in a an app).
That being said, depending on your app, if the mobile version of your app is highly usable, it could be okay...
Just my thoughts...
John Gruber on Daring Fireball just wrote about this today.
From a usability perspective, native apps usually feel better. They may also be more responsive and handle large amounts of data more gracefully. I have a few so-called "apps" on my devices which are just glorified Web apps, and they don't necessarily scream quality.
If you've already done your app, then just ship it. But keep your mind open to feedback from your users.
The answer is almost certainly "no". People care far more about the usability and experience of interacting with your application than what API-supplied widget you use to render it.
I read Apple has begun removing apps that are like this. Well technically, they remove apps they think could be easily implemented as a webapp instead. Yours obviously qualifies ;)
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/07/apple-cookie-cutter-apps/
EDIT: Apple seems to not mind, according to the Human Interface Guidelines:
If you have a webpage or web application, you might choose to use a web view to implement a simple iPhone application that provides a wrapper for it.
Of course, Apple has a tendency to contradict themselves. ;)
Apple human interface guidelines says this isn't even allowed. I forget where it comes from, but somewhere in the guideline it says apps that are only web views are not allowed. I'm about 95% sure I've seen this. Can anyone confirm?