Much has been said and written about the App Store, up to being described by its fiercest critics as a totalitarian service with draconian policies, all due to how Apple handles the review process of developers’ submitted applications.

True, the weirdest apps are let through, and others are given the finger for little to no apparent reasons. We have witnessed this first-hand, and barely survived a review process that lasted for three months; that of iSimulate, a tool for iPhone developers that makes developing iPhone applications easier. It is no easy to wait for three months not knowing when, or if, your work will see the light, and to top it off, not being able to start a discussion with the gatekeepers.

One good has just happened though. Apple, perhaps in the spirit of the upcoming holidays, approved our 1.5 update of iSimulate although it used a private API. Alongside the approval of the update, came the usual and dreaded rejection e-mail, but its wording wasn’t as bad as before:

They caught it, but they let it through. This was an old piece of code that missed the cutting floor. So instead of us having to go through the review process all over again, we will just have this solved in the next update. Perfect.

We commend Apple for this action, and hopefully this will only be the beginning of more, more and more leniency. It surely isn’t the transparency many seek, and the floodgates have not yet been opened, but oh boy, surviving a rejection is no mere an ordeal.

We live to fight for another app. Yaaay! But for now, party all day.

iSimulate 1.5 has been released, and with this supercharged update, iSimulate can now send compass events to the iPhone Simulator, and now supports the full-range of UIKit objects. Your wishes have came true; your touches are now passed to all types of UIKit objects.

The 1.5 Update is available on the App Store, and is a free download for existing customers. New in 1.5:

Compass Support

Using an iPhone 3GS, iSimulate will now send the events recorded by the magnetenometer (compass) and send them to the iPhone Simulator, thus allowing you to develop compass-aware application on the iPhone Simulator.

Full UIKit Support

With iSimulate 1.5, now all UIKit objects receive touch events, including scrolling and the keyboard. With this supercharged update, you can now use iSimulate to develop an even wider array of applications.

iSimulate 1.1 has been released. It brings a number of exciting new features to offer an even more amazing solution for iPhone Developers to help them create iPhone applications even easier.

The 1.1 Update is available on the App Store as a free download for existing customers, and at the normal price for new customers.

New features in 1.1:

 

Video Streaming

Now it becomes even easier than ever to develop and record videos of your applications. While your application is running on the iPhone Simulator, whether it is a UIKit-based application or an OpenGL game, iSimulate will stream it as a video to your iPhone or iPod Touch in realtime, so that you can more easily move your fingers across the screen, and accurately touch the buttons and controls.

Orientation Notifications

Whenever you change the orientation of your device, iSimulate will take note and will send an orientation change notification to your application running in the iPhone Simulator, and even rotate the iPhone Simulator window according to the direction of change.

Customizable Touch Indicators

With iSimulate 1.1, you can easily customize the look of the touch indicator appearing on the iPhone Simulator You can even customize the look of each of the touches based on the region the touch occured at.

The iSimulate Trailer Contest has come to an end, and our winner is “Above & Beyond Air Combat”.

Thanks for all developers who submitted their trailers.

Here is a chance for you to add an iPhone 3GS to the devices you use for developing iPhone applications. Create a trailer of your iPhone application or game using iSimulate, and submit it before 6:00 PM EST of September 25 for a chance to win $199 towards an iPhone 3GS. The winner will be selected on September 30.

It boils down to just sending us a link to your trailer uploaded on Youtube at [email protected]. More details are in the contest’s page.

So long as the video uses iSimulate and promotes an iPhone application or game, it will be accepted.

Update: Submission extended till September 25.

Update (09-25-2009): Submission now closed.

After a long 3-month review process, iSimulate brings multi-touch, the accelerometer and GPS to the iPhone Simulator. Finally, iPhone developers will be able to create stunning trailers of their iPhone apps and games.

With iSimulate installed on an iPhone or iPod Touch, a developer then adds an SDK library file to his project, run iSimulate, and all of the multi-touch, accelerometer and GPS events are wirelessly sent to the iPhone Simulator. With any video screen capturing tool running, the developer can create stunning high quality trailers of their applications and games. Here is a list of all of iSimulate’s features.

But it does not stop here. Installing applications on a provisioned device during development is a painstakingly slow process, that is longer the larger the application size is. With iSimulate, developers can develop their applications on the iPhone Simulator, which is at least 5 times faster to install a compiled binary to, saving much precious time.

As Eric Hartzog, developer of the #1 App Store game Stick Wars said, “iSimulate shines when it comes to making high quality videos of gameplay that requires multi-touch and accelerometer actions! No more Youtube videos in a dark room!”

We have a geeky launch sale. iSimulate will start at $4 and, its price will rise exponentially till it reaches the full price of $32. On August 4 it becomes $8. On August 8 it becomes $16, and on August 16 it becomes $32.

App Store Link: http://www.itunes.com/app/isimulate/

More Details on iSimulate: http://www.vimov.com/isimulate/

Today, on June 14th, we demoed Exorcist at the 2009 DemoCampME, an event that promotes enterpeneurship, new ideas and technology adoption in the Middle East.

vimov was among a number of companies that presented their projects to investors, journalists, bloggers, and technology enthusiasts. We presented Exorcist, and towards it we received an overwhelming positive feedback, with many impressed of Exorcist being the first videogame for the iPhone in the Middle East.

We have been receiving very positive reviews on Exorcist in the past few days. Here are a select few:

“All in all Exorcist remains a gem of a game that should not be missed by any iTouch/Phone gamer looking for something different that simply cannot be reproduced on any other platform. There are different definitions as to what games “show off” the iTouch/Phone as a viable platform for games, but for my money games like Exorcist show just how this platform can be used to produce unique works available no where else.” - Spiffyone on the App Store

“Gameplay for this game is unique to the App Store, something we haven’t seen the likes of yet. It provides a unique experience to the App Store and isn’t just some copy of another app. It is pretty polished and runs smoothly.” - theone1007 at TouchArcade

“It’s a perfect pick-up-and-play game.” - Sciuridae at TouchArcade

And, TheAppPodcast gave it a video review, and described the game as “very addicting”:

We are glad to announce that Exorcist, our first game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, has been released. After a long review process that lasted 15 years days, Exorcist is now available on the iTunes App Store.

Exorcist is a new engaging and creative puzzle game that employs the iPhone’s touch and accelerometer in a genuine gameplay that has never been done before. Use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a magic wand and complete spells in a challenging race against time.

We have put together a trailer for the game, you can watch it here:

http://www.vimov.com/exorcist/

Next week, on Tuesday, April 28th, at 04:00 PM, we will be giving an introductory session on iPhone Development at the Faculty of Engineering.

The 90-minute session is targeted for software developers, and will focus on building native applications for the iPhone OS platform. It will cover an introduction to the iPhone OS, the App Store distribution model, how native applications are developed for the iPhone, and will delve into using the iPhone’s accelerometer and multi-touch capabilities.

The session is open to attendance for the faculty staff and all students interested in learning how to build native iPhone applications.