Randy Troppmann

Early this month Apple banned a developer whose 1000+ apps then disappeared from the app store. Wow. Apparently Apple felt they were gaming the review system which is probably not that difficult to prove.

This story hit home with me recently because my own iPhone App, RunningMap Trackometer, has been getting a few bad reviews on the US App Store. (you can see my blog post about it here). This is obviously devastating for sales and shows how important reviews are. My first thought was to get some friends to post some good reviews to counter the bad ones. And it would be easy to do. But think twice if you think its a good idea.

The problem of bad reviews is exacerbated by the fact that when you uninstall an app, you are prompted to review the app which I am sure encourages far more bad reviews than good ones. Ouch. Apple’s review system is broken!

Not so fast. There are some subtleties here. The App Store will show reviews only for the “current version” while hiding the rest under the “all versions” button. The App Store also prominently shows “what’s new in version …” so there is hope!

What will I do with my Trackometer app? Fix it. Improve it. Earn some better reviews. My customers will be able to see that I have read about their concerns and improved on the product. But I won’t fake the reviews.

I use a MacBook Pro as my main machine. When I am in my office it is plugged into an external monitor and sits on a stand. I use a wired Apple keyboard and an inexpensive wired Logitech mouse. I have tried many different combinations of wired and ‘less keyboards and mice and I much prefer wired devices. Batteries problems, connection problems, tracking problems. It would take more than a mighty effort to change my mind.

Then came the bluetooth wireless “Mighty Mouse”. Unlike other third party bluetooth mice, it connects quickly and tracks well. I like the little scroll ball (although when it gets dirty it does not work so well). I really don’t like the side buttons. There is one fatal flaw with this mouse: the whole body of the mouse is the click mechanism. If you need to lift the mouse because you run out of space, the mouse unclicks. Big problem. That being said, it has worked really well for me as a mouse I keep in my backpack when I am using the MBP away from the office. But, it didn’t change my mind.

I am happy to report that Apple’s brand spanking new “Magic Mouse” has solved this problem. You hold the mouse by the bottom half of the mouse. This is the single biggest reason I decided to write this blog post. No one is talking about what I think is a great fix to a gargantuan design mistake! Like the Mighty Mouse, the whole mouse is one big button which is a “left click” if your finger is pressing on the left side or “right click” if on the right. Leo Laporte complained on TWIT that this means you have to lift one finger and click with the other. That is the height of lazy! It’s a non issue to me.

The design is stunning: it’s like they put the Mighty Mouse on a diet. It is thin, sleek, shiny and light. I like the way it fits in my hand because I tend to hold a mouse and move it with my fingers. A mouse that is designed to fit my whole hand “erognomically” forces me to use more of my wrist and arm when mousing, which leads to shoulder pain. The sharp edges of the top take getting used to.

Now the killer feature: 2/3 of the top surface of the mouse is a trackpad. Gone is the scroll ball. With the lightest of touches of a single finger you can scroll a web page up, down left or right. Flick your finger and the window scrolls with momentum that stops immediately when you touch the top of the mouse again. Works brilliantly well. The only multi-finger use is side to side navigation using two fingers. I can see lots of possibilities. For example, click and drag is an ergonomic problem to me. Imagine clicking, release and move your finger to select text. I am sure there are more multitouch features to be added in the future.

Nice design. Tracks well. Connects quickly. Added rechargeable batteries. Magically changed my mind FTW.

UPDATE (25-03-2010): Hold yer horses. My home machine is a unibody MacBook Pro connected to a 23″ Cinema display, and the mouse works really well. I made my employer pony up for one to go with my dual quad core Mac Pro and the mouse is terrible! Nothing I did made it any better. It was mousing through molasses particularly when clicking and dragging up at an angle. Shrug. I gave up on it and am looking for another wireless mouse.