How to Gamify your app using a timer-based scoring system.

A lot of mobile app developers today like to incorporate game mechanics into their apps. The reason is simple: We all love incentives. That’s the core of game mechanics. It incentivizes users to perform various actions/behaviors in an application. Some companies managed to increase the number of users who completed their online tasks from 10% to 80% after adding gamification elements. A few real-world examples are loyalty programs, achievement badges, leaderboards etc.

Anyways, one effective way to incorporate game mechanics is to start with a timer-based system. This method can be a good start for developers who wish to gamify their apps without spending too much time and resources.

This is how it works. Whenever a user performs an action (tapping on an ad, tapping on a feature, opening the help page, tapping on a function etc), he/she gets awarded points for every action. As these points get accumulated and cross pre-defined thresholds, they can automatically unlock bonus features or functionality within the app.

Technically this should not be too hard to implement. I am not a programmer but the way I look at it, create an integer-based timer within your code and associate it with all the user actions you deem appropriate. This timer gets incremented in value every time one of these actions is performed. Let this timer be displayed on the main app screen permanently so that a user knows exactly how many points he is getting. When the timer reaches a particular value, it automatically triggers an event to enable a special feature or functionality within the app.

A good example where this could work would be a video app like Crackle. So if Crackle awarded points to a user everytime he/she tapped on a video or watched an ad or shared a video or just simply tapped on a feature etc, the timer would keep track of these user events and generate points based on each event. Once the user has reached let’s say 50 points, the timer would automatically unlock an exclusive trailer or a movie.

Such systems do exist, but they don’t reward user behavior at such a deep level. I am basically talking about rewarding almost 95% of all tasks that are performed in an app. It takes the game of incentives to another level together. If planned properly, this can be a great game mechanic for your app. 

My blogs tend to be long so I will keep this one short for now. I would love to hear your thoughts/criticisms on this. 

You can follow me on Twitter @aabidsiddique or mail me at aabid.s@live.com for any questions.

5 reasons why you should NOT buy the new iPad.

I feel bad for electronic giants like Samsung, Sony and HTC. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D (and cheap labor) and come up with some of the most advanced devices that mankind has to offer. And all Apple has to do is launch the same damn thing with slightly upgraded specs and the rest of the industry is back to being a loser.

This cycle repeats itself every year. And the world never gets over it. I think the most hard-working people at Apple were the ones who designed the first iPhone/iPad. After that, the whole company has merely just sat back and sipped coffee. And in between the numerous coffee breaks, they manage to squeeze in some work. But of course, the billions of dollars never stop rolling in.

Anyways the main purpose of this article is to give a “scientific” opinion on why you should skip this new iPad and just wait for the next one (or the one after that).

Let’s get started:

1) RETINA DISPLAY – The biggest selling point of the new iPad is the “mind-blowing” Retina Display. Well, let’s do some quick digging here. According to Apple’s own definition, Retina Display means that the human eye won’t notice any pixelation on a screen like this. Many prominent researchers have concluded that for this to happen, the density of a screen needs to be atleast 300 Pixels Per Inch (PPI). 

Apple definitely made sure of that when it came to the iPhone 4 and 4s. Both these phones have a screen density of 326 PPI which is much more than what is needed for picture perfect graphics. But the new iPad only has a 264 PPI density. That’s 10% less than what’s recommended for zero pixelation (atleast for the human eye). How exactly is this classified as Retina Display then? Either Apple decided to change its definition of what Retina Display should mean, or this is just false advertising.

Some people might argue that since the iPad is viewed from a slightly longer distance as compared to the iPhone, the lower density of the iPad is not an issue. That's a valid point, but the general consensus among all retinal scientists is that a minimum density of 300 PPI is required for the human eye to not be able to notice any pixelation from any distance. That's why it's also recommended that a good photograph should be printed in at atleast 300 PPI when using a regular printer.

Don’t get me wrong here. The new iPad definitely has amazing clarity. I personally loved some of the apps that were being showcased, but the point here is that this screen is still not Retina Display grade, and hopefully the next one will be. That’s reason number one.

2) APPS NOT OPTIMIZED – One of the biggest selling points for the new iPad is the apps ecosystem. Well, the problem here is that almost 95% of all iPad apps are not even optimized for the retina display. These apps were all built to cater to the older resolution, and given the nature of this industry, it will take atleast 6 months or more before most popular iPad apps get optimized. And the less popular apps will probably take more than a year to do this. What does that mean? It means that by the time the next iPad is out, we will have a far greater selection of apps that have been reconfigured for this screen. So there is reason number two on why you should wait for the next iPad.

3) NOT QUAD CORE – At a time when pretty much every other device manufacturer is launching phones and tablet PC’s with quad-core processors as well as insane graphical capabilities, I still don’t understand why Apple had to go ahead and include a dual-core processor. Yes they put in a quad-core graphics processor but that’s not the point here. Apple is the king of the herd when it comes to holding back specs.  

To be honest, there are really no games or apps out there that will even require quad-core processing capabilities at this time, but for tech lovers like me, technology is our version of bling. We love insane specs, and Samsung does a good job of fulfilling these desires.

If Apple had included a quad-core processor, a lot of companies would have already started planning out even more powerful apps and games that can leverage such a system. And it would have also given the signal that Apple really is at the forefront of technology. Quad-core tablets from other manufacturers have already been around for almost 6 months now. And by the time Apple does this, we might actually have 6-core/8-core processors.

By holding back like this, Apple is only slowing down the whole creative process for developers. It just makes sense to wait till the next one comes out (hopefully with quad-core awesomeness). There is reason number 3.

4) CAMERA (Or the lack of it) –

Retina Display: Check.

Quad Core Graphics: Check.

LTE – Check.

Great Battery life: Check.

5 MP camera: Seriously??

I mean seriously, Apple already has an awesome 8MP camera built into the iPhone 4S. How hard was it to just put in the same camera into the new iPad? It would have cost them less to include the same hardware rather than create another lower grade camera from scratch. This is ridiculous.

At one time, it looked really stupid to use the iPad as a camera. But as always, the stupidity is now spread all over (including me). Most of us have used our iPads to click pictures and take videos. And with the advent of some great photo apps like Camera+, Snapseed, Instagram etc, it really wouldn’t have hurt to have a great camera on the iPad.

One of the reasons the Samsung Google Nexus smartphone did not do as well as expected (it’s now selling for $400 off the shelf) was because it was feature-packed with every awesome spec you could imagine, but those morons just had to spoil the show by including a shitty 5 MP camera.

The only reasonable (and confident) conclusion here is that the next iPad will have an 8MP camera. So there is reason number 4.

5) NO SIRI – Personally, I don’t like Siri. She never seems to understand fully well what I am saying and keeps asking me again and again what I just said (we all know someone like that, don't we!).

Jokes aside, Siri has a lot of potential. And as Apple refines this product with each new iteration, it will slowly become a great tool for everyday use. I can see this product being implemented in every Apple device in the future (including their supposedly rumored Apple TV).

I don’t understand why this product was not included in the new iPad. It would have only helped the company in reaching out to a much wider demographic. The fact that it was not included shows that Apple wants to wait till Siri has matured to some extent and then incorporate it. And that can only mean one thing, she is gonna be implemented in the next iPad. There is reason number 5.

So that’s it. I can safely assume that the next iPad will have a quad core CPU, an 8MP camera, higher number of optimized apps and Siri. All these will make it come close to becoming the most perfect tablet ever built. And it will also bring the device on par with other more advanced tablets (hardware-wise) being built by Samsung, Sony etc. And if Apple can do something about that Retina Display fiasco, no one (including me) will have any pet-peeves about the device.

You can follow me on Twitter @aabidsiddique or check out my other articles on aabids.blogspot.com.