The Apple Core
Jason D. O'Grady & David MorgensternBrowser previews come to App Store
Summary
Apple rolled out iTunes Preview page for apps today, finally killing those ugly “re-directing you to iTunes” pages for good.
Topics
Blogger Info
Jason D. O'Grady
Biography
Jason D. O'Grady
Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.
He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.
After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.
O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).
When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.
David Morgenstern
Biography
David Morgenstern
David Morgenstern has covered the Mac market and other technology segments for 20 years. In the recent past, he founded Ziff-Davis' Storage Supersite, served as news editor for Ziff Davis Internet and held several executive editorial positions at eWEEK. In the 1990s, David was editor of Ziff Davis' award-winning MacWEEK news publication as well as its successor title, eMediaWEEKly, which focused on multiplatform professional content creation. His byline can be found online and in print publications including CreativePro.com, Peachpit Press' Mac Bible and Popular Photography.
You know those annoying redirect Web pages you arrive at when you click on an App Store link in a Web browser? Well they must have annoyed someone at Apple too, because they’re gone.
Before today, when you clicked on an App Store link (like this one for GoodReader) you were whisked off to a Web page (pictured above) that re-directed you iTunes. While fine for Mac users (who have iTunes installed by default), the links were inconvenient when using a computer that didn’t have iTunes installed. Resulting in the ugly, red “unable to find iTunes” error pictured above.
As of today, said App Store link now links to a much nicer “iTunes Preview” page for apps that displays the app logo, price, description, screenshots, rating, reviews and more in a new window or tab.
Apple’s stuck its toe in the water with iTunes Preview for music in November 2009. However you were unable to listen to the songs without launching iTunes. That changed on January 7, 2010 when Apple began offering 30 second Web-based song previews using Quicktime. Tracks are encoded at 44.1 AAC 300+ kbits/second. If you like a track you can click a button to then be re-directed to iTunes where you can purchase it.
There’s still no video previews for apps, nor are there iTunes preview pages for video content or podcasts (ahem!) but I can’t imaging that they’re far behind.
These baby steps iTunes is making on the Web appear to foreshadow Apple’s imminent roll-out of iTunes.com with full-track audio streaming as the company leverages its Lala acquisition in December 2009.
Tip: TechCrunch
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Jason D. O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.
Disclosure
Jason D. O'Grady
Jason O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:
- Amazon Associates
- Google Adsense
- Tekserve
- Weaknees
Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations. Jason also provides consulting services for AirTight Networks.
Biography
Jason D. O'Grady
Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.
He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.
After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.
O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).
When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.
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