We have just submitted iWebcamera 2.0 to Apple. Unfortunately it took us quite some time to develop this update as Apple introduced developer policy changes together with the iOS 4.0 release.
To us, these changes came totally unexpected and we lost a lot of work that was spent on the initial iOS 4.0 compatibility update. We basically had to rewrite the entire video capturing core of the application. Unfortunately, iOS 4.0 is not available for the first iPhone generation so if you're still running on an iPhone 2G/Edge then you should not update as you won't be able to use the app. 
iWebcamera 2.0 is not backwards compatible to earlier versions of the iOS — do not update to iWebcamera 2.0 if you're not running iOS 4.0. This is not something we wanted do, this is something we had to do, or Apple will not approve the update.

Over to the good news, iWebcamera 2.0 has been submitted and it truly is a great leap forward.
Numerous new features, improvements and bug fixes are shipping in this version:

• iOS 4 compatibility
• iPhone 4 Retina Display graphics
• iPhone 4 front camera support
• Landscape support for all devices
• Added static and dynamic area display
• YouBlue Effect
• Network Broadcasting can be disabled, with a single IP connection as alternative
• Performance improvements
• Reduced lag, requires the installation of new drivers
• New camera shutter animation
• Usability improvements
• Updated manual
• Sharing features

A lot more has been changed under the hood of the app, nearly the entire application has been rewritten to be compliant with Apple's new requirements for iOS 4.0.

Once the update has been approved we're going to update the online manual and the drivers. But we've got one more thing here: PowerPC drivers (G4/G5/Powerbook). These will also be released with iWebcamera 2.0. 

While we're still waiting for either the approval or the rejection of our iOS 4.0 updates I'm going to introduce our upcoming app iScreen in this post:

iScreen turns the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch into an additional monitor for your OS X computer.

The development of iScreen actually started as an in-house productivity tool but we liked it so much that we have turned it into a great product.Some of iScreen's key features are impressive performance, dynamic compression, touch-to-mouse input, virtual keyboard and a beautiful user interface.
On the iPad, iScreen has the option to use a lower resolution. This is great because it increases the performance on fullscreen updates and it also improves the usability of desktop apps when the input device is not a mouse pointer but a finger. After all Steve Jobs was right about this.iScreen is great, whenever you're at your computer and your iPad is sitting there doing nothing, it can serve a great purpose now. 
There are millions of things you can do with it:

• Place the xcode debugger on your device.- Move the important Photoshop windows over to the device.
• Keep your desktop widgets on your device - anytime.
• Use it as a control surface for your music studio, put the mixer and the playback controls there.
• Put your movie player or eye-tv there and it doesn't take up your main screen. (This was especially great during the Fussball Worldcup 2010)
• Put VM Ware on your device and test your website on Windows while developing it.
• Play Flash content on your device!

These are just a few ideas, if you got some cool ideas let us know.
Check out our iScreen teaser video and tell us what you think!

In our last blog entry we wrote about the rejection of iWebcamera because it used UIGetScreenImage. I just got a call from our contact at Apple Developer Relations. It seems like UIGetScreenImage is not a public API anymore. Apps using this API will get rejected. 

All developers are supposed to migrate to a new API only present in iOS 4: AVFoundation.

This decision by Apple is very bad for all developers:

• it requires major restructuring of existing code.
• it only works on iOS 4 devices, this is going to upset all customers running an earlier version of iOS on their device.
• there is no iOS 4.0 for the iPhone 2G.
• not everything that can be done with UIGetScreenImage can be done with AVCaptureSession. UIGetScreenImage captures everything that's on the screen while AVCaptureSession only captures the camera preview.
• it's going to delay the iOS 4 compatibility updates.

This means that our iPhone 2G/3G video recording solution iCamcorder will not work on the 2G anymore and is going to require iOS 4.0. This is going to cause a lot of problems in the community and we're sure the customers are going to blame the developers not Apple. The same is going to happen to iWebcamera, the app that turns your iPhone into a wireless desktop webcamera. Both apps are using UIGetScreenImage to grab the contents of the screen.

We're not sure if this decision is final, but it sounded like there was no way around this. We seriously hope Apple changes their mind about this!
The apps that are currently in review by Apple received a "The app review is taking longer than expected" message today.

Update: To illustrate things a little bit better, here are some hard numbers on how many people are still using iOS 3 or/and the iPhone 2G. These numbers are from our latest app iWebcamera, the timeframe of the data is from the day of the iOS 4 release until today.

• 7% of our users are still using an iPhone 2G. These users won't be able to run or buy the app in the future. So a loss of about 10% in revenue is guaranteed.
• 65% of our users are still running iOS 3.1. These users also won't be able to run or buy the app in the future. Sure, they might upgrade to iOS 4.0 at some point. But a lot of people don't like iOS 4.0 on the 3G as it is unacceptably slow.
• 6% of our customers are running on an iPhone 4. These users cannot make use of the app as it's not compatible with the iPhone 4.

This is a really difficult situation and we don't know how we should handle the situation. Cutting off all iPhone 2G or iOS 3 users is not an acceptable solution to us.

Update II: iCamcorder v2.0 has been approved by Apple. We're not sure why as iCamcorder Lite v2.0 and iWebcamera v1.5 were rejected. We're going to submit these updates again, let's hope they will be approved as well.

This time we've got some good and some bad news. The good news first, iCamcorder v2.0 has been submitted to Apple at the beginning of this week. This update introduces new features and fixes the iOS 4.0 issues. Both the lite and the premium version have been submitted and we hope they're going to be available at the same time.

The iPhone 4/iOS4.0 update for our VAT-Calculator app has been approved and is now available on the App Store. It features iPhone 4 optimized retina display assets and fixes a compatibility issue with iOS 4.0. 

Now to the bad news, Apple rejected the iWebcamera 1.5 update we submitted last week. Because we're using UIGetScreenImage. For us, this is totally annoying because UIGetScreenImage is not a private API since December 2009 and a lot of our apps have been using it since then.

Thank you for submitting your update to iWebcamera to the App Store. We've reviewed iWebcamera and determined that we cannot post this version of your application to the App Store because it is using a private API. Use of non-public APIs, which as outlined in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement section 3.3.1, is prohibited:

"3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited)."

The non-public API that is included in your application is UIGetScreenImage.

If you have defined a method in your source code with the same name as the above mentioned API, we suggest altering your method name so that it no longer collides with Apple's private API to avoid your application being flagged with future submissions.

So, did we change our code? No, there is no other possible way of doing what we do on OS 3.0. We just resubmitted the same binary and wrote an email to the App Review team. This stuff is totally frustrating, working hard to get an update to the customers as soon as possible. It get's submitted to Apple and they reject it — for no reason!

The iWebcamera 1.5 update has just been submitted to Apple. It's a fairly big update that brings full support for iOS 4 and the iPhone 4. iPhone 4 Users can change between the front and the back camera with the tap of a button and enjoy crisp high resolution graphics throughout the app.
We have also improved the performance and reduced the latency of the video stream. The manual has also been updated to reflect the latest changes in the app and the recently added OS X support.

So, what's next? We're currently working on PPC driver support and adding wireless audio transmission to the app. The OS X part has already been completed. We've accomplished this by developing a virtual microphone driver that plugs into the system as additional microphone just like a real sound-card. Unfortunately this requires quite a lot of CPU power in the iPhone app, so we're playing with the idea of disabling audio functionality for devices older than the iPhone 3GS.

Unfortunately the current iWebcamera release is not 100% compatible with the iPhone 4. When the image is displayed on a computer it is tinted blue. Why hasn't this been fixed already? drahtwerk is located in Germany and even though we've reserved several iPhone 4 units at our local T-Mobile shops we did not get a single unit yet. But this doesn't stop us from developing a fix, we're working closely together with our iPhone 4 testers to develop new features and fix incompatibilities. This is a very time intensive task as we have to sent builds around the internet several times a day to get things right. At the moment we're having a release candidate build of iWebcamera which is will be submitted to Apple once we get rid of the small issues. So the next update will introduce full iPhone 4 compatibility but it will also make use of iPhone 4 specific features, like the front facing camera. Stay tuned!

The iCamcorder iOS 4 compatibility release is also currently being tested and will be released within the next days.

But we've also got some good news, a lot of developers want to support iWebcamera in their apps. We've been working together with some Android developers and recently we've been contacted by Patrick Balleux, one of the developers of WebcamStudio for GNU/Linux. Patrick asked for the technical specifications of the iWebcamera network protocol, and we were happy to provide him with all the details. Within a single day Patrick managed to bring the entire iWebcamera experience to the Linux OS — that's pretty darn cool. The next release of WebcamStudio will introduce full support for iWebcamera with all the bells and whistles. 

The iWebcamera drivers for OS X have just been released. You can grab them from the iWebcamera drivers page. The installation is pretty straight forward, download the drivers and start the installer. Once the installation is complete you can fire up your favorite video-conferencing app and configure it to use iWebcamera as video source.

An update of the iPhone application itself is not required, but will be released soon to update the built-in manual.

Karlsruhe, BW/Germany - drahtwerk is pleased to announce the availability of the iWebcamera OS X drivers. The iWebcamera OS X drivers enable users to use the iWebcamera iPhone application together with their favorite operating system. iWebcamera is the only application that turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based webcamera. With iWebcamera the iPhone can be used as webcamera in applications like Skype, Microsoft Live Messenger, YouTube, Chat Roulette and every single webcamera enabled application.

The development of the OS X drivers was not part of the iWebcamera road map. But due to the incredibly high demand for compatibility with Apple's operating system the plans changed. The developers at drahtwerk decided to make the driver development a top priority.

Feature Highlights:

* Turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based wireless webcamera.
* Two quality options.
* Instant-Pause mode, pauses streaming instantly without exiting the host application on the computer.
* Plug and Play ready, install the drivers, connect the iPhone to the computer's network and the camera is ready to go!
* Built-in manual.
* Send drivers by e-mail feature.
* Beautiful Userinterface fully translated in English and German.
* Compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP and Apple OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Supported Languages:

* US English and German

Minimum System Requirements:

* iPhone 2G, 3G or 3GS.
* Requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later
* A computer with a supported operating system connected to the same network as the iPhone.

Pricing and Availability:

iWebcamera 1.0 is now available on the Apple App Store in the Utilities category. To celebrate the release of iWebcamera, the price has been set to $4.99 (USD) for a limited time only. Promotional copies are available upon request.

Links and Promotional Content:

* drahtwerk Company Website
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz

* Product URL
 - http://webcamapp.dw-c.de

* Purchase Link
 - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwebcamera/id369617568?mt=8

* Promotional Video (YouTube)
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1gdRPE3xeQ

* Screenshot
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz/media/Images/iwebcamera/iwebcamera_big.jpg

* App Icon
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz/Media/Images/Products/product_iwebcamera.jpg

Located in Karlsruhe/Germany drahtwerk is a young development studio specialized in designing great web and iPhone OS apps. drahtwerk has published several successful applications on the App Store such as "iCamcorder". Besides being successful on the App Store drahtwerk also designs and develops amazing apps for their clients. Copyright (C) 2010 drahtwerk. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Due to the high demand for the iWebcamera OS X drivers we have made the development of the drivers a top priority and worked hard the past days. The drivers are currently being tested and will be released within the next days. If you have already purchased iWebcamera and you want to test the drivers on your Mac, then feel free to contact us through our contact form and we'll send you the drivers before the official release.

The OS X drivers work in all apps e.g. Skype, Safari, YouTube, Chatroulette, etc. — any app except iChat and Photo Booth, the reason for this limitation is that Apple limits those apps to the built-in iSight camera found in the entire Mac product line. 

The iWebcamera Windows drivers continue to be available on the iWebcamera drivers page.

Finally, thank you for your support, oh, and don't forget to post a review on the App Store if you like the app!

We have just released an amazing app called iWebcamera. iWebcamera turns your iPhone into a real, driver-based webcamera.
 

Karlsruhe, BW/Germany - drahtwerk is pleased to announce iWebcamera, the only application that turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based webcamera. With iWebcamera the iPhone can be used as webcamera in applications like Skype, Windows Live Messenger, YouTube and every single webcamera enabled Windows application.

Feature Highlights:

* Turns the iPhone into a real, driver-based wireless webcamera.
* Two quality options.
* Instant-Pause mode, pauses streaming instantly without exiting the host application on the computer.
* Plug and Play ready, install the Windows drivers, connect the iPhone to the computer's network and the camera is ready to go!
* Built-in manual.
* Send drivers by e-mail feature.
* Beautiful Userinterface fully translated in English and German.
* Compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Supported Languages:

* US English and German

Minimum System Requirements:

* iPhone 2G, 3G or 3GS.
* Requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later
* A computer with Windows 7, Vista or XP connected to the same network as the iPhone.

Pricing and Availability:

iWebcamera 1.0 is now available on the Apple App Store in the Utilities category. To celebrate the release of iWebcamera, the price has been set to $4.99 (USD) for a limited time only. Promotional copies are available upon request.

Links and Promotional Content:

* drahtwerk Company Website
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz
* Product URL
 - http://webcamapp.dw-c.de
* Purchase Link
 - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwebcamera/id369617568?mt=8
* Promotional Video (YouTube)
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1gdRPE3xeQ
* Screenshot
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz/media/Images/iwebcamera/iwebcamera_big.jpg
* App Icon
 - http://www.drahtwerk.biz/Media/Images/Products/product_iwebcamera.jpg