MSA Remote for iPhone REJECTED

UPDATE - 29/06/2009

MSA Remote is finally approved! Apple came to their senses! thank you everybody for all the comments and posts and support. You can get the app from here

UPDATE - 15/05/2009

Well another rejection! this time though for something completely different. A trademark infringement. more info here

UPDATE - 18/03/2009

Thanks for the overwhelming support everyone. I have just sent an email to Apple asking them to reconsider. I've sent them a link to this page and additional links/info trying to show how widespread multitouch frameworks and TUIO are. Now we play the waiting game. In the meantime you can continue showing your support by leaving comments below (please try and leave out the obscenities :P)

Cheers,

Memo.

UPDATE - 16/03/2009

Apple have rejected this app stating:

"We've reviewed your application, MSA Remote, and we have
determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and
will not be appropriate for the App Store.

If you would like to share it with friends and family, we recommend you
review the Ad Hoc method on the Distribution tab of the iPhone Developer
Portal for details on distributing this application among a small group
of people of your choosing or if you believe that you can add additional
user functionality to MSA Remote, we encourage you to do so and resubmit
it for review. "

I think Apple simply aren't aware of the size of the arts/technology/performance community, and most probably are oblivious to TUIO and how much of a standard it is.

So I'd like to collect as many comments as possible to show Apple that this is not as small a market as they think. If you think a free multitouch server for iPhone/iPod touch would be useful please leave a comment below (even if it is a simple anonymous '+1', and ideally without too strong a language ;) ).

We can make a difference. Power to the People \\(>_<)//

Cheers.

Memo.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/03/16/apple-rejects-free-iphone-tool-...
http://createdigitalmotion.com/2009/03/16/want-free-iphone-multitouch-co...
http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/4772/

UPDATE - 06/03/2009

I received the following response from Apple:

"Thank you for submitting your application "MSA Remote". 
We need clarification in regards to the functionality of the application
as we do not have access to the interactive installations that the
application controls.  If possible, please provide login information for
a server application we can use to review your application."

So I sent them 3 desktop apps: a standard TUIO client, a MSATouch client (multiple devices can control a single client without interference), and an OSC Dumper so they could see all the messages being sent in detail.

MSA Remote

MSA Remote is a free app for iPhone & iPod Touch allowing remote control of interactive installations and multi-touch applications using the wifi network. The application can be distributed to visitors, guests, members of the public etc. to interact with the installation, or just used by dedicated performers.

MSA Remote can send all iPhone touch events/positions etc. to client applications via the standard TUIO protocol, so any multitouch app supporting TUIO can be controlled via MSA Remote (working closely with Martin Kaltenbrunner using his new TUIO Server library). Alternatively MSA Remote can also send touch events in a custom OSC protocol (MSATouch). I wrote the custom protocol because I needed a way for multiple iPhones & iPod Touches to control the same installation without any interference between the devices. The current implementation of TUIO wasn't designed for that, but I believe TUIO v2 specifications do include this so I"ll drop MSATouch when TUIO v2 is out and ready.

You can either enter the target IP address and port manually via the configuration page of MSA Remote; or to make the connection process as seamless as possible, the interactive installations can announce their existence on the local network and any nearby iPhones can see the installations in their vicinity by name & author and connect without any configuration. This is also done via a custom OSC protocol (but again I believe TUIO v2 will include something similar).

Made with openFrameworks.

Example uses

The video below is a demo of a Java applet (built with processing.org) being controlled by MSA Remote on iPhone via TUIO. You can view the video in HD and download a 1080p version at vimeo. The source code for the client processing sketch can be downloaded here.

Graffiti Wall is a product that Tangible Interaction had already developed a while ago and have been using commercially. It was built on TUIO from the beginning, so when I passed on a copy of MSA Remote (via ad-hoc), they were able to immediately integrate it with their app without any modifications. Now as you can see in the video, if MSA Remote was freely available on the AppStore, people passing by could easily download and install the app, and leave their mark. This is why the ad-hoc method (you have to give me your deviceid, i have to update my ad-hoc profile, install it, build a new version of the app with that profile, pass on the profile and new app, you have to install it via itunes) or cydia (you have to jailbreak your iphone) are not viable options for this desired kind of usage.