iphoneapplab.com

Tonight we have released version 2.1 of the application which includes:

1. General updates; fixes and small items such as time left color coding in lists. If an auction has less than 24 hours it will be orange and if it has less than an hour left then the time left will be red.
2. Added Bidding List - when you are logged in your bidding list is now available to easily access and see how your bid is holding up on auctions. Entries in the list are color coded for quick review with yellow rows representing those that you have been outbid on and green rows the ones that you are still the current high bidder.
3. Sellers List - Do you sell items too and want to see a quick snapshot - then click on Selling and you will see the list of items you are selling ordered by time left and showing the current price and number of bids that have been placed.

Have we missed something you would like to see or do you have an idea how we can improve the application? Drop us a line at <support at iphoneapplab dot com>

We look forward to hearing from and keep an eye out as the application will be getting a new name soon. The iPhoneMyeBay name was a temporary project name while we brainstormed here.

In a personal note to all early adopters of the iPhone, Steve Jobs has stated that next week Apple will provide details on how these patrons can redeem a 100$ credit at Apple stores.  You can read the letter to iPhone purchasers here:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

In a conversation earlier today with one of our beta testers we were discussing the amount of the drop in price of the iPhone - $200.  This is a significant drop of 30% of the retail price of the phone.  Not only does this allow Apple to get an early start on being added to all the xmas wish lists out there but it is a perfect play in the cell phone market for attaining new customers.  In the cell phone market it is standard to sign a 12 month or longer contract with providers that has a nice early exit clause.  Most of these exit clauses require a exit payment of 100$ to 200$ to leave the contract early.  So in one fell swoop Apple has said to these consumers “why wait to switch and get your iPhone”.  Now Apple will essentially cover the early termination fee with the iPhone discount.  A great strategy indeed to get a wave of new iPhone purchasers.

1st Place in eBay’s Inaugural Innovate Widget Contest

From 30 July 2007 to 13 August 2007 innovate.ebay.co.uk, an eBay group dedicated to promoting the development of projects by the eBay developer community held a competition for all developers residing in countries with an eBay site to build the most innovative widget. If you are like me I immediately scratched my head and said “well define a widget”. As expected the term widget, I expect purposely so, is defined in the guidelines of the competition quite loosely. This is most likely to get everyone thinking out of the box.

Well the contest has ended and I am pleased to write that we have been notified that iphoneMyeBay has taken 1st place!

We could not be happier with the news. The judging was done by an independent third party and the overall results can be found here.

To see iPhoneMyeBay’s entry click here.

Make sure to check out the other awesome “widgets” that were developed:

• 2nd place - eBay Sidebar Tool
• 3rd place - My eBay for iGoogle

As well, want a preview of tools coming down the pike for both eBay buyers and sellers? Or have a suggestion for a tool? Check out the innovate radar! http://innovate.ebay.co.uk/radar

Just in case you were curious, it looks like the iPhone is on pace to beat Apple’s internal sales estimate of 730,000 units this quarter. That’s a heck of a lot of iPhones.

According to UBS analyst Ben Reitzes, the iPhone could sell as many as 800,000 units this quarter:

According to a UBS research note on Tuesday, Apple Inc.’s iPhone may reach a unit sales figure of 800,000 in the current quarter. By doing so, it would beat Apple’s own hopes of 730,000 over the same period of time. “Our checks continue to indicate solid demand for the iPhone despite typical moderation in excitement from launch and extremely high expectations,” analyst Ben Reitzes wrote.

- Taken from Information Week, August 27, 2007

 iPhoneMyeBay has made it into the August 2007 eBay Chatter Blog that can be found at either ebay.com–>Community–>Blog or just by going to www.ebaychatter.com.

Delyn Simons, Manager of Platform Marketing for eBay posted a review from Sunny Li, who works in the eBay Partner Development Program of the iPhoneMyeBay application.  Here is a small snippet:

“This iPhone application really speaks to the eBay crowd, especially the diehard fans, because it is a ‘must have’ shopping assistant if you want an upper hand in winning an eBay auction.”

To read the article in its entirety, the direct permalink is below:

http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2007/08/developer-silks.html

The reception of the first application, iphonemyebay.com for bidding on eBay will soon have additional functionality based on requests we have received.  A bidding list just that will show you the items you are bidding on, along with if you are the high bidder or not will be included.

And shortly we will finally officially name the application… stay tuned.

We are excited that iPhoneMyeBay has been accepted as an entry in the inaugural eBay Innovate contest! The eBay Innovate initiative is designed to spark the imaginations of developers to create new and exciting tools that integrate with the eBay API.  Recently eBay Innovate has embarked on a contest for new “widget” type tools and iPhoneMyeBay has been submitted on our behalf.

If you like the tool or just think that it is so cool that you can bid from anywhere through the custom iPhone interface, please vote for the iPhoneMyeBay application.  The competition link is :

http://innovate.ebay.co.uk/competitions/show/2-inaugural-innovate-widget-contest 

As well check out the innovate site and if you are a developer consider making a brand new exciting widget!

http://innovate.ebay.co.uk/

Rob does his usual great podcast and features iPhoneMyeBay.

Check out Rob’s 29th Today in iPhone podcast here

<Listen Here> 

And Rob, we hope you don’t spend too much on eBay…

If you are a seller on eBay then you are most likely familiar with the AuctionBytes.com web site and email newsletter.  If you aren’t then you should take a look as they have a lot of great information about being online merchants.

Just posted today is an article by Ina Steiner, Editor at AuctionBytes about the iPhoneMyeBay application based on a great conversation we had just yesterday. The link to see the full article is below but here is a teaser:

“Users of Apple’s new iPhone can bid on eBay items thanks to a new shopping application released by SilkSystem Solutions called iPhone My eBay.”

 http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m08/i01/s03

Thanks Ina for the great article and we look forward to driving more business to your online merchants.

Even though eBay does not promote third party products on their site the eBay developers team has written a blog entry about the iPhoneMyeBay application. This is so exciting for us and for everyone in the iPhone community.

This is tremendous news about how we worked with eBay to create the application. If you do not know already the name of our company is SilkSystem Solutions (as seen on the bottom of the www.iphoneapplab.com front page).

Read the whole eBay Developer Program blog entry here.

Here is the first paragraph of the article.

“Mobile eBay shopping experience just got sexier. Thanks to SilkSystem Solutions’ recent launch of the first eBay shopping application for iPhone that is bidding (PlaceOffer API) enabled. iPhone users can now shop eBay in style.” Sunny Li, eBay