14 DAY TRIAL // Great news for Apple developers coding apps and selling e-books in the iTunes Store! If you’re the type who makes thorough tests before releasing, you’ll be glad to know that Apple has expanded the promo code allowance for books as well as the max number of testers for apps.
Developers can now summon up to 250 promo codes per book and invite up to 1,000 unique testers for any given binary before or after publishing to the App Store.
iBooks perks and faster approval
The book-centric announcement arrives via email. Apple states that “To help you get your book to readers quickly, we review 95 percent of all book submissions within one business day. Note that you do not need an ISBN to deliver a book to iBooks.”
The Cupertino giant then reveals that “You can now request up to 250 promo codes per book,” while also explaining what promo codes do and how they’re meant to be used. For example, these can be handed to bloggers and reviewers for promotional purposes. Hence, the name “promo” code.
Also targeting book publishers, another enhancement in the iBookstore allows screenshots to be delivered or updated even after a book has been made available for sale.
Perhaps also worth noting is that iBooks Author was recently updated with new abilities to import ePub and Adobe InDesign IDML files, an option to create customized books with new Blank templates, new hyperlink options, improved transition support in Keynote widget, auto-play for widgets, and HTML widget interaction right on a book page (for end users).
TestFlight Beta opens access to 1,000 testers per app
As far as app developers are concerned, they can now send invitations to as many as 1,000 individual testers for any given app that they’re coding. The invitation can be sent via email, eliminating the promo code hassle and other roadblocks.
“Once they accept your invitation, testers can install your beta app on their iOS devices, get updated builds, and provide feedback, all within the TestFlight app.” The TestFlight is designed to work as a library of beta apps that the tester has on his / her iDevice, with the ability to update these apps on the go.
Each time a developer invites someone to test an app, “they will automatically receive an invitation email to join your group of beta testers and will be prompted to install the free TestFlight app from the App Store,” according to the documentation supplied by the Mac maker. TestFlight also eliminates the need to keep track of provisioning profiles or unique device identifiers (UDIDs).