iPhone Dev Camp and BT (and Twitter)

iPhone Dev Camp 3

I attended the iPhone Dev Camp event in Sunnyvale this weekend. Now, I'm not really much of an iPhone developer beyond dabbling, but I am excited about the platform and the community that is developing around it. Honestly, though, the fact that BT was both performing and speaking was the proverbial icing on the cake, and made attendance irresistible.

The event was a lot of fun, and I left with some interesting insights into the developer community and the ecosystem of services that are springing up to support the growing number iPhone applications. The event's main location was attended by nearly 500 people, and that number was supplemented by attendance at several satellite locations. It was a real microcosm of the iPhone world, populated by brilliant and passionate developers, UI designers, advertisers and marketing people, and business people both looking for ideas and talent to implement the ideas they already have. I feel each of these demographics was of benefit to the conference, and each attendee was enriched by the perspective, wisdom, and vision shared by others.

One of the real high points was the unveiling of the projects people had developed while at the conference. Yes, you read that right. People teamed up at the beginning of the conference with like-minded attendees, hashed out ideas, prototyped, and developed some very impressive, innovative applications in just over 2 days. Some of the best of them will likely do well in the app store. It was a real testament to the caliber of each contributor. Congratulations to all who participated.

BT

There was a confluence of things that made this conference really special. One factor is the iPhone community and its positive energy. That alone would have made it an interesting and worthwhile event. However, for me, BT's performance and talk super-charged the atmosphere and elevated the conference from neat and interesting to special.

I've long admired BT's music, and thus found his concert greatly appealing. It was "epic"! BT is a brilliant musician and performer. His music surpasses that of his peers because he possesses a deep, intuitive understanding musicality which infuses his compositions with beautiful, complex harmonies that reward continued listening with new discoveries even after 10, 50, or 100 performances. That, in my mind, is a mark of real artistry.

Additionally, and very fitting for the iPhone Dev Camp, BT is an innovator. He has tinkered with sound engineering and effects in order to develop his albums, leading him to become an expert in audio signal processing. Together with a small team of engineers, he recently released an iPhone application called "Sonifi". In this alternate role of iPhone developer, he spoke to the audience, shared insights into the development process, explained some of the challenges he faced in development and how it took around 10 months of very hard work to produce the final, shipping version of the application. He shared with us the positive reactions from music industry executives and some of the potential future direction for the app. BT was really able to "kick it" with the nerds, and really impressed us with his knowledge of the ins and outs of the development process.

Lastly, it was a very real, personal thrill to meet BT. I'm afraid my inner fanboi came out a bit. Nevertheless, BT was very gracious. He impressed me, perhaps most of all, because he was extremely "down-to-earth" and personable.

Twitter

One last observation about the iPhone Dev Camp was just how pervasive Twitter usage has become. It was everywhere, and was as important as your email address on business cards. It was used as an information dissemination technology, as a feedback mechanism to the conference organizers, and, by many, as a personal running commentary on their experiences at the conference.

Thanks

Thanks to the conference organizers, the many, many volunteers, of course to BT, and to the wonderful attendees who made the conference a real success!

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