1st Impressions

Before reviewing this application (and telling you how to get a free code for this app) let me vent for a moment about how Apple chose to once again stick it to the little guy (the untold number of independent iPhone developers out there) and pull their app based on nothing more than the self-serving request from a larger company whose app is free – and worth what you paid for it.

In this case, the app in question is one that was released several months ago as Facebook Ultimate. It was the brain child of a Facebook lover that, like so many previous users, was totally dissatisfied with the watered down official Facebook app that was on the market. The application, despite the $2.00 price tag associated with it, was initially very successful (even at the initial $2.99 price) because it filled a void left by missing features in Facebook’s own app. It quickly drew a large fan base and sold very well. That popularity spiked when the iPad was released – that that is where the problems began.

You see, despite the fact that the icon for the app used a different font, was in italics, used a different shade of blue, and was well documented that it was totally independent from Facebook, many new iPad users, in their frenzy to set up Facebook on their new toys, paid for and downloaded this application before realizing that it was not identical to their online Facebook experience. After plopping down hundreds of dollars on their fancy new iPad they felt somehow “cheated” by spending less than what it costs for an espresso for an application that, if they had spend any time with, they would have realized that it was far superior to the free one. Instead of blaming their own illiteracy, they complained that they had been misled.

The end result was that Apple not only pulled the app off their store shelves (both iPhone and iPad versions), but Facebook went the additional step and stopped the app from accessing the same APIs that they willingly allowed other apps to access. The reason they gave was, “trademark infringement and affiliation.” What is confusing and obviously hypocritical is that there are numerous other apps using the exact same Facebook iconic “f” on the blue background and at least a dozen apps still in the store with the word Facebook in their name. The developer was forced to change the name and icon for the application to “Ultimate Social Networking w/ Chat & Video.”

While that might be a small price to pay to get your application approved (or re-approved) by Apple, the app fell from #7 to totally off the charts because iTunes shoppers can no longer easily find the application when searching for something to replace the piece of crap released by Facebook. Unsuccessful apps are allowed to have “Facebook” in their name, but if someone produces a superior product, even when Facebook has no iPad app of their own, they get punished for it.

If Apple had integrity in this matter, they would have recognized that the some folks that buy a $500 toy within hours of its release with no actual experience with it are going to make the same kind of rush decisions with apps for it. If Facebook had done the right thing, they would retire their own bare-bones app, purchase this one from the developer, and release it as the official version.

So… what is it that Facebook really had an issue with? It certainly wasn’t a lack of revenue since their app is free. No – the problem was simple: this application “out-“Facebooked” Facebook. Here are just a few of the features that makes this app so great:

- Dual facebook accounts
- Powerful rules engine
- Define your own spam rules
- Chat
- Video uploading AND playback
- Picture decoration (watch the video)*
- Slideshow (watch the video)*
- Google-like search
- Notification page with content preview
- Mark posts/notifications as read/unread
- Global/Multi-album picture view
- Copy and paste
- Multi-color and b/w emoticons
- Landscape keyboard
- Text flipping
- Fast photo upload
- Save pictures to your iPhone

Links to multiple Instructional videos as well as details regarding the apps story are found at http://ultiapp.com/

The one feature that really makes this app pay for itself in a hurry is the time it saves the user. The sorting provided by the incredible and powerful rules engine and the ability to mark posts as having been read (thus keeping you from having to see them again) save me a great deal of time. I, for one, do not care if you have lost a sheep or are growing carrots in your garden. I also don’t always have the time to weed through hundreds of posts to find out what my family has to say or what is going on at work. With the rules engine in place, your posts get sorted and categorized each time you open the app (something that can take a few seconds depending on how many posts are unread.

So… if you would like to give this application a try for either the iPhone or iPad, give me a shout. Find me on Facebook and simply request one. I have three promo codes for each device (the iPhone as well as the iPad) and they will be given to the first ones that respond. I am the only David Eaton from Atlanta Georgia with the following caricature as my icon: