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Forecast looks amazing for Weather HD for Mac
Weather HD is a popular iOS app that we at TUAW have raved about in the past. The iOS app lets you use your iPad or iPhone as a window into a beautiful weather world around you. The app uses stunning full screen animations to show you the weather instead of the numbers and little icons other weather apps use. Now Vimov, the company behind Weather HD, has launched a Mac version of the app and it takes the basic premise of their simplified weather app to a whole new level. First off, the animations in Weather HD for Mac look simply stunning. I'm running the app on a 15-inch MacBook Pro and it just looks incredible. That tells me that on larger screens like the iMac, the app must just look otherworldly. Besides the multiple locations and weekly forecasts that are available in the iOS version, the Mac version offers a host of features that turns the app into a full weather center on your Mac. You can see hourly forecasts, phases and cycles of the moon, and current and next-day-average cloud, temperature, dew, humidity, and wind maps. Best of all it has built in a full-screen view to the app so you can see its gorgeous animations at their fullest. I will say that, as cool as it is, the app does have limited usability. It's pretty to look at and has some nice alerts and mapping features, but how often do we need to open up an app to see the weather forecast? I usually just activate Dashboard and quickly check out my weather widgets. One thing I would love to see is a screensaver option for this app so I can see those gorgeous weather animations anytime my computer is idle. Of course, Vimov can't build in screensaver functionality into the app now because Apple doesn't allow screensavers in the Mac App Store. Hopefully that will change soon. Still, Weather HD is highly recommended and costs US$3.99. %Gallery-124183%
TUAW's Daily App: Weather HD for iPhone
You may already know all about Weather HD -- the app made a nice splash when it was released early in the iPad's life. But Vimov has just released it for the iPhone, and even on the smaller screen, it leaves quite an impression. The idea is that instead of a tiny little icon or a big number telling you the weather, you get a full, bright screen of whatever the weather's like near you (or what it's going to be like in an hourly or daily forecast). The app is super simple on purpose, so if you're looking for full maps, video, or more detailed information, you'll have to go elsewhere (I usually use the free Weather Channel app for more in-depth weather updates). Still, for just 99 cents, Weather HD is worth having around if all you need to check every once in a while is the temperature and forecast. And heck, if you already bought it for the iPad, the new version is universal, so you've got iPhone and iPod touch support anyway.
A tale of two iPad weather apps
Since Apple stripped the iPhone weather app from the iPad, it left the door open for 3rd parties to do their thing. They've done just that, and I'd like to spotlight two apps that come at weather from very different places. We've looked briefly at both these apps. Our Victor Agreda Jr. used and liked WeatherBug Elite, and Erica Sadun took a quick look at Weather HD in April. Let's start with WeatherBug Elite for iPad and look more closely. The app is free, and has a compelling display on the iPad screen. It is the more conventional app of the two, with radar and cloud cover overlays, animation, severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service, Extended 7 day and hourly forecasts, and webcams for most locations that show you a semi-live view of the current weather. You can save multiple locations, and get to them with a tap. As I do a lot of landscape photography, I really appreciate the infrared and visible satellite maps, that show you cloud cover down to the street level. The app works in portrait or landscape mode, and it can cache weather data for off-line viewing. I think this app is for serious weather consumers, and I have found it reliable and up to date. There are also versions for Windows and Macs, and an iPhone version. Strangely, the iPhone version sells for $0.99, while the iPad version is free. You can also get a free version for the iPhone, but it has ads.
Estimate: Top 1000 iPad apps making $372k a day
Here's an interesting look at just how big the iPad app market might be. Vimov, the makers of Weather HD, have used their own sales numbers to put together an analysis of what the top 1,000 iPad apps on the App Store are pulling in, and they've come up with a series of estimated sales for each position in the top 100. By their reasoning, the top paid app in the store sells about 5k copies per day, with the number two app selling about 3k, the number three app about 2.5k, and so on. Vimov estimates that everyone in the top 100 list, when you add them all together, is making about US$304,058 on any given day. The shelf drops off from there -- in the top 1000, developers are making about $372,000, and past that, they're obviously making less. So, what does this all mean? First, these are obviously estimates; Vimov's app is $0.99, and Weather HD, as they say, peaked in the early frenzy around the iPad's release. They did try to account for that, but even they admit that there's some error involved. Second, things are changing quickly; Apple told us that there were around 500,000 iPads out there last week, but that number is probably much higher a week later. Also, iPad app pricing is still all over the place. Even now, you've got everything from $0.99 to $9.99 in the top 10, which suggests that profits are hard to guess. [via MacNN]
First Look: Weather HD for iPad
VIMOV's Weather HD combines standard weather forecasting with video backdrops. Although I doubt the application comes with the new age music track, you can tell from this preview that it focuses on looks. I was a little surprised to see the floaty utility-style palette. You'd think that new weather applications would provide some kind of "Find Me" Core Location-powered feature, but I guess people do want to check on places they're about to visit or are away from as well. Weather HD is availablel for US$0.99 on the App Store.
