The phrase cloud backend as a service originated in the USA by some mobile app developers to try and categorize this emerging new platform. Here at Kumulos we love speaking to mobile app developers and we noticed that many mobile app developers were looking for the same thing. Many Kumulos customers and mobile app developers were looking to setup and operate their mobile backends’ for their iOS and Google Android apps to host, manage and access data via the cloud. The mobile development studios and companies seemed unable to utilise IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) offerings directly like Rackspace Cloud, Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure as they’re perceived to be too complex.

Many mobile app developers looking to create software for iOS, OSX, Android and PHP (web) found this process too challenging and most of them didn’t want to deal with the boring and time consuming stuff. Similarly, iPhone, Android and web developers didn’t want to get stuck doing mundane and repetitive tasks like building a backend platform stack from scratch. This could be achieved using PaaS (Platform as a service) offerings like CloudFoundry, OpenShift and Heroku but just didn’t provide a seamless and easy solution. Hence the term, cloud backend as a service was born out of the USA and we realised we were one of the key market players neatly positioned behind other (bigger) companies in the market. Kumulos is not backed by VC’s, its built and run by guys who develop real mobile apps for iOS, Android and a whole bunch of other platforms.

When Kumulos was first launched in beta, the term ‘cloud backend as a service’ was unfamiliar to anyone outside Silicone Valley. It turns out now everyone is talking about cloud backend as a service technology and we’re proud to be one of the original players in the space. We’re not from Silicone Valley. The Kumulos team is Scottish. If you’re not familiar with Scotland, it’s a damp island where people play golf. We eat haggis, play the bagpipes (very loudly) and hunt mythical sea monsters for fun. We also love developing sweet, kick-ass mobile apps and want to enable other iOS, Mac OSX, Google Android and PHP web app developers to do better business and make more money from their apps too. It’s not just the dudes in the valley that can play ball…

So when we discovered other people were talking about cloud backend as a service, we knew we had something. Kumulos has been part of the creation of a new product category because existing ‘infrastructure as a service’ and ‘platform

as a service’ technologies were considered inadequate by many experienced and gifted mobile app developers. You could consider calling it infrastructure as a service or even mobile platform as a service but it just does not have the same ring and will not do the discipline justice. It just misses the point completely.

So that’s basically how the whole cloud backend as a service label came to be and we at Kumulos are proud to have been one of the original and best service providers in the market. The cloud backend as a service market place is rich with companies that form different parts of the mobile and cloud stack. We’ve seen some fascinating changes in this space and the overall cloud backend as a service ecosystem. There have been a start-ups in different parts of the world that have raised financial backing from venture capitalists to carve out their own unique niche. Here at Kumulos, we have a very unique niche in the cloud backend as a service market for developing apps for mobile and web. Many companies are even trying to tunnel their way into the market through acquisition or attempting to launch new and innovative service offerings. It’s no surprise that Google has been a key player in acquiring many new start-ups in the cloud backend as a service space.

Apple has been focused predominantly on developing the Apple hardware and the iPhone iOS SDK, but iCloud has seen little progress from a mobile developer perspective. Apple can focus increasingly on mobile ads and technologies such as voice recognition, creating a gap for companies like Kumulos offering scalable cloud backend as a service platforms. Amazon started off with infrastructure as a service and has moved on to platform as a service and is branching out gradually into other mobile specific service offerings. With the exception of developing the Windows Phone, Microsoft has focused instead on improving Azure infrastructure as a service and is also gradually moving towards platform as a service offerings.

Here at Kumulos, our belief is that you can only become a major player in the mobile market place by being a comprehensive cloud backend as a service platform. Kumulos offers a full feature set that every mobile and web app developer needs to get their apps into the market place, making money, faster than the competition. That’s the edge that Kumulos gives you as a developer, we actually understand how to help you do better business as app developers.

As one of the worlds original cloud backend as a service platform’s (BaaS), here at Kumulos we intertwine infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and mobile API’s. Every month Kumulos serves over 1 billion API requests across thousands of apps. Kumulos is enabling dynamic apps to be built seamlessly and deployed across multiple platforms, helping app developers across the world to do better business and make more money from their mobile apps. Welcome to the mobile cloud and backend as a service (BaaS) infrastructure, welcome to Kumulos.

‘Backend as a service’ is a space populated by 6 or so companies, most currently still in beta phase. This is an exciting space and with the proliferation of 4G (LTE) cellular networks, we could be set to see another explosion in the mobile software development space. Many developers are still unaware what ‘backend as a service’ actually is. Here at Kumulos, we want to help you generate more money from your apps, create richer user engagement and raise the profile of your brand or business, all using cloud backend as a service architecture. It’s really easy to get your iPhone, iPad and Google Android apps up and running and the Kumulos support team are always on hand to help with your queries.

The funding status of the cloud backend as a service companies are different too. Kinvey has had $2 million, CloudMine got $20,000 and StackMob took home $7.5 million and Parse bagged a first round of $1.4 million. Kumulos is the original and best cloud backend as a service platform for developing your mobile apps for iPhone, iPad (iOS), Mac OSX, Google Android and PHP. This is not about money, its about credibility and trust and making the right choices when it comes to storing, accessing and managing your mobile app data in the cloud. Kumulos is helping customers all over the world to generate more monthly sales revenue and live the dream through developing awesome mobile apps, all powered by a cloud backend as a service architecture. Kumulos is built for app development studios seeking to harness the capabilities of cloud backend as a service software to generate new recurring revenue and deeper user engagement. The cloud backend as a service game is new to many developers and Kumulos offers a straightforward way to get your apps into the marketplace quicker than your competition.

Kumulos supports data persistence through it’s REST API. This enables cloud servers to communicate with Kumulos service to run basic CRUD operations. This can be super helpful if you’re looking to move data from existing servers over to the Kumulos cloud backend as a service platform. This type of access is really important for Kumulos users that are facing system maintenance and scaling fatigue, as it will enable you to migrate your data onto Kumulos. Kumulos
is helping to change the world of mobile app development using cloud backend as service technology to gain early traction in the market place.

The process of developing apps for iOS (iPhone and iPad) is not as difficult or straightforward as you might imagine. I’m certainly not a programmer, but set out on a mission to see if I could develop some really cool apps for iPhone and iPad. I’ve read all over the news how kids as young as 8 years old are using ‘backend as a service’ cloud platforms like Kumulos to help them crack the Apple app store. If kids as young as 8 in the USA are able to build iPhone apps and make a few dollars, surely it wouldn’t be hard for a 30 year old marketer.

Like any creative process, I discovered there are certain rules that you must adhere to when planning your development project for iPhone and iPad. This story is not about my particular methods or personal taste, but just some of the general research that I found useful when planning developing apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac OSX. Remember, the name of the game is simple; you need to get your iOS app onto iTunes as quick as possible. The sooner your app is in the market place and people are using it on their iPhones and iPads the better. The reason for this is pretty obvious, unless the app is out of the development room and running on people’s devices, it’s never going to make any cash. You need to get your iPhone app onto iTunes and start responding to user data. You can always make updates to your iOS app and release them later once people are digging it.

Developing your apps for iPhone and iPad is not entirely free, Apple initiate a fee for registering your developer account of $99 (USD). In addition, it’w worth considering that in order to create apps that run on an iPhone or iPad, you also need to invest in some Mac based technology. Your Mac will also need to run some ‘Mac-happy’ code to create your first sweet app for iPhone or iPad.

STEP 1: MODEL YOUR IPHONE AND IPAD APP DEVELOPMENT IDEA

So you think you have a world beating idea for your first iOS development project? There are, as you probably already know, a plethora of apps catering from fitness to finance and fine art. The app store is a crowded place and in order to be successful, you need to carve out a unique selling proposition. Ask yourself some basic questions. Has this been done before? What makes my app unique relative to the competition? Remember the best place to start looking for your competition is on the app store. Have a look and see what’s out there and note what your competition is doing. Work out how they do business and the features you can incorporate in your development project to solve a real life problem for your iPhone app users.

People usually develop apps for three reasons: to engage customers, to increase the awareness of a particular brand and to make money. It may be you are trying to achieve one of these things. It may be that your iPhone or iPad app is being built with all of these factors in mind. If you’re planning on making some money from your app, you must ensure you have a solid business model to support your technical and commercial endeavors. If your app is being built to engage users or as an exercise in strengthening your brand, there may be some spin-off in terms of sales of your product or service that arise as a result of launching your app. You must make sure that you can measure the effectiveness of your actions. There are some great platforms designed for analytics and measuring the performance of your app. I’ve found Flurry really useful if you’re looking for an off-the-shelf solution. However if you’re feeling a little more adventurous and want to build your own back-end reporting tools, you could consider using a platform like Kumulos.

Kumulos is a backend, as a service cloud platform for all your mobile development needs. It works for your iPhone and iPad development projects but you can also use it for developing Google Android apps and PHP web development work. I hear rumors from their tech dudes they are also planning on supporting Unity development for creating social games. So to cut a long story short, when planning your idea, keep in mind how you are going to measure success. You may want to use an existing solution like Flurry, or you can create custom analytics using a cloud backend as a service platform like Kumulos that helps with iOS app development. Anyway, more of this stuff later. To get started, you may want to grab a pen and paper and start designing the layout of your app the good old-fashioned way. So now you’ve got a killer hook for your iPhone/iPad app, what’s next?

STEP 2: BUY AN IMAC (OR SIMILAR APPLE PRODUCT)

Many people who own a Mac will testify to it. Once you’ve had Mac, you wont go back, etc. Cliché’s aside, I purchased my first Mac a few years back and have never looked back since. Anti-Apple propaganda aside, personally I think they are beautiful and robust products worthy of their hefty price tags. However, it doesn’t matter what I think, if you want to dip your hand in the honey pot that is the app store, you’re going to have to invest in one of these bad boys in order to develop a groovy new world beating app for iPhone and iPad. So let’s just get the fundamentals straight.

The iPhone is an Apple product that uses a stripped down variation of the Mac operating system. As you read, the iPhone and iPad development tools required to make your project sing are only available for Mac users. I think some clever tech guys somewhere worked out how to design apps for iPhone and iPad in jailbreak mode on a PC, however lets not go there. I have bills to pay, kids to feed and I don’t need a lawsuit from Apple landing in my inbox. Joking aside, if you’re not prepared to go balls out on an iMac or a powerful MacBook Pro, you can always buy a Mac mini. These are relatively cheap and will enable you to get up and running. Having purchased your weapon of choice, you will become one step closer to productizing your million-dollar app idea and submitting it to iTunes.

STEP 3: REGISTER YOUR APPLE DEVELOPER ACCOUNT

So now you’ve got a world beating value proposition, business model and a brand spanking new Mac, you’re ready to take on the app development world with your idea and become a millionaire overnight. So in order to work with Mac tools, you’ll need to make sure your officially registered on the Apple Developer Program. Once you’ve supplied some information and agreed to their terms, you only need to register once and you can use the same username and password for your iTunes account. Once you’re an Apple developer you can develop iPhone and iPad apps for any of the Mac products.

STEP 4: DOWNLOAD THE SDK (SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT) FOR IPHONE

Now that you’re an official developer (how cool does that sound?) you can download the SDK for iPhone. The version you require will depend upon the operating system (OS) you are currently running. Beware, this is a MASSIVE download because it’s loaded with loads of sample codes, documentation and all sorts of things to help develop your first app for iPhone and iPad. This could take some time, so you might want to order a Pizza, spark a beer and take in the ball game while you wait.

There are heaps of sites dedicated to the topic of developing apps for iPhone and iPad so if you get stuck you can always search for your problem. Be specific with your keywords so Google knows exactly what you’re looking for. Very often you’ll find where there is a common problem, there will be a solution. Forums and message boards are great places for iPhone and iPad developers to hang out. If you get stuck people are always more than happy to help out. But remember to be courteous and respect the rules of each forum, people can get prickly if you don’t stick to the etiquette. Watch videos, take some notes as you go, there are some great tutorials out there. Try ManiacDev to get you started. I’ve done my research and these guys are pretty cool.

STEP 5: DOWNLOAD XCODE

If you haven’t already taken the time to do so, download XCode. Apple say, ‘XCode is a complete, full-featured IDE built around a smooth workflow that integrates the editing of source code, with the build and compile steps, through to a graphical debugging experience – all without leaving the view of your source code’. This is another massive download, so you may want to go and grab more beer, pizza or whatever floats your boat.

Step 6: Develop your iPhone/iPad App With The SDK Templates

Once you have your app all mapped out on paper or in Photoshop, you can start experimenting with the design and layout with the templates neatly provided in the software development kit (SDK). This is one of the reasons the download takes such a long time, some of the templates are BIG. There’ll be a bunch of templates to choose from and there are some great YouTube clips on how to utilize the templates effectively. Your next step will involve Cocoa, but not the kind you’re used to in your chocolate milkshake.

STEP 7: LEARN OBJECTIVE-C FOR COCOA

If you love good clean, solid programming languages, you will feel right at home with Objectrive-C. If you ask me it’s the balls, the mutt’s nuts, period. If you don’t understand how to actually program (this can often be the tricky bit…) you may not need to hire a friend or a professional programmer to get the job done. This is always an option. Never be afraid to stand behind your ideas and back them financially. Potential investors will want to see you’ve considered the best way to get your technology into the market place and that you’ve had the metaphorical testicles to put your money where your mouth is. It might be an extra cost to bring a programmer on board, but you will reap the benefits of getting the job done properly, on time and within budgetary constraints. It helps too if you can find literature on how to help with your specific problems. The search engines are fantastic platforms for seeking out solutions to your programming and app marketing needs. There are heaps of people now developing apps for all sorts of mobile platforms such as iOS, Mac OSX and Google Android to name but a few. Remember to try and hang out online where your buddies are, you’ll be amazed how quickly you can solve a variety of challenging commercial and technical scenarios.

STEP 8: PROGRAM YOUR APP USING OBJECTIVE-C

Once you’ve grasped Objective-C for Cocoa, you need to actually program your app in Objective-C (or at least figure out how to find solutions to your programming problems). You can try taking screen shots as you program so you can record and remember variations of the things you’ve tried. If you do need to use an external programmer or professional for advise, it will help them if you can clearly articulate your problem. This saves time and money, which is ultimately the most important thing.

The length of time a project will take, or the ‘scope’ of the project will depend entirely on its complexity. Some apps can take a matter of hours to develop; others can take months of planning, research and intensive development. Make sure that you understand the scope of your project before you start programming. It’s easy when you first start to bite off more than you can chew. The last thing you want to do is end up in a nightmare black hole of code because you’ve not planned adequately in advance.

As my old computer studies teacher once told me, ‘boy if you fail to prepare, you can prepare to fail’. Apply this mentality to all of your iPhone and iPad development projects and you wont go far wrong. Consider the resources required and the length of time it will take to do specific things. There are loads of cool project management tools and methodologies you can use to help you if you’re stuck in a rut.

If you’re looking for a hosting or backend solution for your iPhone or iPad development project, you should try using Kumulos. It’s a new cloud backend as a service development platform that works with iOS (iPhone and iPad), Mac OSX, Google Android and PHP. You can host your data in the cloud and build API’s to give your app some extra muscle. The great thing about using Kumulos as your choice for a cloud based backend as a service development platform for iPhone and iPad app development is that it’s totally free to use while your apps are in development. Once your app is installed on over 25 unique devices, there is a small (and very fair) fee for each app that you deploy to iTunes or your chosen app marketplace. Again if you get stuck trying to find a cloud backend as a service platform for your iOS development projects, don’t be afraid to ask. This is a new product category and many developers are now using platforms like Kumulos to turbo charge their apps and give them a boost in the iTunes app store marketplace.

STEP 9: TEST THE APP IN THE SIMULATOR FOR IPHONE

The Apple software development kit (SDK) comes with a gorgeous simulator for your iPhone development projects. Unless you have hired a programmer, you will need to load in your app and do some testing. Try and work out where the bugs are and consider the people using your app. Understanding how to market your iPhone and iPad apps will be fundamental if you want them to be successful. Think about who will use your app, how they will use it and the type of features and interface that you need to consider as a result. Ironing out bugs in your app will help you to understand what it’s like for someone trying to use the app. Often the programmer is not the best person to do this. Sometimes programmers can be protective of their own stuff and don’t like to be subject to criticism. Or it may be that they are just too close to the project to be able to see how a user will benefit from downloading and using your iPhone app.

STEP 10: UPLOADING YOUR IPHONE AND IPAD APPS TO ITUNES

I mentioned earlier you’d have to stump up $99 to get on the dance floor with iTunes. Now is the time to do this. Once your app is tested and sufficiently bug free, it’s nearly time to submit your technological offspring to the great app gig in the sky, the app store! This is a one-time fee of $99 (USD) and there is no way to move around this. If you’re serious about getting your shit into the market place and becoming a badass millionaire, you’d better be prepared to fork out 99 fat ones for Apple. In the grand scheme of things it’s a paltry price to pay, so just strap on a pair of nuts and go for it. To be fair to Apple, you get a pretty sweet return for your $99 one-time investment.

STEP 11: HAVE OTHER IPHONE AND IPAD DEVELOPERS TEST YOUR APP

Once you’ve sucked up the $99 and paid your fee, you’ll be able to have other app developers test your shit. People in the community can take a look and if they’re feeling generous they’ll help you iron out any last minute bugs. In all seriousness, these people don’t bite (most of them anyway…). I must emphasize the importance of using the community and the advice of other iPhone and iPad developers to help you with your app development project. Remember that testing should be fun too; if you’re a newbie like me you will actually be in complete awe of the kings and queens of the iPhone and iPad development world. Depending on the overall complexity and nature of your app, this process can take some time but is totally invaluable in the grand scheme of things.

STEP 12: SUBMIT YOUR IPHONE AND IPAD APPS FOR APPROVAL

So now that you’ve tested your app in the community and ironed out all those nasty bugs, you can finally submit your app to iTunes for approval. People often ask me how long the Apple app developer approval process takes and the answer is clear as mud. It can take anywhere between a matter of hours and weeks or months depending on how busy the Apple approval team is once your app has been submitted. You should also by this stage be aware of Apple’s guidelines and regulations on what constitutes accepted developer practice and content when submitting your iPhone and iPad apps to iTunes. Know what the boundaries are and be aware of any potential pitfalls or factors that could constrain the success of your app before submission. I’ve heard of iPhone apps and iPad apps being rejected by Apple for a number of reasons so just be careful and aware of what you’re doing.

If you have created a paid app, it’s a simple case now of waiting for the cash to hit the bank. If you created a free iPhone or iPad app, you’re probably looking to engage users or enhance brand awareness so you’ll need some analytics to help measure the success and overall performance of your app. You’ll want to know who is downloading your app, where they live and how many pieces of toast they had for breakfast. Welcome to the wonderful world of mobile technology, where data is king and just about anyone can be its master. Remember you can use Kumulos as a cloud backend as a service platform to turbo charge your iOS iPhone, IPad, Mac OSX and even Google Android app development projects. I hope you’ve enjoyed my first blog, you can follow me @AppDevBizMan for all the latest updates on my iOS app development odyssey.

Kumulos was the first platform of it’s kind in the world. Built by real app developers, for real app developers. We’re not some bloated; heavy weight VC backed Silicon Valley sloth. We’re a bunch of pale Scottish dudes trying to make cool apps and do cool stuff. We’re also proud to say we’re the first in the world in this exciting and dynamic new market category. It’s so damn new it doesn’t have a name yet.

Cloud based mobile server backend solutions like Parse, Kinvey, Cocoafish, StackMob and Kumulos help you to turbo charge your iOS and Google Android apps. Unlike the other platforms, Kumulos is completely free to use while your apps are in development. You only actually pay when your app is in ‘production mode’. We deem your app to be in production when you have it installed on more than 25 unique devices. No other platform in the market offers such a great incentive for iOS and Android developers to start harnessing the power of the cloud. When your app goes into production mode, all we ask for is $10 per app, per month. Hell, you can even use an existing data structure to get a head start on your project. It’s totally flexible and you only pay a fair price for the apps that go into the iOS and Google Android market place.

Using the cloud, when you develop your apps you can now think about new features and cool stuff for your apps. Most importantly, you can think about how to leverage more cash from your iOS and Google Android apps and your customers’ apps. Here at Kumulos, we want to do the right thing for app developers. We want to help you build cool apps that are faster and smarter than the competition. If you’re looking for a scalable, secure solution that can help you to make more monthly revenue from your apps, look no further than Kumulos.

Step 1.) On your app’s dashboard, there’s a switch called “Application status” which will be “Off”. To go live, simply flick this switch to “On” and press “Ok” on the dialog.

Step 2.) You’ll be taken to the billing entry page to enter your card details.

Step 3.) After filling in your details and clicking “Subscribe”, you will be taken to your account overview on the “My Account” page. This breaks down your monthly subscription in a readable manner.

Step 4.) If you’d like more specific information, you can view all billing information about your account on the “Billing History” tab of the “My Account” page.

Step 5.) That’s it! After successfully subscribing, Kumulos will serve API requests to more than 25 devices for your live apps.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can email us at info@kumulos.com, or post on our new community forums at community.kumulos.com.

Please put your live apps into production with Kumulos by February 3rd 2012, so we can ensure none of your API calls result in an “Account Suspended” response code if the app is installed on over 25 devices.

You can get them for you project now by simply hitting the “Deploy” button and downloading the libraries. You’ll find a new folder called “iOS_5.0_ARC” and inside all the stuff you need to build iOS 5.0 apps in Kumulos!

We’re sorry it took us so long to get here, but good things come to those who wait – so thank you to all those who have been so patiently waiting for these bindings to be released.

Please email me at m.wharton@kumulos.com if you have any problems or questions!

Thanks

As of February 3rd 2012, Kumulos will quadruple your allowance for monthly API requests as part of your $10 package. This means for $10 per month, you will receive 1 million API requests for the price of 250,000. How cool is that? If you have an app running on over 25 unique devices and have subscribed to pay for the service, we are now giving you 4 times as many API requests for the same price. That’s right, you’ve read it correctly, that means you are getting 1 million API requests instead of 250,000 for absolutely no additional cost.

If your app is running on over 25 unique devices and you havent switched your app into production mode, you must do this by February 3rd 2012. If your app is running on over 25 unique devices and you dont switch your app into production mode by February 3rd, they will be cut off. If this happens, you will only be able to reactivate your apps by returning to the Kumulos dashboard and switching your apps into production mode. Please refer to our previous blog posts for comprehensive instructions on switching your app into production mode.

Many of you have been asking about our policy on exceeding the specified limit on monthly API requests. Under the new and vastly improved pricing model you will receive 1 million API requests every month as part of your $10 package. Should you exceed the 1 million API request threshold, you will automatically be billed an additional $10 for every block of 1 million API requests used.

These changes will take affect on February 3rd 2012. If you have any queries regarding the changes, please email me directly m.wharton@kumulos.com

Step 1.) On your app’s dashboard, there’s a switch called “Application status” which will be “Off”. To go live, simply flick this switch to “On” and press “Ok” on the dialog.

Step 2.) You’ll be taken to the billing entry page to enter your card details.

Step 3.) After filling in your details and clicking “Subscribe”, you will be taken to your account overview on the “My Account” page. This breaks down your monthly subscription in a readable manner.

Step 4.) If you’d like more specific information, you can view all billing information about your account on the “Billing History” tab of the “My Account” page.

Step 5.) That’s it! After successfully subscribing, Kumulos will serve API requests to more than 25 devices for your live apps.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can email us at info@kumulos.com, or post on our new community forums at community.kumulos.com.

Please put your live apps into production with Kumulos by February 3rd 2012, so we can ensure none of your API calls result in an “Account Suspended” response code if the app is installed on over 25 devices.

Basically, there are problems when using the Kumulos libs with iOS 5.0 when ARC is enabled.

Even when ARC is disabled using compiler flags, there are still erroneous problems like callbacks never calling back and I’ve even seen a EXC_BAD_ACCESS.

The problem is this: There is something inherently different about the threading in iOS 5 that messes up the code the Kumulos bindins use to make everything simple and seamless.

The kumulos bindings are pretty complex and I’ve written a lot of Objective-C code in my time, the “Convert to ARC” feature in XCode 4.2 completely freaked out when I laughably let it try to do the job for me.

Here’s and example of one the offending code chunks:

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            NSInvocation *inv = [NSInvocation invocationWithMethodSignature:successCallbackMethodSignature];
            [inv setTarget:delegate];
            [inv setSelector:@selector(apiOperation: didCompleteWithResult:)];
            [inv setArgument:&self atIndex:2];
            [inv setArgument:&theResultsArray atIndex:3];
            [inv performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(invoke) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:YES];

Now regardless of the ARC issues (referencing &self isn’t kosher in an ARC environment) for some reason in iOS 5.0 the selector is never called on the main thread. Which is useless.

However the good news is I believe we have a workaround in progress and we will be releasing proper, ARC compatible bindings on the 23rd January.

This is an important reminder that if your apps are production ready, you must go through the billing process by Tuesday January 3rd.

Please put your live apps into production with Kumulos by January 3rd 2012, so we can ensure none of your API calls result in an “Account Suspended” response code if the app is installed on over 25 devices.

I’ve detailed steps below on how you can do this:

On your app’s dashboard, there’s a switch called “Application status” which will be “Off”. To go live, simply flick this switch to “On” and press “Ok” on the dialog.

You’ll be taken to the billing entry page to enter your card details.

After filling in your details and clicking “Subscribe”, you will be taken to your account overview on the “My Account” page. This breaks down your monthly subscription in a readable manner.

If you’d like more specific information, you can view all billing information about your account on the “Billing History” tab of the “My Account” page.

That’s it! After successfully subscribing, Kumulos will serve API requests to more than 25 devices for your live apps.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can email us at info@kumulos.com, or post on our new community forums at community.kumulos.com.