During this week’s Macworld Conference and Expo, iStockphoto revealed details of an upcoming stand-alone application that allows customers to find and download content from the leading microstock Web site. Dubbed “Dexter”—in homage to the critically acclaimed U.S. television series by the same name—the application is scheduled for a private-beta release later this month.
For those wondering about the moniker: Dexter Morgan, the title character of the Showtime series, is a serial killer with a conscience. He manages his sociopathic tendencies by targeting only those who fell through the legal system and working with the Miami police as a blood spatter analyst.
iStock’s “killer app” has been in development for three months. The application takes the stock-image search and purchasing processes to the next level. Some of its features include scalable preview sizes, several search-result viewing options, and lightbox and purchase-history management. Perhaps most important—in that these features are likely to appeal to the high-volume professional image buyer—are batch downloads of images and image thumbnails.
Dexter is in simultaneous development on Macintosh OS X and Adobe AIR, the platform that uses Web technologies to allow developers to build Internet applications that run outside the browser on most common operating systems. Companies including eBay, Nickelodeon and Yahoo!, among others, have used Adobe AIR to build branded products. For example, the AIR-based eBay Desktop is a compact desktop interface that, along with key eBay features, offers users functions not available on the auction Web site itself.
The private-beta release of the iStock app will be open to a select group of high-volume Mac-based customers of the microstock agency. A public beta is planned for the end of February, and the Adobe AIR release will follow shortly thereafter. After the official launch, iStock plans to integrate some of Dexter’s features into istockphoto.com.