The iPhone developer boycott in the works
Being a set of talented web developers in a trendy, cutting-edge digital agency, we have wanted to create and thus pitched on many an iPhone application – as the iPhone is just the slickest, meanest, coolest, hottest and most alluring device on the market. It has been so for a long time and it will be so for some time to come (but not that long).
But that craving for getting hands on building something for the iPhone is gone – completely. I’m sorry Apple, you might not miss me, but as things stand right now, I won’t miss you either. And I am certainly not alone – there is a large front in the developer community building up resentment against the policy of the App Store review process. A veritable boycott is brewing.
First of all here are some horror stories about how incredibly tiresome, ridiculous and illogical the review process is:
- The iPhone Development Story by Mike Ash – about the entire app review process and how time-consuming it is.
- Airfoil Speakers Touch 1.0.1 Finally Ships from Rogue Amoeba – about how a simple bug fix ended up making the developer choose between a less functional or a less user friendly version of his app.
- Apple’s FCC Response Infuriates Google Voice App Developer from MacLife.com – about how Apple randomly picks out already approved applications for removal, if they see fit (and of course give no real reason, only air in response).
- How Apple’s App Store review process hurt Occipital’s RedLaser SDK and my very own ‘avit iPhone app by Aral Balkan – about how Apple’s policies are hurting everyone and not making any business sense whatsoever…
Second, how developers are fleeing the platform:
- On Middle Men by Joe Hewitt – about how his experiences with Apple and the App Store during his development of the Facebook App for iPhone has made him quit developing for iPhone.
- The iPhone Development Story: One Year Later by Mike Ash – about how Mike’s experience and Apple’s lack of response one year after his initial bad experience has caused him to skip the platform.
- Back To The Mac from CarpeAqua.com – about how the overall experience has caused yet another value-adding developer to only develop for Mac, not iPhone.
Third, how commentators are warning Apple about the no-go of trying to be a “software publisher” as that is bound to go bad:
- The War For the Web by Tim O’Reilly – about how trying to control your medium will lead to doom or big business (but most likely doom in the long run).
- Apple’s Mistake by Paul Graham – about Apple trying to be the middle man where no such was needed or even fits.
All in all, my conclusion is clear: Symbian/Droid/Palm/WinMo/TouchWiz/whatever open mobile operating system you can name, here I come!
UPDATE: PPK just posted his solution to the dilemma: create web apps, not native apps (but in a somewhat cryptic wording though) – and since that post he then posted an equally strangely worded “rebuttal”.
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