Filed under: Cellphones
Engadget editor-at-large and gdgt co-founder Ryan Block contributes Engadget Cares, a friendly advice column for the people who make your technology.
digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/How_the_App_Store_is_Hurting_Devs’; It’s not hard to argue that the App Store’s inspired success for the mobile software world, with over 100 million programs downloaded on only a few million phones in just a matter of months. Palm, Nokia, Microsoft must all be simmering (and understandably so). But Apple, if you’re having trouble getting buy-in from passionate developers with a serious creative vision for iPhone apps beyond the dozens of me-too calculators and to-do lists — and you know you are — the writing’s on the wall, and you’re the one who put it there.
But it’s not just about the draconian SDK agreement (which we’ll get to in a minute), or the uncertainty that runs through every developer — large and small — as they wonder whether you’ll give the all-important thumbs-up to the app they’ve just invested all that blood / sweat / tears / money into (we’ll get to that, too). What seems to the rest of us like nefarious intent may simply be Apple coming to grips with its own successes by reacting with the same kneejerk response it plies to most everything else: control and micromanagement.
Let’s rewind for a moment though, and go back to what Steve said at this Spring’s iPhone roadmap event, where the SDK was introduced for the first time. As Steve’s introduction reached its crescendo, he excitedly declared, “The developers and us have the same exact interest, which is to get as many apps out in front of as many iPhone users as possible,” but “there are going to be some apps we’re not going to distribute: porn, malicious apps, apps that invade your privacy…” The slide listed “malicious,” “illegal,” “porn,” “privacy,” “bandwidth hog,” and “unforeseen.” Ah, unforeseen — glorious wiggle room. I suppose “apps that might compete with our own” wouldn’t have gone over as well with the crowd. Read on.
Continue reading Engadget Cares: save us from Apple’s groundbreaking, developer-shackling App Store
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Peek’s kinda-sorta email-only handheld is one of the more polarizing devices to hit this year. On one hand, anyone who cares that much about email in their pocket probably already owns an email-capable handset; on the other, those satisfied with their pay-as-you-go phone may seriously be interested in adding this to their arsenal. Regardless of your take on things, we figured you should know that it’s available for “today only” at $49.95, clearly setting the bar for a Cyber Wednesday in years to come. ‘Course, that $19.95 per month data requirement isn’t going anywhere, but half a Benjamin might be worth it just to crack this sucker open and test your hacking skills.
