Big in Japan

Open versus Closed: Android’s Advantage

When you build an iPhone application you are taking a risk that no one will be able to find or use your application.  Why?  Simply put, Apple is the king and you as an iPhone developer are merely a surf living at the pleasure of your master.  Let say you develop an application that may offer similar functionality as an application Apple has or intends to release.  Apple may tell you, “tough luck!” and exclude your application from the store.  Of course this is a real story via Daring Fireball,

Apple’s current practice of rejecting certain applications at the final hurdle — submission to the App Store — is disastrous for investor confidence. Developers are investing time and resources in the App Store marketplace and, if developers aren’t confident, they won’t invest in it. If developers — and serious developers at that — don’t invest, what’s the point?

You have to wonder if Apple wants the App Store to be a museum of poorly-designed nibware written by dilettante Mac OS X/iPhone OS switcher-developers and hobbyist students. That’s what will happen if companies who intend to invest serious resources in bringing an original idea to the App Store are denied a reasonable level of confidence in their expectation of profit.

The developer explained in his blog, “Apple Rep says: Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes. That’s right folks, it duplicates the functionality of the desktop version of iTunes. Therefore, it was denied from sale in the app store. Although my app does allow you to listen to podcasts (like iTunes), it also allows you to download them directly to device and that is something Apple does not offer.”

Google’s decision to keep their market open is a very clear advantage for developers…

Posted by admin | September 13, 2008 - 10:58am
Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Social Media