Regardless of if you are in the "It's Apple's store, they can do what they want" camp or the "Apple should not be allowed to have this level of control" camp I think we can all agree that it's not good when one single entity holds this amount of power over arguably one the world's most important computing platforms.
Essentially, Apple can block any app they want for any reason they want. Even if you play by their rules they can change them tomorrow.
While I'm a free market supporter I don't think this is a good situation. It breaks innovation and makes our smartphones less capable than they should be. Sad.
Go and innovate on Android, what's the problem. Or make your own platform and innovate there. Or use HTML5.
What makes me sad is constant whining about stuff like this.
Well the problem is, as I mentioned in my comment that the owner of the world's biggest computing platform can shut down a 45 person company without even giving a hint of warning or telling them what needs to be changed. I think even you can agree that's not a good thing for us developers, no?
Also, if I build an Android only app I limit my audience. It's like saying I should create a website only for Firefox in 2005 when IE was dominating.
But to your point, I as a developer will absolutely shy away from the iOS platform after reading this and I hope others will until they change their policies.
> Well the problem is, as I mentioned in my comment that the owner of the world's biggest computing platform can shut down a 45 person company without even giving a hint of warning or telling them what needs to be changed. I think even you can agree that's not a good thing for us developers, no?
That's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. If you make pre-prepared food for a grocery store chain and they suddenly decide to stop selling your products (for whatever reason, justified or capricious), you're going to be in deep trouble. How many small companies get >75% of their revenue from just one client?
It's a risk/reward tradeoff to hitch your wagon to someone else; they just got a large dose of the "risk" portion.
It's interesting how many people are coming out and saying this. It's like they want to be that little company that wants to make >75% of their revenue from one single company.
The point I'm trying to make is that for us developers iOS is one of the most important computing platforms. All else being equal we would benefit from it being more open. The more consumers you can reach with your products, the better.
Now if you want to do mobile apps you have to take huge bet when addressing 50% of the market. I think we should be working on fixing that situation sooner than later.
> I think we can all agree that it's not good when one single entity holds this amount of power over arguably one the world's most important computing platforms.
That's not going to fly long term. Microsoft created Windows and Internet Explorer while you could use Linux or Mac OS - the DOJ was not happy about it. Android is a god send for Apple in that regard, if Apple had 90% of the market and Blackberry was the only other game in town, the DOJ would be all over them by now.
Android exists. Samsung is on Apple's heels. Now that Steve is gone I'm seriously considering how long will Apple be able to keep it up so I would not worry too much. Tim Cook is just another business guy, no comparison to Steve Jobs the artist, visionary, distortion field inventor, (and yes an ass*hole too but that is OK because he gave us the iPhone,iPad,Mackbook,iPod). I don't envy Tim Cook, he took over Apple at its peek and without a strong vision he will probably rule over its decline (I hope I'm wrong).
Essentially, Apple can block any app they want for any reason they want. Even if you play by their rules they can change them tomorrow.
While I'm a free market supporter I don't think this is a good situation. It breaks innovation and makes our smartphones less capable than they should be. Sad.