Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister discusses 10 ways locked-down app store delivery models limit choice for developers -- and ultimately hurts users. The model, best known in the form of Apple's notoriously finicky iPhone App Store, has established an entirely new relationship between software vendors and consumers, one some are calling 'curated computing,' a mode in which choice is constrained to deliver more relevant, less complex experiences. This model, deemed essential to the success of tablets, provides questionable value to developers, undermining their interests in a variety of ways. From disproportionate profit cuts, to curator veto powers, to poor security, fragmentation, and hostility to free software, developers must sacrifice a lot to 'curated computing' to get their wares into the hands of end-users.
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Member since:2009-08-26
It's also fragmented by OS version and device type. Even though Froyo is out there are devices that are still being released with 1.6. Google really screwed up by not designing the OS to automatically update. Don't expect the tech press aka Google fan club to report on how many problems this has caused.
Member since:2009-08-22
It's also fragmented by OS version and device type. Even though Froyo is out there are devices that are still being released with 1.6. Google really screwed up by not designing the OS to automatically update. Don't expect the tech press aka Google fan club to report on how many problems this has caused. "\
Your comment touches on a really interesting question. At what point will Google's interests diverge from the interests of the hand set makers?
The makers of mobile phones love Android because it can let them at least try to compete with the iPhone and because its free. But they make their money by selling handsets - not by upgrading old hand sets for free. The hand set makers want people to get fed up with their old version of Android and then buy a new mobile to get a newer version of Android.
Also hand set makers do not want a uniform OS across all hand sets - why would they? They want their individual models of phones to look and work differently.
This structurally tension between Google's desire for a large uniform user base all using the same version of Android with more or less the same feature set and the hand set makers business model of no upgrades except of hardware has been hidden by the initial rush to catch up with Apple but I suspect this tension will get bigger as time goes by.
Member since:2006-07-30
The thing is, it is the app store that helps reduce Piracy.
You have to use the App store to install apps (unless you jail break your phone), and that helps prevent piracy.
So, a developer has to choose between complete freedom (for the developer, for the user, and for the pirate), or the app store and the restrictions and advantages that comes with it.
Member since:2008-07-15
Hardly. Those who really want to pirate apps will simply jailbreak. Where there's a will there's a way, and that goes for things both good and bad. I'm becoming bothered by people blindly taking up the piracy line without really understanding it. If piracy were Apple's real concern, they wouldn't refuse apps just because they compete with Apple's own, or deign to label content objectionable for the user without the user having a say in the matter. It's not about piracy in this case, it's about Jobs' desire to control anything and everything people do. Couple this with jailbreaking, and the app store is about as effective at preventing piracy as most other measures have been, i.e. not very. It may hide piracy better, given that devs are actively discouraged from discussing jailbreaking, but it doesn't eliminate it at all. And now, with jailbreaking as easy as it has become, it's not even just the geeks who can do it. These days it's run an app on your computer, click a button, and you're jailbroken.
Member since:2006-02-05
The difference between the android market and the app store is that if you have your android phone rooted (very easy to do), you can pirate stuff directly off the android market. If you jailbreak your iphone, you can't use the appstore, and need to go looking for stuff in other places
Member since:
2006-02-05
Not only do iphone users spend almost twice as much on apps then android users, but the android market is pretty much a vehicle for mass piracy.
Edited 2010-07-10 16:11 UTC