Disservice to partners may bite Apple

One has to wonder if Apple must exert so much control in order to deliver a superior customer experience. Reading through the October 2008 edition of Macworld magazine, I was troubled to read about Apple's poor treatment of its partners.

Microsoft grew to be a multibillion-dollar company by largely catering to its partner ecosystem. Apple? Fan I may be, but it's almost sickening to see how condescendingly the company treats its partners.

Take Apple's management of the iPhone App Store. Apple has been delaying updates to iPhone applications by a week or more, and apparently without any communication to its developer community as to why the delays are happening, or when to expect an update to go live.

That's the developer's problem, right? Exactly, as Fraser Speiers, owner of Connected Flow (Exposure Flickr application on the iPhone), details:

I don't have a problem with updates being reviewed (by Apple prior to posting), but it has to go a lot faster...Given the no-demos rule, an app lives or dies by App Store reviews. It's incredibly frustrating to watch review after review complain about a bug that you fixed and "shipped" two weeks ago.

In other words, Apple's lack of communication and service is hurting its developers, who already have to give up a big chunk of revenue from application sales to Apple. Apple is making them pay for poor service.

Not that Apple is reserving this customer disservice solely for iPhone application developers. It also takes a pound of flesh from its iPod and iPhone accessory developers. How?

As Macworld explains, Apple requires "officially licensed" iPod and iPhone cables on new models. Apple enforces this with a:

proprietary authentication chip in its portables that makes it impossible for third-party companies to create iPod- and iPhone-compatible accessories without signing an often costly agreement with Apple...(As just one example), most of the manufacturers interviewed (by Macworld) estimate that up to $20 of the retail cost of iPod and iPhone speakers is directly attributable to fees levied by Apple. Ouch.

Ouch, indeed. Apple's tight grip on its partners means higher costs and a degraded experience, at least in the case of the iPhone App Store.

I'm an Apple fan. I have been spending a lot of money on Apple products for years. But I'm also in the software business, and can't imagine treating my own partners as poorly as Apple apparently treats its developer partners.

Apple lost once because of its inability to appeal to a broad developer base. If it isn't careful, it will end up alienating its iPhone, iPod, and Mac developer communities, pushing them back to Microsoft, over to Google's Android platform, or elsewhere.

[icallarlo]

I agree that Apple has areas that need to be improved, but in all fairness the entire iPhone developer concept is still quite new.

This is why you are supposed to beta test, fix, beta test, fix and beta test some more, and then just before you're ready to release... beta test again!!

The app store is a virtual retail store, you wouldn't ship a boxed copy of your application to Office Depot without thoroughly testing it with a base of users in real world environments.

I think the core problem is application developers who want to get to market so quickly that they are willing to skip a lot of QA. This is imho why so many of the apps in the app store are low quality.

Not to advertise, but at iCall we have had our product working for > 2 months, but we're not interested in chancing bad reviews so we have delayed our launch in order to ensure that the product we do release will be rock solid in the hands of technologically unsavy consumers.

[Renegade Knight]

Of course the iphone developer concept is new. It's far more restricted than the normal free market we are used to. What I like about Windows PDA (and I absolutly hate Microsoft, they have cost me time, and money just by treating paying customers like criminals) is that I can install any application written by anybody. That's good and bad, but given I've never hit the bad I'm a fan.

[setgo]

Story #3 and counting.

[rk2469]

Apple makes Microsoft look like an angel. Microsoft has never done this done. I can't recall Microsoft testing and reviewing 3rd party app or 3rd party hardware for 2 to 3 weeks.

The thing is... Apple is a control freak... and it's not the good kind either.
3 weeks delay on these instant apps that cost $.99+ can be very critical.

[ikramerica--2008]

Apple doesn't want crashing iPhones. Microsoft BSOD was so common because third party apps are so shoddy, and the OS was not protected. MS improved that greatly from their side over time.

Maybe Apple is just concerned that their iPhone 2.0 platform is so new, it's too easy to crash?

[Goodbye Helicopter]

How are the licensing fees for accessories connected with the agreements on the app store?
Totally unrelated agreements.
We don't get better treatment as consumers from any phone company in the US!
Look at what those people charge for "ringtones" let alone SMS messages... tsk, tsk, tsk.
Oh, wait, proprietary and licensing.... Microsoft XBox..., Sony Playstation, Nintendo anything, Batteries for portable computers of any manufacture...

If you are simply upset with the mechanisms in place for the App Store... yes, it could be improved a lot.
Apps need better categories.
There should be a "demo app" feature, prior to "keep app". That way you're not paying for crap.
But hell, it's their ecosystem.

Eventually, the iPhone will fade or become more open like any computing platform.
This is a given.
All computers have gone this way. Start out, very controlled, end up dead or fairly open.

The iPod Touch has more mass appeal in this regard. It poses the potential to be an incredible platform for interfacing with systems around us.

A Touch only dev kit would be great.

[Dalmatian28]

Apple act the way it does because there are people out there that are willing to bend over backwards (or even "forward") to make them happy! If their customers stop acting like some "fanatics" and zombies they will not feel that they have so much power over them and they would change their practices. iPhone is a good device....but try typing a text massage or even make a phone call! How many reviews did you read where sites like c-net shows any negative things about iPhone or Apple. Writing something against Apple is like writing against Christianity and Jesus. How could you??? I am incredible surprised that this article was allowed to be even posted on this site. I have lost respect for this site because they are completely incapable to criticize anything that comes from Apple or Google. (How many times did you hear about the fact that Apple is now forcing you to replace whole device if your battery has to be replaced! That is important because if your warranty expires after one year...you end up with useless device. They advise you to buy warranty...If I have to buy warranty they they advertise false price. (They are misleading on price) I do want to thank Mr. Matt Asay for writing this article because it tells me that there are still people out there that can see beyond the "hype".

[Blackjack_Joe]

I'm very disappointed with the speed that applications are released on the app store. I've been waiting for a couple weeks for an update to an application that the author has said contains numerous bug fixes and enhancements,.

[holycow]

If the disservice to partners will bite Apple, then let it and the marketplace should correct itself.

If there aren't any good competitors then the disservice will not bite Apple. Consumers and developers need to walk away from Apple. I think Apple will learn as will the developer community.

Organize a boycott instead of writing these articles. Does CNET have the courage to put its money where its mouth is?

[Buddy Blake]

Most apple supporters have a problem with cnet coverage of Apple. Your bias always shows such as the comment below:

Apple has been forced to give away two months worth of MobileMe subscriptions.

We know Apple is not perfect but I choose to believe that Apple made a mistake and gave me the extra coverage. You and other Apple basher's still dont get it.

George Blake

[hammeroftruth]

Blake is right. First of all Apple didn't force the "made for ipod" agreement down anybody's throat, it was plain and simple. You want to ride the wave, you have to pay a little back. This is nothing new. Nintendo, Sony and even Microsoft has some sort of fee if you want to make accessories for their consumer products. The app store is being help up by not having enough people to certify apps. Sure it's a pain in the ass, but it's not going to be forever. They also have issues with the os (obviously), so they are being cautious by taking their time to FIX the issues with 2.0X before they open the floodgates of apps waiting to be sold.

[hellojon]

Negative blogs about Apple generate a lot of traffic - both from haters and Apple fans.

You are stretching the limits of credibility with this kind of strategy.

I suggest that developers do better testing and completing of their Apps before putting them out on the market. I've had some apps update 3 times since I downloaded them - indicating to me that they were rushed, unfinished, to market. SO this is Apple's problem? I don't think so.
Why portray Apple as the Great Satan? It is very easy to backseat drive with snippish blogs but it doesn't do anyone any good.
The reality is that the App store is a lot more successful, delightful, useful, and brilliant than anyone ever imagined - probably including Apple - So they have a backlog. Blame the developers that are pushing out cr-apps in volume instead of Apple.

[dwsolberg--2008]

I think the delay is more good than harm. It should encourage developers to release complete, fully tested products. It seems that some developers want us to download a daily build of software with whatever bug fixes they've found. This is not a good process for anyone. It takes up Apple's bandwidth, makes for more updates to the iPhone and trouble for the consumer, and allows developers the ability to release untested products and allow the users to test it.

If you want to write a story, what about the horrible rating system in the application store? It's made for music, and it shows. There are no dates or references to versions of applications, and the "most helpful" reviews generally are outdated reviews about past versions. Also, in some cases half of the reviews aren't even from people who have used the application.