Why iPhone developers should defect to Android

Quite a bit has been made lately over Apple's treatment of developers who want to create apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The company has consistently played games with developers by keeping them in the dark and ensuring that each time an app is rejected they're given as little information as possible.

Of course, this doesn't come as a surprise to those of us who have followed Apple all these years. The company has always been suspect of third-party developers and has consistently failed to do the right thing even when it's faced with a PR firestorm. After all, if the mainstream doesn't pay attention, who cares?

But it's that kind of mentality that could get Apple into trouble. Sure, it worked fine for the company with Mac OS X and it has every right in the world to stop apps from getting into its store if they're undesirable, but that doesn't stop the onslaught of complaints that Apple is acting in a way that's more than a little "wrong."

Let's see if I can capture the main points. First, Apple announced that the first iPhone wouldn't have third-party apps. It took almost a year for the company to come around and finally let third-party developers create apps for its follow-up. But once that happened, all hell broke loose.

First, developers repeatedly made claims that Apple's excessive restrictions were out-of-hand, only to be followed once the App Store launched with a few notable removals from the store, including Nullriver's NetShare and Box Office.

Since that time, Apple has stayed quiet on what it takes to gain entry into the App store, the company has given poor reasons why it won't accept apps, and now it's believed that Apple's rejection letters are covered under its non-disclosure agreement, which means developers won't be able to help each other gain admission to the store.

All the while, developers across the globe are wondering why they thought Apple would do the right thing, given its history.

For all its troubles, the App Store is still being flooded with applications: Russell Beattie found 450 new applications in the store in just one week.

That number may seem high, but given the outcry from developers, I'm willing to bet that the number of applications denied could be much higher. Once again, Apple won't spill the beans.

So what can developers do? After investing time and money into an application only to be told by Apple that it's not admitted into the App Store can be a bitter defeat. But now that Android is finally shipping in T-Mobile's G1, why not jump to Android?

Unlike Apple's draconian policies, Android is an open platform and Google and the rest won't spend time trying to stop as many third-party developers from producing apps for the platform.

But the main problem with developing for Android is that the hardware isn't uniform. Some Android-based phones will sport touch-screens, while others will not. That makes developing applications far more difficult, considering the possibility of dealing with a wide array of hardware. But then again, who cares? Rejected iPhone app developers can still create touch-screen Android apps and for those that don't have a touch-screen Android phone, well, they're out of luck.

But perhaps the most compelling reason why developers should defect to Android is because it will finally wake up Steve Jobs and company. Right now, I don't know why Apple should even care about all these developers crying about their beloved apps. The way I see it, they need Apple; Apple doesn't need them.

But if they defect to Android and the Android market becomes a real powerhouse, the whole game will change. Suddenly, Apple will need to take notice and realize the error of its ways.

It might be a long-shot and Apple may not even care that Android is taking its leftovers, but it's worth a shot, isn't it? For developers who invested their time and money into an application that they thought was worthwhile, being rejected by Apple is difficult. But they need to realize that Android is out there and available if they're willing to put the time in and create the app on that platform.

And if enough developers do create Android apps, it'll force Apple to take notice and hopefully change its ridiculous policy of keeping basic and useful information secret, while making it more difficult than it needs to be on developers.

There's always one other option for rejected developers: they can try to go it alone and offer their apps themselves. That will work for, oh, about 10 minutes until Apple finds it and shuts it down.

Android can be a refuge. Developers shouldn't forget that.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

[istarman]

Don,
I realize that Apple's getting a bad rap over what I agree are bad mistakes, but think about this: what happens when a ton of open source developers start writing a bunch of junk and putting it up willy nilly? Not to mention that there's NOTHING in place in the Google app store to watch for malware. This is exactly the reason why Apple protects what gets sent to the iPhone.
Also, the G1 looks like a terrible phone. No pinching, proprietary DONGLE for a headphone jack, a keyboard mechanism that's known to fail, SIMlocked to T-Mobile (which everyone seems to ignore considering all the crap Apple got for it), locked to Google apps, no Exchange support, no desktop synch (read: Outlook), and no video. What compelling reason would anyone have to develop for a phone like that? Who is this phone geared towards?
I just wonder if this Google app store for the G1 will be as cool as it sounds once people start downloading apps on their phone that secretly send contact information out to the cloud because Google doesn't screen the apps like Apple does. No, I'd need a better system in place to jump to the G1.

[hermantf]

I absolutely agree with this comment. I do think that Apple should get a defined set of rules and boundaries in place so that developers don't waste time on an app that might get rejected and so that developers don't get frustrated. But in the end, I think Apple is doing things correctly by not letting a bunch of "willy nilly" apps into the app store.

I know that I'm happy with my iPhone and the whole iPhone experience.

[gerrrg]

-Man, someone complaining about Outlook sync? C'mon folks, that's why it's an open environment....someone else can pick up the slack and write the app to do so.

-How do you know that there's nothing in the App Store to prevent malware? You've used it already? Apple fanboys, stop the FUD already.

-Samsung uses proprietary dongle, and what makes you think there won't be an adapter in the future? SIM locked for your contract, BTW. Or didn't you read the fine print? You can buy it without the 2 year contract, and after 90 days, unlock it. Again, didn't you read the fine print?

-Oh yeah, and iPhone doesn't have street view. Booya.

[dd13reis]

Crappy apps are coming to Android no matter what. The G1 is just one of many. We can't forget that.

-Don

[Penguinisto]

Well, what's stopped people from writing crap applications for Windows, or Linux, or (insert OS here)? The good stuff (usually) rises to the top, and the crap (usually) withers and dies.

I remember a time when there were half a bazillion Windows-based unzip utilities out there before XP came along. In spite of that, the most popular ones were usually the easiest for folks to use, or did the best job, had the best range, etc. The rest were ignored, and usually languished and died.

Streaming music - anyone out there use RealPlayer anymore (esp. after WinAmp came out)? Didn't think so. :)

[AlanHub]

people were giving so much flack to apple because they were tethered to AT&T!!! NOT T-MOBILE, notice the distinction. AS OF NOW i am quite satisfied with my ipod touch and would love to add the android onto my Tmobile bill

[ckurowic]

I agree as well, most applications out there are total garbage, Apple has to draw the line somewhere.

[dbroham77]

the iPhone was a hit before the Apps store. it going to take a lot more to get developers to ignore such a lucrative market

[dd13reis]

But the apps are one of the key components in the iPhone 3G. Are we supposed to give Apple cart blanche because its device is popular and developers need it?

I think that's ridiculous.

-Don

[Penguinisto]

err, "carte blanche" (IIRC), and yes, Apple can do whatever it wants to. Let the best model win... if a packed Bazaar full of good and bad apps is what wins, then cool. If a controlled store is what wins, cool.

Firefox' official add-ons site is packed to the rafters with awesome add-ons, so-so addons, and some really poorly-written add-ons. Usually, you find out quickly which is which.

[CandTsmac]

This is just dribble. A hit piece using modern buzz words directed at Apple to get hits.

Is C/net a tech reporting site? Or just another dreamers place to post BS?

Bye.

[Galaxy5]

Reisinger is just a younger, less coherent version of PC World's Dvorak. Every column he writes has something critical about Apple in it to bring in the usual vanload of fanboys, haters, and an occasional "what's the big deal" post.

[thelemurking]

As opposed to all the Crapple articles Tom writes?

[dd13reis]

Thanks for a useless comment. Why exactly did you post this again? Oh and "dribble" isn't what you were looking for there, chief.

Either have something constructive to say or get out.

-Don

[rranger1]

I think the word you're looking for is "drivel" not "dribble". You really should understand the colloquial expressions you use before you write them and look like ... well ... a fool. Just a bit of friendly advise :)

[rranger1]

I meant "advice" ... arghh. Guess who looks like a fool now! :P

[themrwhite]

I agree with the other two above me, but the other thing to consider is, as a developer wouldn't you want to maximize your profits or name and develope for both phones? Just a thought, one that seemed to escape the writer.

[dd13reis]

Why does everything think Android will be a nothing? I think that's ludicrous. Android has potential and we can't lose sight of that.

-Don

[Ian Kirkland]

By this logic, I expect you think that stores selling baby furniture should also carry the cheap crap that may put my baby at risk, or that there should be no control on Chinese milk producers, or that the manufacturers of airplanes should accept products from suppliers that don't meet some level of safety standards, or that porn should be available in the magazine racks at Walmarts nationwide.

Apple is protecting its name, image and reliability of its product by disallowing certain apps.

Wait until you see the mess that develop when these rejects design for gPhone. I want my iPhone to work and not be subject to the vagarities of the crap some developers might foist on us. Let the gPhone have them. I don't want it on my iPhone!

[ZetaZeta_]

But in theory you can read reviews of the products in the "baby store" and get the right product. Consider firefox addons, facebook apps, and iGoogle extensions: anyone can make one, but if it's not that good it will lack in popularity, get bad reviews, get a bad rating, or if it's malware, even reported? All Google has to do is let users "SORT BY [FOO]" and bam, you have quality apps without any effort. Seriously, if you don't like an app, don't use it. If you're unsure about an app, back up your phone and spend a few minutes testing it out.

However, if you restrict some products from being made available at all, then I, as a user, cannot even make the decision to use that app myself.

I'm not even going to get into the "duplicate ************" crap Apple's pulling.

[itsmenyc]

well said Ian. This is Apple's game, if you don't like it, play somewhere else.

Zeta Zeta, what you are saying is nonsense. might as well not have the FDA or any other agency. Just spend your life reading reviews of every product imaginable before you buy it... But then again who is going to write the reviews? Biased people like the author, people who have an interest in the product? Think before you post.

[dd13reis]

What a load of crap. Sure, some apps are crappy and it's keeping those away, but "protecting its image and reliability?" Please. You know what it's really doing? It's ensuring that big companies that it partners with aren't upset.

Wow.

-Don

[ZetaZeta_]

for some reason "fun ction ality" was wordfiltered. I hope noone thought I was swearing. O_o;;;

Anyway. Itsmenyc, have you ever added an add-on to Firefox? Have you ever added a gadget to iGoogle? Those are the only things I can think of at the moment that are good comparisons, so I know my analogy might be flawed. Look: Every (EVERY) single piece of software has 1. a rating 2. a "number of downloads" and 3. a string of one or two line reviews. That's what I'm talking about. If there was "crap" as you said, then it would simply won't be downloaded by many users... simple as that. There are tons of worthless extensions for various services I use that slip down the "sort by popularity" or "sort by rating" page into ambiguity. Since Firefox has "weekly downloads" instead of "total downloads" worked into popularity, dated apps won't stay on top of newer, better apps. Do you even realize the sense in this? I understand this doesn't apply to your "baby furniture" analogy, but your baby furniture analogy is a bad analogy anyway: If all baby furniture stores could tell you how many people bought that product, what the average purchase rated the product, and gave you a handful of one-liner suggestions from users *right on the product itself, on the label* then we'd be coming close to what we can achieve with computers. Do you understand? Apps are different from baby furniture.

Ian said: "I want my iPhone to work and not be subject to the vagarities of the crap some developers might foist on us."

Crap? Who's to say what's crap or not? Apple? You sort of asked the question yourself:

"But then again who is going to write the reviews? Biased people like the author, people who have an interest in the product?"

In theory, everyone who has ever touched the product (so I guess, yeah, people who were interested in the product). That's the thing. Apple gets hundreds of apps a week. I'm sure they aren't going to test them, probably just read an abstract and click "yes" or "no." Why stifle it at all, when it is the user that can do all the work for the company? The reason why Google does pageranks based on user activity, has a "game" for labeling images, etc. etc. etc.: Having a massive userbase is to be used to your advantage. Blocking even one app without letting the community try it seems wrong. Throw an app out there. It's interesting. I click it. It sucks. I give it 2 stars. People see the 2 stars or aren't interested in the functionality. They pass it by. It slips in weekly downloads. It slips in rating. Maybe it was a good app, but just not what we're looking for: low downloads, high ratings. Vice versa: I want this feature so much, but the only implementation ending up being kinda meh... People give it a med star rating, even though it seems to be downloaded a lot... Do you understand the power of such an open system???

Also, letting apps through that could screw up your iPhone (most likely an extremely minor problem, at worst, you're bricked and Apple reloads your BIOS) is in *no way* comparable to the FDA not testing drugs. If you OD on a drug or your baby falls through its cradle, or you get an ulcer from Chinese milk, that's terrible, sure, but these are applications. Nothing is going to happen to that extreme degree, and information about each product is *WAY* easier to obtain that you make it out to be.

"Think before you post."

I did. I guess you don't use technology enough to understand the importance of letting everything through and letting the user decide. The reason why people jailbreak their iPhones and PSPs in the first place.

[ZetaZeta_]

In my 1st paragraph, replace "your" with "Ian's"
I switched perspective halfway through. <_<

[jimif]

Great. Let Android phones host all the apps that are buggy or poorly designed. Apple has always been about high quality, so what's the big huff if an app gets rejected for not meeting that standard. Some of the apps I've downloaded are junk as it is.

[stigmattaman]

Yeah, that's right. Those 50 flashlight apps are only of high quality.

[dd13reis]

No you're missing the point. Android will have crappy apps no matter what, but if more developers move to Android, the sooner that store will compete with Apple's App store and Apple will need to do something about it.

-Don

[irondog1970]

I've been using MS Word now since 1992 (Word 5 for the Mac). I use Word daily, and it isn't without its problems. I've tried making the switch to OpenOffice. I've found OpenOffice to have a terrible user interface, difficult to design templates with, and basically useless to me for what I need to use it for on a daily basis. The same goes with Linux: may be powerful, highly configurable, and really cool to Unix geeks, but in the end, user interface is bad. I tried having Linux on my box at home before, but in the end, not what I need.

The lesson I've learned is that open source doesn't always make an application better. There's a careful line between "there's strength in numbers" and "too many cooks spoil the broth."

As an iPhone user, I have found many useful applications through the App Store. Right now, I have 35 apps on my iPhone. Of those, I've only spent $2.97 on the App Store. Some of my apps are pointless (Newton's cradle), some are useful (my fuel log), and some are handy (the ability to transfer files to & from my iPhone over a Wifi connection).

Maybe people just love bashing #1 & like to root for the perceived underdog. Time will tell, but so far, my iPhone has been very useful, and I can't imagine ever going back to a non-smart phone in the future.

[dd13reis]

You're right -- open source doesn't make everything better, but it's ludicrous to think that just because Android isn't out yet, it won't be able to compete with the iPhone. That's a foolhardy concept.

-Don

[AnthonyNYC]

Of course, you can never go back to a non smart phone in the future but why would you have to?
You might find a better smart phone one day, but the way you describe your word and linux experience, i think you are the type that doesn't like change much, so you quickly went back to what you were accustomed to, and didn't give linux or other programs the same time you gave to learning and getting use to word and your other OS as you originally had to in order to learn and get used to what you are currently using. And iphone users are especially the type who like simple and easy, nothing too complicated. But here is nothing wrong with that, no one is forcing you to change. But just realize some people will learn on the newer stuff and not have that issue you described.

[XS0706]

I understand the need for Apple to control what goes into their App store, and make it more valuable to users by ensureing only quality app gets sold. However, what they should do is to make their selection criteria public, so people will know what will and won't be allowed before they put in the time and effort to write their apps, and also gets a chance to debate the validities of the criteria. The way it is right now, it will seriously discourage anyone from learning to write app for iphone. Without fresh blood to continue the network effect, iphone can't possible sustain the trend on hardware alone. As limited as Android is right now, it will get better. And if there aren't enough iphone developers to crowd out Android, iphone's popularity will suffer the same fate of Mac computer during the early 90's.

[dd13reis]

Exactly. We can't downplay the significance of third-party developers. Look where it got Apple.

-Don

[dsjove]

istartman said it very well but I will reiterate.

"Apple playing games." Um yeah. All market leaders, including m$ play games.

"consistently failed to do the right thing". Please explain, provide examples, and compare to justify such a statement.

"onslaught of complaints". Two out of hundreds of apps denied because they failed to read the SDK. Two is not an "on onslaught".

"restrictions were out-of-hand". Not really. This is not a general purpose desktop computer. It is a pocket-appliance. The existence of hundreds and if not thousands of available programs makes this well in-hand.

"all hell broke loose". There were some glitches - mostly from ATT's infrastructure. Glitches resolved. "All Hell" contained.

"Apple has stayed quiet on what it takes to gain entry into the App store". Read the SDK agreement. It is there in plain lawyer speak.

"developers across the globe are wondering". Huh?

"For all its troubles, the App Store is still being flooded with applications". You cannot explain this. And you argue that the developers are making a bad move?

"I'm willing to bet that the number of applications denied could be much higher". And your premise is based on a guess. Rejections are higher - memory hogs, crashes, bad UI's, etc. I appreciate that filter.

"why not jump to Android?" Or develop for both?

"Android is an open platform". Not so much. And I'd rather have somebody else doing the quality checks.

"Android is that the hardware isn't uniform...But then again, who cares". Developers care. Non-uniform platform is a developer's bane.

"wake up Steve Jobs and company". Thais funny. Think about. The Jobster has created some of the most successful platforms - including the iPhone. If they are doing it in their sleep, then I'd be amazed at what they could do when they are awake.

"But if they defect to Android" Hello I am a developer and I want to stop writing for a wildly successful platform from a wildly successful company and bet the bank on the g-phone. That's funny.

"But they need to realize that Android is out there and available" Hey I agree. Competition is good. But good luck.

"they can try to go it alone and offer their apps themselves". Only for jail-broken phones. And that is just stupid.

[lil-yankee]

I would agree with you for the most part, actually I liked the way you broke it down in sort of a bully way.
Anyways, the point being that I too have an iphone, i dont care about the apps (jailbroken) and I have interest in the potential of android. Again, this isint a side by side comparison between g1 and Iphone but osx mobile and android. Is to see which platform is better and has more potential, I would not take the crown so easy from apple, i always think they are aware of their surroundings and manage to get lost again but so does google. This would be a way more interesting competition then that of m$ vs apple. Im a mac user and love much of my apple products but i would not dare to underestimate Google in any of their branches. Google is too slick and dangerous and ignoring them is the fatal shot. I would assume that he ********** when he said there is no body watching out for malware, google knows better, but like i SAID, competition makes things better lets see who stretches further!!

[dd13reis]

Spoken like a true iPhone lover. How is it that through all this, you fail to see any value whatsoever in Android?

Wow.

-Don

[zato_3]

Don said: "Spoken like a true iPhone lover. How is it that through all this, you fail to see any value whatsoever in Android?"

Spoken like a true Microsoft propagandist. Kill the iPhone, even if it means hyping Android.

[onusgail]

I have an iPhone at the moment and I absolutely love it. However, the apps in the app store are just horrible!!! Nothing is useful! Some of the people are complaining about flooding the app store with trash. Let's face it, it already is trash! It is sooooooooooooooooo bad that I decided to jailbreak my phone! At least it is now acceptable. If Android becomes the platform on many phones, it might eventually do what microsoft did to apple!

[Thomas, David]

Yea, right. That one statement you made:

"apps in the app store are just horrible!!, Nothing is useful!"

Hello Steve Ballmer ... get a life.

[jazzmandan]

There is a lot of garbage agreed but there is also some very very good apps

- To Do apps that sync with Remember the Milk and Toodledo
- Pandora
- Flight tracking apps - great if you travel a lot
- Air Share - wireless memory key
- News readers
- eReader - fantastic - there's a version that gets free books too, it's better
- Games - there are 100's of excellent games
- Weather utils
- Geocaching
- Education - my daughter did 50 questions in an hour of Kumon, often the homework in tears, costing me a fortune, now she does 100 on the iphone a night and doesn't complain at all. Plus she can use the interface with no issue at all. There's some excellent homework/ assignment tracking software for kids
- Tide data - surfer dude's delight
- Stitcher - streaming news content
- AirMe - photo geotagging and flickr/picassa uploader
- Facebook
- IM
- SplashID - password , syncs using to desktop client
- Now Playing - this gets better by the month

[dd13reis]

Apple's oversight is getting out-of-hand and we're supposed to forget that many apps just plain suck when the good ones don't make the cut?

That's wrong.

-Don

[amwoodhouse]

Don,

I honestly think that sometimes you have nothing better to do than to think up ways to get your name posted and given the prime position on Google (no conflict there) ... who would blame you. But please serious when using your journalistic integrity...if you are reporting the why don't become a vaccum salesman when it comes to cheese. We all know Apple is very proprietary and there are pretty good reason...(ala VISTA) ... In addition, stick to TV's you really are really bad when it comes to telephony!

AW

[dd13reis]

Oh please. You sound like another Apple apologist. What a joke. You have pre-conceived notions about the way things really are, you think you know what you're talking about, but in reality, you're just repeating the same crap every other Apple apologist regurgitates when their beloved gets beaten up a bit.

Don't be ridiculous.

-Don

[jr2124]

Don't worry don is on the Google payroll. "Don't under Estimate Google" was his last post, and its always funny how Don manages to make Google's News page. At any rate, I wish Don would actually learning about developing software and the differences between Android and Apple's SDK\App Store. Most developers are creating these apps to try and make money. Its a little hard to make money developing software apps for a market of 5 people with G1's. Apple can do what it wants, it has proven it understands what a large portion of the market wants in a phone, and if they are removing 10 apps that duplicate functionality or are just stupid then so be it.

[dd13reis]

What a joke. Just because I'm helping illuminate the fact that Google is a real competitor in the space and has the chance to make it big, I'm somehow on Google's payroll? Click on my "Google" tag and see what I've said about Google over the past year. After you do that, tell me I'm Google's payroll.

It's amazing to me that none of you Apple apologists can see any value in Android. What a joke.

-Don

[mknopp]

I think many of the posters are completely missing the point. The major gripe is not that Apple screens the apps (although some people do gripe about that), the primary gripe that I hear from developers and others is the asinine secrecy surrounding the process. Most posters here are looking at this completely from the user side, but think about this from a developer's perspective. A developer could spend hundreds of man hours developing an app for the iPhone and then for little to no apparent reason have it rejected by Apple. That is thousands of lost productivity dollars with no real way for any developer to know if their app will or will not be rejected prior to starting development.

In other words, the Apple application process is the equivalent of going to Vegas. The developers are gambling with their time and money that the cards will fall in their favor with Apple and that they will not reject their application for some arbitrary or at least unknown reason.

And no matter how you look at it. The secrecy behind the whole thing is just wrong. It does nothing to ehlp end users stay safe, it does nothing to promote development for the platform, it does nothing but give Apple a PR black eye.

And personally, I am with the author on this one. I love my Mac, but if they pulled this with the Mac OS I would really be looking somewhere else. The only reason that I can even use a Mac is because of all the great third party applications developed, which Apple had no control over.

To me this is just Steve Jobs repeating history from the early days of the Mac, where he basically wanted complete control over everything that went onto it, and Microsoft courted all of the developers away. Apple nearly went bankrupt (in fact they had to move outside of computers to stay solvent) and Micorosft bloomed into the 800-lb gorilla. I guess Steve didn't learn from past mistakes, and I think this will bite him in the butt as well.

[dd13reis]

Finally! Someone actually understands what's going on here. Everyone else is getting hints about what to say from Steve Jobs himself.

-Don

[joedauz]

Cnet used to be a fine place to go to get technical information - Now it is filled with hacks who spew opinion as law. This monkey boy Reisinger has just been a huge Apple Hater and crap like this is expected from him. No revolt against the telcos or the big MS but YA GET APPLE DUDES. How sad that this is considered news worthy. The darn G1 is not even out yet but lets all jump the shark with Don.

Exposure over substance is the new Cnet Meme.

[dd13reis]

Your comment is exactly the kind that I can't help but laugh at. "Monkey boy"? "Apple hater"

Gee, sorry I didn't toe the company line. Go back and read all my Apple stuff and tell me I'm an Apple hater. I'm writing this on an iMac, listening to music on my Apple TV and answering calls on my iPhone.

Don't discuss things you don't know.

-Don

[mbenedict]

I just want to address the big myth that Apple is effectively vetting submitted applications from a security perspective. This type of vetting is simply NOT POSSIBLE.

iPhone developers can -- if they so chose -- create a trojan horse with a "time bomb" that acts innocently for now but maliciously later on. Apple can't possible detect this without doing deep analysis on the submitted code (which could take weeks of specialized analysis per app), especially if the code uses obfuscation methods.

Instead, Apple tries to provide security for the iPhone via two major ways, both of which have known deficiencies:

1. Create a "sandbox" to contain the Application -- using a chroot environment -- and limit the developer API to Objective-C based foundation classes. However, we already know this sandboxing is not effective because all version of the iPhone to date can be jailbroken.

2. Require Applications to be signed by a Registered iPhone Developer. The idea is any malware can be traced back to the developer via the digital signature. But to be an individual Registered Developer, all one needs is $99 and a valid credit card number. There is no shortage of stolen or "virtual" credit card numbers available to an attacker for this purpose.

Google takes a similar approach but basically beefs up #1 above and downplays #2 somewhat.

On the iPhone, applications run directly as iPhone OS processes, which means it can directly subvert any bugs on the iPhone OS (such as ones used by jailbreaking applications.) This is bad design on Apple's part, from a security perspective.

On Android, applications run on a Java VM on top of the (Linux-based) OS stack. This presents a significant additional barrier for Android applications to compromise the system; they'd have to break out of the VM, then compromise the underlying OS.

However nothing can really prevent "Trojan Horse" type applications except to disallow 3rd party applications completely.

[dd13reis]

Nice point. We can't say that everything Apple is doing here is "for our own good". I'd argue that most of it isn't for our own good. Sad but true.

-Don

[haikuhippo]

The article takes a user or hobbyist point of view.

From developer viewpoint (make money) it gets more complicated. One needs to market the app and also sell to the largest market segment. Depending on how much you sell, you might spend more than 30% of your revenue marketing it. If you have a hardware dependent app (touchscreen, accelerometer, camera, gps, etc) the Andoid platform gets cut into smaller pieces. I don't think the writer realizes how much time it takes to support things after they are released.

[dd13reis]

Why does everyone think G1 is all Google has to offer? Android will be on dozens of phones -- it'll be a big market. You can make money as a developer over time. It just takes a while.

-Don

[GilbertMendoza]

Some of these comments seem to be completely missing the point of what Apple is doing wrong. There would be ZERO problems if Apple simply practiced healthy communication with it's partners. Sure they have every right to restrict what goes into their store, but they simply need to start providing class-act customer service through open lines of communication.

It's also a ridiculous notion to devalue the work of open source developers. Like anything, when you lower the barrier of entry for product development, you simply have more contributions. Yes, some could be sub par, but who cares? If I want to develop an application that I find useful, that's my business. If someone else finds it useful, great. If not, whatever... it didn't cost them anything, and it doesn't matter if it's available on the "market". It can still be available on the net at not cost.

But that's the beauty of creativity. It can come from any where, and more than likely from a brilliantly clever next door.

[dd13reis]

Exactly. All this could be solved with some basic communication and understanding. But Apple doesn't want to do that and this is where the issues come from.

-Don

[Thomas, David]

Wow, everyone else has already said it Don. Maybe you should wise up and listen.

[dd13reis]

Yet another Apple apologist. Where have you guys all come in from? Some bunker in Cupertino or perhaps a forum somewhere in the furthest end of the Web. Thanks for stopping by though.

-Don

[u_ser_name]

Only those who have bigger things to gain would refuse money for the principle of encouraging the competition.
I cannot understand why a programmer would refuse Apple's money and program for Android alone? The effort to adapt the same application to work on both Android and iPhone platforms is minimal.
Only Apple's strategic competitors such as M$ would ignore a possible revenue stream.
I understand that Apple needs to change but please do not direct programmers to make bad business decisions.
The company best suited to address this issue is Google. They could afford to make an application exclusive to Android that iPhone wish could have but they can't because it would violate their own restrictions (tethering anyone?).

[dd13reis]

No one said they would have to develop for one or the other. But why not force Apple's hand a bit by going to Android?

-Don

[RobinQueens]

Apple has different standards. A business is allowed to do what best suits management ,customers and most importantly to them --shareholders. Most of the preceding comments touched upon valid reasons for Apple's super duper app filtering system. I agree it can be more friendly, but what is a fact is-they do not have to be. My first reaction to the G1 was excitement, especially the $35 all you can eat data, SMS plan-that is until I saw all of the limitations of the phone. Hopefully we will have alternatives to the iPhone soon. I think G1 has potential, but it needs more work, a lot more work.

[dd13reis]

Android goes far beyond the G1. Android is an OS that will run on a slew of devices, which is where the market will be coming from and where we'll see the greatest growth in this space.

We can't lose sight of that.

-Don

[rapier1]

What's most interesting is that many are equating the G1 with Android (while no one confuses Nokia with Symbian). I'm wondering if Android is going to become overly associated with the G1 and cause problems down the line for consumer acceptance.