Comments on: Why Instinctiv avoided the iPhone SDK

Instinctiv has a cool app for de-randomizing the shuffle feature on the iPhone, but it works only on "jailbroken" devices. The company explains why it won't use the new iPhone SDK.

[Pete Bardo]

The SDK is $99 for developers of free or commercial apps, $299 for in-house/proprietary apps. I guess that's ok. But why place an artificial limit on functionality by not including access to certain parts of the hardware? That doesn't make sense--but, then again, selling iPhone only through AT&T doesn't make sense to me either. Apple may be making a comeback, but it still seem myopic to me.

[~Neo~]

"Apple spent a lot of time and money creating the mobile phone that everybody wants, and absolutely should be able to control the user experience, enforce exclusive arrangements with its carrier partners, and extract fees from third-party application developers."

I would not say that "everyone" wants one, iPhone overpriced, underperforming, locked down, childs toy compared to other devices from HTC.

[cbazza]

If the iPhone has most of the features and applications that most people want, then why is Apple bothering with an SDK for 3rd party developers ???

Android hasn't even being released yet and you say it would have been good 5 years ago !!! Android is going to attract some much 3rd party innovation that is going to leave iPhone behind, kind of like what Windows did to the original Macintosh.

Makes me laugh to read your comments about Apple having the right to extract fees (30%) from 3rd party application developers. What is going to happen is that most developers will ignore the iPhone and continue to developer for other phones.

[MacKirk]

Well, your comments are interesting because they could not be any more wrong. When Apple released the SDK they got 250,000 downloads. They had 25,000 people apply to be developers. They have so far accepted 4,000 developers and expect real live applications to appear as soon as September 11. The iPhone App Store, with it's low costs, it's frictionless administration and flexible pricing, is going to turn the iPhone into the next legitimate platform. And we won't have to wait long to see who is right. The revolution begins on the 11th and repercussions should begin almost immediately.

[MacKirk]

Why assume that Apple's limitations are arbitrary? Apple is one of the rare companies that really seems to think things through. Just because Apple hasn't EXPLAINED the reason for a limitation doesn't mean they don't have a reason for the limitation. If they've limited functionality, there is probably a very good reason (at least from Apple''s perspective) for it.

[setgo]

I guess that's why your following and commenting on iPhone news articles huh? If this is how you really feel dude then be like me. I hate Windows Moble (after owning a Q) so I don't read any related article and couldn't give a d@#$ what they are doing with it, so therefore you will not read a post from me about it. Stop trollin' around.

[setgo]

-Neo-

I guess that's why your following and commenting on iPhone news articles huh? If this is how you really feel dude then be like me. I hate Windows Moble (after owning a Q) so I don't read any related article and couldn't give a -- what they are doing with it, so therefore you will not read a post from me about it. Stop trollin' around.

[Cirbirus]

Apple has their own way of doing things and they pretty much don't give a toss if you like it or not. They are happy only dealing with the people that like them. They have some of the best tech support around but complaining to them about their corporate policies is like spitting into the wind.

As an iPhone developer I can say it SUCKS that we can't access the iTunes library. I understand why they do it; they don't like people downloading stuff off iPods because they think you'll just share your music with everyone, and you would. I know I would have written an app to beam items from one phone to the next. So as much as I hate it I do understand it.

But it still gets my goat. The way I feel is if I bought the hardware, it's mine. I can do what the hell ever I want with it and no silly EULA is going to stop me. In fact I think EULA's are ridiculous so I just say out loud when ever I encounter them, "I DO NOT agree with this EULA and if you do not agree that I should be able to open and use this without agreeing to the EULA then make it magically disappear, otherwise you accept that your EULA is null and void." That's about as binding as a EULA.