View Full Version : Apple SDK Control Freaks
If you read the latest news bulliten from iLounge, SDK details are being leaked
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/iphone-ipod-sdk-apple-to-approve-distribute-apps-limit-add-ons/13537
This article says Apple will play control freak over iPod touch and iPhone applications. They supposedly will be locking it to iTunes, maintaining all control over what goes onto the iPod, and they also will not allow any Dock Connector access (so say a company can't design a game and a joystick to go with it)
So what do you think?
I love that its through iTunes
I hate that they will be locking it down so much. Their idea of what's appropriate for the iPod (like no background on the home screen) shouldn't be dictated to me by their picking and choosing what can and can't go on my iPod. They have an agenda and that will interfere.
Say Apple has plans for a new app, and someone else writes it first, then they restrict Apple's pricing on that app at the very least. Therefore, Apple won't allow that app.
That isn't fair. It should be more podcast like with Apple only removing those apps which are buggy, with viruses, etc.
But, we don't know how it will work, that article is all very... biased and has it's own critical nature and paraphrasing.
So what do you think of this report?
BlackWolf
02-29-2008, 10:22 AM
lol what did you expect? it was pretty much clear from the beginning that the apps would work like that. if they did it any other way, harmful programs would spead quicker than you can imagine.
smiduri
02-29-2008, 10:22 AM
In a few words:
I like the fact that the apps will be distribuited trough iTunes, it will make it easier to find what's available.
I'm worried of the price contraints that Apple may impose, what if a developer wants to give the application for free, will he/she de allowed to do so?
I find absurd such a level of control on Apple side, to me it makes no sense to distribuite the SDK if you control so strictly the applications that are developed.
Ciao.
DerekVOF
02-29-2008, 10:27 AM
I'm not that surprised to be honest. Steve Jobs, as you'll see in most articles, is a control freak. Things have to be his way or no way.
When MacOS X was still in beta, Steve announced a bunch of cool features and functionality, but while he was trying to replace the Apple menu with the Dock, the public screamed that they wanted their Dock back. So Apple relented and gave them their Apple menu back. When the iPhone was released, what'd he say? "No third-party native applications, just web applications." What happened? iPhone & iPod Touch were jailbroken and got those applications anyways, and then Apple seemed to say "Oh, yeah we're working on an SDK but it'll be a few months."
I'm not surprised - I'm guessing, however, that the jailbreak community will continue simply because of these limitations. And perhaps with enough pressure, Apple will relent regarding their stance and open it up more fully. You never know...
Steve Jobs is all about control. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has owned an Apple product for an extended amount of time.
If the standard price point is more than $5 I will be upset. While I enjoy a good game, I'm probably not going to spend $20 on something that has a low replay value.
xunity
03-01-2008, 05:27 AM
jailbreak time.
I'm not waiting until June. Ridiculous.
jhollington
03-02-2008, 10:43 AM
To be honest, we didn't really find much of this surprising at all, since anybody who has been paying attention and is familiar with Apple kind of expected that this was how things were going to be handled.
The only real surprise in all of this is the limitation on Dock Connector access. That's something that could have really gone either way, but something that I'm not sure most people were expecting to be a restriction. It would certainly have opened up the world to more third-party accessories, although it's also possible that Apple intends to release an SDK that does include Dock Connector access but restrict it to their Made-for-iPod accessory partners.
The other remaining question, of course, is how much control Apple is going to exert over which applications get approved. This can range anywhere from simply ensuring applications meet a certain stability and functionality level (ie, are not dangerous or buggy), right through to refusing to offer any applications that they (or their partners) don't approve of in terms of the "business model." Only time is going to tell in regards to this one.
It doesn't surprise me really, it just angers me to a point. This is basically Apple playing Apple, and it is very annoying. They want to make it a rock solid OS and they say they want to make it open. Really, they don't.
Steve Jobs' words at MacWorld are right on "the Software Development Kit that we are releasing to our developers in Feb."
Our Developers are the only ones who's get a nose in
xunity
03-02-2008, 02:26 PM
What about that rumors that the restrictions are only going to be really pushed upon the apps that are going to actually cost money, and the free apps aren't going to have them forced upon them.
Anyone have an opinion on that?
http://macrumors.com
Yeah, I see no validity in this rumor.
Why? 'Cause if someone was to write a virus-infected program they would make it free anyway and all Steve Jobs' concerns about security on the iPhone would be for nothing,
jhollington
03-02-2008, 06:26 PM
Not to mention the possibility that Apple may want to be able to take a cut of all applications developed for the iPhone and iPod touch.
This wouldn't be unprecedented either... They've already been doing this with the third-party accessory manufacturers -- the "Made-for-iPod" and "Made-for-iPhone" programs involve royalties to Apple in exchange for the ability to develop accessories that use the Dock Connector. Further, there were rumours when the 5G iPod Games first became available that Apple was shutting out any game developers that didn't want to play by a fairly strict set of rules. In fact, a Games SDK was never actually released -- Apple would actually take the raw game code from companies like EA and Popcap and re-code it themselves to the iPod's specifications prior to release.
The concept of an SDK is a whole new game, of course, so anything is possible, but since so many of Apple's recent actions in regards to iPod and iPhone accessories seem to be motivated by a philosophy of control and profit, I'm not entirely sure that the software side of things is going to be dramatically different.
In other words, I doubt we'll even see any "free" applications beyond the occasional promotional offer or trialware version. Apple is going to want to ensure quality control in the very least, and they're going to want some compensation for their efforts in doing so.
Obviously free unauthorized applications are another story, and will in fact likely continue to flourish in the "new economy" but the fact is that other than a podcast directory, iTunes has pretty much never distributed anything without insisting on maintaining control over it.
In fact, podcasts may be a good counter-example.... Although podcasts are relatively harmless as compared to actual software applications (ie, it's unlikely that a podcast could do much more than just lockup your iPod if it was a badly-encoded file), the level of quality control on them can be downright abysmal in some cases... I still have a number of video podcasts I subscribe to that are a complete crap-shoot as to whether a given episode will actually transfer to my iPod or not.
Yeah, I see no validity in this rumor.
Why? 'Cause if someone was to write a virus-infected program they would make it free anyway and all Steve Jobs' concerns about security on the iPhone would be for nothing,
Let's not forget the other reason: Steve Jobs wants to make as money as possible by keeping a closed system. It's the same reason the iPhone sim cards are locked down.
What ever happened to "We make the products, and we'll develop features to attract people to the product."
They seem to be playing money grabs at ever turn and that is really just pathetic.Don't they realise the amount of people who don't by a Touch for this reason? I'd say if they unlocked the iPhone and added Apple apps free, they would sell double the iPhones in the first three months, and make the money back on them anyway.
I paid $500 for my touch, and then $150 on different cases that were crap and then I will pay for games, and all that jazz, and by the time I have finished, it may as well have been $1000.
Chuck all the features in bulk, charge $150 and get it over with.
Apple is making me very very very angry with their philosophy of money grabs, and they are hardly encouraging customer loyalty.
Prozak
03-02-2008, 09:45 PM
Let's not forget the other reason: Steve Jobs wants to make as money as possible by keeping a closed system. It's the same reason the iPhone sim cards are locked down.
This argument doesn't hold water. Exclusivity of phones for only certain carriers is nothing new, and sim cards are nothing new either, this has been going on for several years well before the iphone was even an idea.
Give it a couple more days and we'll know more for sure, but I hope Apple does keep a certain level of quality control because quality and ease of use is part of what makes Apple better than their competition, take this away and you have a recipe for disaster. I bet there are going to be hundreds of programs being made for the ipod touch/iphone and as big of a success as this has been, I bet there are going to be many people working on crapware to put up on itunes just to make a quick buck on unsuspecting users. Put in enough of these people on itunes and very soon ipod touch/iphone users are going to become vary wary of putting down money for software. I don't mind paying a little bit for programs that are useful and well written.
Before we all jump to conclusions of how Apple is going to handle small applications, lets wait and see what happens.
This argument doesn't hold water. Exclusivity of phones for only certain carriers is nothing new, and sim cards are nothing new either, this has been going on for several years well before the iphone was even an idea.
Give it a couple more days and we'll know more for sure, but I hope Apple does keep a certain level of quality control because quality and ease of use is part of what makes Apple better than their competition, take this away and you have a recipe for disaster. I bet there are going to be hundreds of programs being made for the ipod touch/iphone and as big of a success as this has been, I bet there are going to be many people working on crapware to put up on itunes just to make a quick buck on unsuspecting users. Put in enough of these people on itunes and very soon ipod touch/iphone users are going to become vary wary of putting down money for software. I don't mind paying a little bit for programs that are useful and well written.
Before we all jump to conclusions of how Apple is going to handle small applications, lets wait and see what happens.I agree. I do hope Apple keeps control of these apps, otherwise there's no point to this and people can continue to use jailbreak. As a previous Smartphone user, I can attest to the abundance of CRAP out there, both free and not, that either didn't work as advertised or mucked up other things on my phone. And trying to support a platform like this? Forget it.
cowboyshootist
03-03-2008, 05:59 PM
SNIP
Give it a couple more days and we'll know more for sure, but I hope Apple does keep a certain level of quality control because quality and ease of use is part of what makes Apple better than their competition, take this away and you have a recipe for disaster. I bet there are going to be hundreds of programs being made for the ipod touch/iphone and as big of a success as this has been, I bet there are going to be many people working on crapware to put up on itunes just to make a quick buck on unsuspecting users. Put in enough of these people on itunes and very soon ipod touch/iphone users are going to become vary wary of putting down money for software. I don't mind paying a little bit for programs that are useful and well written.
Before we all jump to conclusions of how Apple is going to handle small applications, lets wait and see what happens.
Control does not equal quality and Proprietary is bad for consumers. The problem is that once Apple opens up the iPod family to non-iTunes updates then they lose all (monetary) control over the platform. Suddenly people will be buying music and videos from other sources. Apple doesn't have to innovate on the iPod platform because they control all aspects of it. As a PMP the Touch is good but not great. No HD, apple only applications, no "disk" mode, and so on.
As much as I hate to say it, I'll be looking at Archos and Cowan when I get my next PMP device unless Apple gets it together.