App Anarchy

Posted on Sunday, 11th April 2010 by Keith Beucler

In my previous post, An Anarchist In A Walled Garden, I discussed Apple’s apparent banning of all third party development tools. Since my development team is small, we don’t have the resources to port our apps to the different mobile platforms. Coding of apps is a relatively small but significant part of app development. Apple itself recommends that 60 percent of the development cycle be spent on UI design. Being able to port our apps to the different platforms would increase our revenue stream significantly.

A few months ago I discovered PhoneGap. PhoneGap is a third party tool that enables apps to be written in Java and HTML5 and to be ported over to the various mobile platforms. This is the holy grail of app development, especially for those like me who’s background is in web development. Before I spent too much time exploring the use of PhoneGap, I wanted to make sure that there were no problems getting apps approved that used this tool. Sure enough there are dozen of apps approved using this tool. I tested many of these apps and found them to have no problems running on the iPhone. I then found that the developers of this open source tool had taken the time to get it approved by Apple.

Since then I’ve put together workflows using this tool and have began writing several apps using PhoneGap. Fast-forward to the OS4 developer agreement and now I have had to seemingly agree to not use this tool. So am I to abandon these apps and the work put into them? I for one am going to role the dice and continue to use this particular tool. I do so in the hope that Apple is more concerned Flash based apps being ported to the iPhone.

For me the risk is well worth the reward. If I can continue to use this tool, I can bring on more web developers and make our apps available on most of the mobile platforms.

I had planned on suggesting that developers take a look at PhoneGap, but cannot do  so because of the new developer agreement. I’d really like to hear from other developers that are either using PhoneGap or other third party tools and how the new agreement will affect you.

Tags: 4.0 SDK, Developer, developer agreement, iPhone, PhoneGap, SDK
Posted in Developer, SDK, iPhone | Comments (2)

Posted on Saturday, 10th April 2010 by Keith Beucler

I’ve spent many years working in corporate environments and have come to  the conclusion that they are very good at “pissing matches”. Like most indie developers, I must be able to use all the tools available to me in order to remain competitive. I’m sure most iPhone developers are now aware of the changes to their developer agreement.  At this point I haven’t needed to use any third party tools to develop but now Apple has decided to no longer make them available and by doing so have dragged me into their “pissing match” with Adobe. This does not make an anarchist happy.

So who exactly is this banning of third party tools good for? Surely not for developers. Is it good for Apple? Probably not. So what would drive Apple to take these tools away from developers? In one word, ego.

I have thousands of dollars worth of Apple products, but in no way would I consider myself a fanboy. I find their products aesthetically pleasing but most of all I choose them because they work, usually flawlessly. I can live without Flash on the iPhone because I am aware of the security and other problems associated with it. I also believe that HTML 5 has the potential to be a better technology than proprietary Flash could ever be. The problem is that Apple doesn’t allow Flash because many developers would just create web based games and Apple makes a lot of money off of the 30% that we willingly share with them through our app sales.  I have no problem with any company doing what it thinks is necessary to protect their business model.

The bottom line is that the banning of these third party tools have nothing to do with protecting Apple’s business model. It has very thing to do with the battle between Apple and Adobe.

What frustrates me the most is that everyone, including Apple, knows that the iPhone’s success is based on the apps that mostly indie developers have created for their platform.

So what’s the next developer agreement going to bring? I haven’t given up on developing for the iPhone but I am really starting to hope Android’s market share increases.

I’d really like for you to share your thoughts and in particular what it would take for you to give up on developing for the iPhone.

Tags: 4.0 SDK, Developer, developer agreement, iPhone, iphonedev, SDK
Posted in Developer, SDK, iPhone | Comments (2)

Posted on Saturday, 13th March 2010 by Keith Beucler

When Steve Jobs introduced us to the iPad many said it was just a oversized iPhone or iPod Touch. When the SDK was released there were complaints of still no ability to run multiple apps simultaneously. These are valid points for us geeks but my mom could care less. When my mom is on her computer, she checks her email, then she’ll check out some travel sites and then maybe play a game (my mom loves online puzzle games). My point is that when we develop for the iPad we have to leave our power user mentality behind and create apps for the masses.

The iPad isn’t for geeks, it’s for my mom. All she wants is something that always works, gets on the internet and can play some games on. Sure every early adapter hipster you know will have one but the iPad is more for the casual computer user. When developing for the iPad less is more. Power users love more features, iPad users will appreciate simplicity. The key to designing successful apps for the iPad is to make sure your apps are simple, intuitive and uncomplicated. Don’t be concerned that your app doesn’t do everything, make sure your app does one thing and does it beautifully.

I’d really like to hear your thoughts as well as who you plan to target with your iPad apps.

Tags: 3.2 SDK, Apps, Developer, iPad, ipaddev, iPhone, iphonedev
Posted in 3.2 SDK, App, Developer, SDK, iPad, iPhone | Comments (2)