Apps for iPhone not the only game in town
There has been a lot of noise lately from iPhone app developers, some of whom are saying they will no longer write iPhone apps because of App Store policies, though smart business sense is likely the actual reason.
Developers are not internationally famous for their appreciation of restrictions that affect their view of their work. Given the amount of controversy that has surrounded the Apple App Store approval process, one could reasonably predict that there would be developer complaints. It could even be considered trendy to do so, especially after the developer of the Facebook iPhone app wandered off in a huff. It is more likely, however, that this trend (if a trend it is) owes more to simple business decisions than any angst involving philosophical differences with the app store.
Apple may be the largest game in town, but they are not the only game in town, as detailed in a story by Businessweek. A developer who only developed iPhone apps would be a bit like a manufacturer that only sold their products through Wal-Mart. Why on Earth would said manufacturer ignore the possibility of increasing their sales by also selling through Target and grocery store chains? Using this same logic, it certainly makes sense for a smartphone app developer to write apps for handsets other than the iPhone.
The recent introduction of Palm and Android phones, not to mention the ever-present Blackberry, make it clear that there are avenues for app sales that have nothing to do with the Apple App Store. It is natural for developers and development companies to want to diversify their offerings across platforms. Programmers, being programmers, are likely to complain about anything that gets between them and their goals, but they are also likely to follow the best path to increased sales. This is likely what we are seeing, rather than a mass exodus from the iPhone developer ranks because they don’t like the approval process.
Related posts:
November 25th, 2009
mobile ad services provider that has been around right from the start of the mobile web. They have released some interesting data based on the devices that they see across their payments pl… and their mobile analytics suite. Unlike a lot of stats we are seeing at the moment, the Bango.