Because of Apple’s draconian app regulations, the long app approval process, and the presence of an open-source competitor, the iPhone App Store is becoming increasingly unappealing for developers and users alike.
As a developer, you take a big risk developing for the App Store when Apple could reject your app for nearly any reason. Furthermore, Apple has a leash around its developers’ necks when it comes to the tools you can use to build an app. Sure, you can make an iPhone app, but you have to do it using Apple’s tools and you are forbidden by the Terms of Service from using private APIs or other programming languages, says one developer who claims, “Steve Jobs Has Just Gone Mad.”
Once you have developed the app, you have to put it on the slow-moving conveyor belt (i.e. the App Store approval process) and wait for it to get past all the inspectors inside. The rigid and unnecessary bureaucracy in the App Store becomes a barrier to production, and developers become frustrated. Guess where they go.
Android
The App Store Gold Rush is over. Just submitting an app to the App Store doesn’t guarantee a good return on investment. The costs of finding a developer are high because the permitted programming languages are limited and the payoff for producing an app is not guaranteed.
These obstacles translate over to iPhone users, who have to wait longer to get app updates and new apps.
Android, on the other hand, is very inviting. There are many ways to develop an application for Android. The number of phones running Android is increasing. And Google does not put its foot down like Apple and police content in the Android App Market.
Slowly but surely, the Android App Market is taking over. Unless…
Apple, Don’t Let it Happen
I love my iPhone. I think it is a marvel of engineering, and I think Apple is home to amazing designers. But while the iPhone is cool, Apple is becoming increasingly uncool.
Like a good mother does for her grown-up children, Apple needs to learn to let go of its customers and developers and let us be who we are. If developers want to develop something, let them develop it. The community will decide what’s good and what’s trash. And concerned parents will set parental controls on their children’s iPhones. And the world will be merry.
On June 7, when Apple announces the 4th gen iPhone, I will be crossing my fingers to hear Steve Jobs say he is doing away with the App Store approval process altogether while improving parental controls to let people monitor content for themselves or their children, rather than Apple doing the censoring.
The Future of iPhone
The future of iPhone depends on more openness. “Open” is the buzzword these days, and people like it that way. Given a choice, I believe people will choose the most open, unrestricted and free. And in the battle between Apple and Google, Apple is not the brand most people equate with “open.”
This is not merely a competition between two companies. It is a war of ideologies, and in the end, I believe openness will prevail.
Give me Liberty, or give me Death! – Patrick Henry
Do You Agree?
Is an open iPhone a better iPhone? Will Steve Jobs do away with the App Store approval process and give users the freedom to do what they want with their devices?
Will Steve Jobs Lift App Store Restrictions with iPhone 4.0? is a post from Apple iPhone Review.
Possibly Related Posts
- Steve Jobs Turns Against DRM; iPhone Ploy?
- Why Steve Jobs Should Buy YouTube
- iPhone Was Originally an iPad, Says Steve Jobs
Written by iPhoneChris on May 24th, 2010 with no comments.
Read more articles on android and google and iPhone Competitors.
When Google last year unveiled Android, its open-source mobile phone platform, I published an article titled, Android vs. iPhone: Will the Google Phone Be an iPhone Killer?
At the time, before iPhone 2.0, it looked like Android had a good shot at taking down the iPhone, for several reasons:
- Android phones were set to be priced around $200, while the iPhone at the time was priced at a minimum of $400 (for the 4GB model).
- Because Android is open-source, developers can freely create applications for the phones. When I wrote my article last November, Apple had not yet released a software development kit for the iPhone, so any third-party applications on iPhone were unauthorized.
- Apple signed a contract with AT&T binding the iPhone in the United States to the wireless company for five years, while Google’s Android phones will be built by various manufacturers and supported by many carriers.
Add to that the fact that when I wrote the article, there was still no mention of 3G data speeds or GPS being on the iPhone.
iPhone 2.0: A lot’s changed in half a year
Apple is not oblivious to Android’s potential, so it looks like they’ve stepped up their game to take on Google with iPhone 2.0.
The 2nd-generation iPhone will cost $200-$300 — discounted by an AT&T iPhone subsidy that will lose the wireless company money.
The App Store on iPhone 2.0 will let third-party developers distribute their own apps. Plus the new iPhone will have 3G and GPS features.
Still some obstacles remain:
1. iPhone is bound to AT&T for another four years
What was Apple thinking signing a five-year contract in such a fast-moving industry? While Google dominates the subscriber bases of T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint, iPhone will be stuck in a cage with AT&T.
2. iPhone is not open source
Open-source means greater flexibility. A 100% open-source handset powered by Android will have large communities behind it, working to improve every aspect of the phone.
iPhone, on the other hand, will have only Apple behind it. Of course, there will be the upcoming App Store, which gives developers some freedom to distribute their applications. But such a setup is far from open source. That’s why I think that to compete with Google, Apple will have to work to make the future of iPhone as open as possible.
3. iPhone has only one look
It may come a time when the iPhone will become so trendy that people won’t want to buy one and fit into the crowd. Would you feel funny if you were sitting at a dinner table, and all six people in your party had iPhones?
The handset hardware that will carry the Android platform will be built by several companies in Google’s Open Handset Alliance. So people will be able to have their own unique phones, but all powered by Android software.
On the other hand, it might work out in Apple’s favor for the iPhone to maintain a consistent design. That could give it a more memorable brand identity than Google’s Android, which will not have one iconic look like that of the iPhone.
Android vs. iPhone: Which is the better phone?
Hai of Mobile Madness points out a few things Android developers can do to dominate the iPhone:
- Make software distribution decentralized, but organized so that application distribution can become viral.
- Improve and encourage consistency of design among Android applications.
- Target third-world countries.
— Hai on What Android needs to do to compete with iPhone
All of these are good strategies that either company could follow, and they show the expanse of opportunities that have arisen in this now-revolutionized mobile phone industry.
I think at this point, considering Google’s history of successful products, it’s anyone’s game.
But iPhone 2.0 is without-a-doubt much better equipped to handle Android than the old iPhone was.
iPhone or Android? What do you think?
Which is the better phone? I would love to hear your opinion in the comments.
Written by Chris on June 11th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on google and iPhone Competitors.
Google last week unveiled Android, an extremely versatile, Linux-based open-source mobile phone platform that will be freely available to all handset makers under what CEO Eric Schmidt calls “one of the most liberal licenses in the world.” Will Android change the mobile landscape as much as iPhone did, and how will Apple suffer — or benefit — because of it?
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Written by Chris on November 16th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on android and iPhone Competitors.
