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Filed under: Bad Apple, Developer, iPhone

Did Apple set developers up for failure?

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, many of the applications from the App Store are crashing frequently. Basically, an app I want to launch opens a blank screen, pauses for a moment, and then drops me back to my home screen without so much as an apology. Worse, it may even reset the phone. I've found with most of them that a simple reboot will allow them to launch again, but that's getting old and doesn't always help. You're probably, like me, thinking that it's a shame that so many developers rushed so quickly to make the App Store deadline and ended up putting out unstable applications. According to the development community, though, it's not their fault ... it's Apple's.

Anonymous developer sources are reporting that they've been poring over crash logs and discovering that the reported crash has nothing to do with their application. There's a growing consensus that Apple has released a highly unstable "final" version of the 2.0 firmware. So, maybe it's more of a shame that Apple, who laid the groundwork for a multitude of useful and exciting applications, rushed development and failed to build a better foundation.

Personally, I haven't seen the crash logs, and I am -- legitimately, in my opinion -- accepting the word of veteran developers. I also can't speak for individual applications, there are some pretty shoddy offerings in the App Store which may have their own reasons for crashing (i.e. "I look like I was written by a Windows developer, I can't show my face!"). There are also several applications whose requisite servers were overloaded initially, but are getting back on their feet now. But for a lot of the random crashes, it has nothing to do with the app itself ... so, before you write that complaint email, check your tone ... you might be getting snarky with the wrong party.

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