iPad pulls Fraser Speirs back in to iPhone OS development

Yeah, Jordan, there's nothing wrong with "expecting" more out of Apple than what you get. But don't expect Apple to listen to outsiders for how to make those business decisions.

Back when Apple was failing, Steve wasn't there, and it was run by salesmen that didn't understand the market. This isn't "back in the day", but it is NOW, and Apple is making money hand over fist and its products are selling way beyond what supply can keep up with.

And I don't see a lot of developers jumping ship - where will they jump ship TO?

The app store is where the money is at, like it or not. This guy is recognizing that, which is why he's back, restrictions or not.

I buy Apple's products, not because they are the only products I CAN buy, but because they are the BEST I can buy. I don't give a rat's a** how they structure the app store's developer rules, as long as they keep churning out good apps. As they do, I'll buy the apps that I like and do what I want.

Am I a sheep? No, I'm an informed consumer that is perfectly fine with buying from a company that knows how to make not only good products, but great products. If you are a developer, then abide by Apple's rules, those that have are apparently making great apps and making money doing it. They will certainly have a better chance of getting my money.

And since they have stuck with it and didn't whine about making mistakes, I am even more inclined to buy from them.

By the way, Dan, the word is "whining", not "whinging". AARRGG!

Just testing.

Double Quitter !

There are important distinctions to be made between legitimate restrictions and illegitimate restrictions.

For example, some friends of mine complain that Apple's Airport access points require a proprietary client for configuration; I however argue that since these devices employ MDNS broadcasts and IPv6 local link addresses for discovery and configuration -- and that this approach is such an improvement over manually configured IPv4 addresses and requires a special client anyway -- such a limitation is justifiable.

The restrictions appearing in Apple's mobile devices, however, are more often simply for the fact of herding and locking the user into a being a captive revenue stream. Such an approach is not a valid technical justification; instead, such an approach represents a fundamental lack of respect for the humanity of the user, treating the user instead as cattle or as serfs/tenants.

Am I expecting a company to conform to my religious beliefs, namely that it should deal with customers ethically and make a reasonable profit on fair goods and services, rather than through various schemes and deceptions? You bet I am! Can Apple's wealth or market power change that expectation? No, unlike others here, I don't respect force and power; I respect goodness.

The fact that many people these days have no expectation of goodness in the companies with which they do business is a sad statement on the state of business ethics and society in general.

People think that "open" is the buzz word of the moment and that its the holy grail of software development.

The reason Apple has had so much success over the last decade is because they pay attention to detail in their product functionality and its on-going development, invoking whatever is necessary to ensure the quality user experience of their products is not tarnished.

Look at the fragmentation of Android already.

"open" is great for the developer / hacker that might download a useful tool and then wants the ability to hack it around himself instead of relying on the original coder to implement features he/she might want. Not necessarily a great idea for the core o/s if you think about it!

I think a mixed balance of "open" and "closed" is much better, protect the core whilst still allowing 3rd party development.

You only have to look at the App Store to realise there isn't much iPhone O/S developers can't do and all this hot air people keep spouting about "openness" is merely a smoke screen from those that want to criticise Apple or those that have little understanding that the way Apple works is the exactly the reason why its been so successful in the first place!

So, basically, he thought that he and the other developers were important enough to make Apple change their ways if they left. He was wrong.

It turns out, Apple has 25 billion in the bank, makes more money in a month than a small country, and is pretty happy with the way it runs its own business.

You know what's funny? All these people have these great ideas about how much better it would be if Apple would just "listen to its customers" and do things "a better way" or whatever. Did Apple get where it is by catering to the whims of every whiny brat or by making strong, bold decisions and sticking with them?

Apple makes decisions that are unpopular at the time, and everyone complains, and then in two years everyone else follows suit. Like the people who complained about them ditching the floppy drive, or the people who said that they would never be successful in the phone business.

If Apple did all the things that people "want" them to do, they wouldn't be the highly successful company they are today.

So, to this developer, I say this: Decide whether or not you can deal with the way Apple does business. Yes, they are controlling. If you can't handle that, then stay out of the App Store. If you can, then develop for it, but don't go complaining about the way things are. You knew it would be this way.

The same thing goes for customers who buy their products and then complain that they can't do every little thing they want. Go buy someone else's products, people. We won't miss you.

Reading his Blog, it isn't that the App Store is the only show in town, it is that he now understands that That is the Way the App Store will work, and no amount of whinging from Developers is going to change that.

Steve Jobs doesn't use User Focus Groups because Focus Groups ask for things they don't really need because it sounds cool. As cool as an Anarchic Software Market sounds, Fraser finally realises that Anarchy isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Doesn't he make photo apps? I wouldn't have been too interested either, the APIs for iPhone up until now were messed up with regard to accessing the camera roll. Developers can't make apps that upload with good location data - etc. I'm looking forward to that getting much better in 4.0. I want to upload full size images with accurate data to Flickr.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in..."

Sorry, I can't stop chuckling over geeks who want businesses run like their favorite religion.