Being limited by a $200 application fee to get 10 more slots is NOT going to kill a market for quality-focused developers (indie or not). I'm sorry but that's hardly the case... In fact, we would happily pay ~$10k to publish to iTunes if it meant half the stuff on the store would not be there.
That said, I really wish Apple had let apps run wild. As an alternative, developers could apply for iTunes Publishing and give up 30% + extensive review process. This would let Apple pick and choose without criticism, while "experimenters" could keep the clutter off the store but in a true free market economy where if it was truly that great — it would be recognized with or without Apple's support.
My guess is the Blackberry market will be nerfed by inconsistent hardware that will require extensive testing to ensure a consistent experience for all consumers. Have you developed a Blackberry web-app? Have fun, it's a nightmare... especially when almost all the user-agents report a unique browser specific to the phone. And that's when things were relatively simple.
It's in this regard (and others) that the iPhone wins, and while critics will find fault in a closed/commoditized hardware device — it's truly one of the primary reasons for so much interest in the iPhone (though possibly not recognized given the influx of 'new' software developers). If we had a thousand+ configurations to deal with like Windows Mobile or Blackberry, we would likely not be publishing out of our apartment unless we had funding of some sort.
Look, I'm all about experimenting and hobbyist developers and there's really not much stopping you now... build a few apps, install them on your phone and friends w/ ad hoc distros. But there's really no reason that many of these apps need to clutter a market place. It's like putting a .99 store in a respected city mall, which would never happen be/c there is a gatekeeper preventing crap from leasing space and degrading the shopping experience for customers who go to the mall with an expectation.
That said, I really wish Apple never let iFart on the store. Complete free markets tend to be overrated and resemble anarchy.
Yes well said, I reconsider my stance. Apple's store is full of crap, and Blackberry's won't be. Apple want to control their platform completely, but frankly, like you say, they don't seem to have a huge quality barrier, we've all seen the store fillng up with crap. And the store cannot scale to the number of apps in it already.
Your points and experience developing for BB were interesting to me thanks. We came from doing an iPhone app, doing an Android app and then dealing with the multitude that is BB dev, so the points hit home.
That said, I really wish Apple had let apps run wild. As an alternative, developers could apply for iTunes Publishing and give up 30% + extensive review process. This would let Apple pick and choose without criticism, while "experimenters" could keep the clutter off the store but in a true free market economy where if it was truly that great — it would be recognized with or without Apple's support.
My guess is the Blackberry market will be nerfed by inconsistent hardware that will require extensive testing to ensure a consistent experience for all consumers. Have you developed a Blackberry web-app? Have fun, it's a nightmare... especially when almost all the user-agents report a unique browser specific to the phone. And that's when things were relatively simple.
It's in this regard (and others) that the iPhone wins, and while critics will find fault in a closed/commoditized hardware device — it's truly one of the primary reasons for so much interest in the iPhone (though possibly not recognized given the influx of 'new' software developers). If we had a thousand+ configurations to deal with like Windows Mobile or Blackberry, we would likely not be publishing out of our apartment unless we had funding of some sort.
Look, I'm all about experimenting and hobbyist developers and there's really not much stopping you now... build a few apps, install them on your phone and friends w/ ad hoc distros. But there's really no reason that many of these apps need to clutter a market place. It's like putting a .99 store in a respected city mall, which would never happen be/c there is a gatekeeper preventing crap from leasing space and degrading the shopping experience for customers who go to the mall with an expectation.
That said, I really wish Apple never let iFart on the store. Complete free markets tend to be overrated and resemble anarchy.