Microsoft announces the Zune Phone App Store, Apple reality distortion field implodes

Apple have every right to run Apple the way it wants to but just for a second could you step back and imagine this; Steve Balmer of Microsoft stands up in front of a roomful of developers and, with a big smile on his face, says “You get 70% of the sale of your software! Isn’t that great!”

If the App Store was just one way of many of distributing apps to the iPhone/iTouch then I wouldn’t have a gripe. I’d have choice and if I chose to distribute through the App Store then the 30% would be seen as a fee for the hosting, payment processing and promotion of my app. If I had a choice I may want to do all of that myself though. Host my app on my website and handle payment with my processing system.

But we don’t have choice. It is either the Apple App Store or nothing.

This isn’t how the web works or how technology should be moving forward. I thought walled gardens were being torn down, they fought the internet and lost. Now the best piece of hardware I own, the iPhone, is going to be hooked up to a walled garden.

(I think the SDK and API look fantastic. Far more than I was hoping for. Well done to Apple on that.)

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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jazz biscuit 9 months ago 1 point
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Apple are disgusting. Their dedication to lock-in tactics is embarassing.

Imagine a world where the iphone was just released, ran java, and was open to the whole bloody world. They would have sold millions of extra units, and be reaping the success their excellent technology rightly deserves. Instead they bastardise their own product and make it far worse that it could be due to short-sighted money-grabbing strategies.

They absolutely suck.

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paulmwatson 8 months ago 1 point
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I wouldn't go that far, Jazz. I am glad the iPhone runs the software it does. The SDK is very nice and the dev tools are excellent even in beta form. The only blocker is the App Store. It is a business decision and one that Apple is free to make. I just wish they had made a more open system.

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Shog9 8 months ago 1 point
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Meh. If they actually do a good job of standing in the gates of that walled garden, then more power to 'em.

If not, then trojan-horse-SMS-spamming software will be the death of iTunes. Sorry, but writing native apps ain't like coding up web pages. You have real power. And plenty of folks looking to abuse it.

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Jason Madigan 8 months ago 1 point
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"Imagine a world where the iphone was just released, ran java"

I'd really rather not.

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