Arn and others are addressing this problem with publications that review apps. These publications are also part of the ecosystem. Instead of only publishing on the Web, they should also publish in an app of their own.
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Phil Schiller Addresses More App Store Concerns
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Arn and others are addressing this problem with publications that review apps. These publications are also part of the ecosystem. Instead of only publishing on the Web, they should also publish in an app of their own.
Same problem here - I find that I have a need for an app for a specific task, say managing finances or a dictionary - and head off to the app store to try and find one. And things get hard from there. There is also a definite lack, or else I am not finding them, of apps for professional applications - you know, the things I had on my Palm.
User reviews are ok. Review sites help too - there are a few of them now - good apps exist and it shouldn't be so hard to find them! The number of times I have just decided to stick to the software on my MacBook or the ol' reliable Tungsten E2 I was hoping to retire...
Not sure how that can be fixed. But having a fully transparent app store might be a start?
I think you are overestimating the number of consumers who are unhappy with the App Store approval process. A large percentage of developers and those people regularly follow Apple-related news. This is not a large number compared to 40-50 million devices sold.
Most estimates for jailbreaking that I have seen put the population around 1 million. Some of those are simply for unlocking (which is legal in the US).
You want the statement to mean that everyone is happy with all aspects of the App Store or that Apple has made no bad decisions. But that's not what I've been arguing. I've just been saying that it is a huge commercial success for Apple. It has directly and indirectly resulted in a huge increase in profits and benefited their brand.
I would bet that more apps have been downloaded from the App Store in one year than all other mobile apps on all other mobile phone/PDA platform in the last decade. Probably multiples times more apps. 6 months ago Handango was claiming they were the largest and original app store with over 140,000 apps sold in the last decade.
So you are saying, it's not the store, it's all the stuff you can buy in the store?
Ah, the old "Why should we care if it's illegal if we don't get caught?" argument. What does that have to do whether or not the App Store is a huge success? Again, we are talking about 2-4% of the devices that are jailbroken.
Then go to Android or Windows Mobile. Have you even used those operating systems before?
Windows Mobile
WM sucks because there is no central place to find applications. Instead they are scattered all over the internet, and you need to spend a long time searching to find anything that sounds remotely useful. Then, once you locate this useful app, you install it and realize that it looks like it was coded 20 years before iPhone apps were and runs like garbage. That summarizes Windows Mobile.
Android
Android has potential, but thats it. The marketplace contains hardly anything that is as good as what the iPhone has, and the ability for Android apps to run in the background, at startup, and in the task bar causes your device to grind to a halt. If you want to find unrestricted Android apps, you need to enable 3rd party unsupported software which carries a warning itself. Then you need to do the Windows Mobile song and dance by searching the internet for the Android app you want that wasn't able to make it in the Android Marketplace. Once you find it and install it, you in many cases give this unsupported 3rd party app free reign over your phone and its content. Fun.
App Store
Centralized location to find great apps. Yeah, there are some that get rejected for bogus reasons, but that is almost never the end of the road. Apple is run by humans, the app review process was created by, and is operated by humans. What does that mean? There ARE chances for error. Thats the way the ball bounces.
*Cry* There are no clearly documented policies on rejection *Cry*
Quit crying you baby. How can you expect clearly documented policies when there are constantly new types of apps being submitted? The second you write a document saying "X, Y, Z will get your app rejected" you will get an app that doesn't fit into X, Y, or Z but still should get rejected. So what do you do? The policy never states that the app should be rejected, but you know that it contains content that *should* be listed in the policy for rejection but isn't. If you reject the app even though the policy doesn't specifically state those grounds for rejection, you could have a lawsuit on your hands. If you accept the content because the policy says so, even though it shouldn't be accepted you are lessening the quality of the store.
So what to do? Don't make a policy. Have an internal set of loose guidelines and tell the reviewers to look out for certain things. Alert devs if there is something that should be changed. This is the best way because applications always throw something new out there. Eventually, Apple will create a clear cut policy. Until then, deal with this.
Based on the size of the app store, its obvious developer rejection is NOT dominating the dev program. But it is the vocal few that spin this way out of wack and those unable to think for themselves read a developer sob story and think "ZOMG, this must happen to ALL devs!!!111!" Well guess what, it doesn't.
Human error, its a fact of life. Get the h*** over it and weather the storm if you want, otherwise MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE.
Sick of practices? Why not sick of the product?
I ditched my iPhone 3G, because it sucked. I had Google's voice recognition on it, that made it very useable, but the battery life was shockingly poor. After all, who wants a phone that doesn't last a day? Now I am using my old Nokia 6300. It's smaller, more reliable, the battery lasts a week and for the price of an iPhone 3G (342 GBP here, in the UK), I could, in theory buy 6 of them. Or just one and a decent netbook. And please, nobody should say that stupid thing that "But isn't an iPhone a netbook?" It makes me sick that some think so.
Apple, Microsoft can do better than this!
I ditched my iPhone 3G, because it sucked. I had Google's voice recognition on it, that made it very useable, but the battery life was shockingly poor. After all, who wants a phone that doesn't last a day? Now I am using my old Nokia 6300. It's smaller, more reliable, the battery lasts a week and for the price of an iPhone 3G (342 GBP here, in the UK), I could, in theory buy 6 of them. Or just one and a decent netbook. And please, nobody should say that stupid thing that "But isn't an iPhone a netbook?" It makes me sick that some think so.
Apple, Microsoft can do better than this!
So do you want a super thick device with a giant battery inside? Of course your 6300 has a longer battery... thats like me saying my Macbook Pro sucks because my watch has better battery life. They are entirely different devices, one is a basic cell phone, one is a full featured smart phone.
And netbooks? Don't even get me going on those. Oh, and the battery of a netbook won't last you all day.
You *could* buy an external battery if you drain yours that fast. They are what, $20? But instead you complain about battery life when in reality those who complain about this stuff really have no idea what bad battery life is. My G1 Android gets 13 hours of battery on medium use. Yeah, I need to charge it after I get home from work otherwise it dies before I go to bed. And for Microsoft WinMo phones like the MotoQ, long batteries are sold separately, snapped onto the back of the device, and make the phone thicker.
You are comparing apples to oranges, but none the less enjoy your Nokia.
Affordable? With no DVD dust-sucking unit? No CF though, only SD? Or it is it the non-all-day, replacable battery that annoys you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but...
It's a shame that Nokia doesn't make computers. After a white 'CrackBook', a CPU-whining 'cooker' MacBook Air, a bunch of 2.4 GHz 1st gen unibody MB with constant fan noise and misaligned keys, and finally, with my new 2.26 GHz MB with it's high pitch noise, I think I am leaning towards not paying exotic price for some rotten Apple.
So far, I bought Apple, because it was user-friendly and unique. Having these defects killed the first for me. In terms of the latter, I don't think that I've had another brand with similarly poor quality records. That is not the kind of uniquness that Apple or any other computer manufacturer should be associated with.
I get the point about comparing the iPhone with a simple phone. They are not the same. But one works, the other - hardly, and that is without moaning about the network support. What matters for me is that I can be far more productive with other tools than the iPhone.
About the battery life - BlackBerry, HTC... they can fit decent batteries, but Apple can't?
It's a shame that Nokia doesn't make computers. After a white 'CrackBook', a CPU-whining 'cooker' MacBook Air, a bunch of 2.4 GHz 1st gen unibody MB with constant fan noise and misaligned keys, and finally, with my new 2.26 GHz MB with it's high pitch noise, I think I am leaning towards not paying exotic price for some rotten Apple.
So far, I bought Apple, because it was user-friendly and unique. Having these defects killed the first for me. In terms of the latter, I don't think that I've had another brand with similarly poor quality records. That is not the kind of uniquness that Apple or any other computer manufacturer should be associated with.
I get the point about comparing the iPhone with a simple phone. They are not the same. But one works, the other - hardly, and that is without moaning about the network support. What matters for me is that I can be far more productive with other tools than the iPhone.
About the battery life - BlackBerry, HTC... they can fit decent batteries, but Apple can't?
Guess I wasn't alone here after all... Sold my iPhone shortly after selling my uMBP after it had been replaced the forth time. Went back to my SE and what do you know, texting is both fun, and faster again.
HTC? HTC batteries in my experiences suck. Read my G1 comment.
And Nokia making computers? lol. Have you ever used a Nokia smartphone? Total trash, unless you like a hideous, non user friendly OS.
Ever hear of Handango? It's the original App Store for all phones.
Besides, isn't that like saying there's no central place for Mac applications?
While a Handset-Maker-Controlled-App-Store is fine for some, personally I'm a little above the level of a new, naive or want-to-be-controlled user.
I like having the freedom to download apps and themes from anywhere. But again, if I don't feel like searching, I just hit Handango or other sites like it. No big deal.
The same goes for the iPhone. I don't go to Apple's store to search for apps, either. I often first go to third party websites that collect and review them. Don't you?
Handango? No. Guess what that says? Every iPhone or iPod Touch has the App Store on page 1 of the device OOB. I had Windows Mobile for 6 months and I never heard of that, so clearly its not that wonderful or it would be more prevalent.
And I do system and server administration for a living. So I am not about being controlled. And I know I can jailbreak if I have to. But the fact remains that I like not screwing around with my critical devices (my phone), worrying about 3rd party apps causing a negative impact on my phone, a device I depend on more than my computer itself to get me out of a mess (car accident, etc).
I had 3rd party apps on my Android, and it would take more than 15 seconds at some points for the dialer to come up. 15 seconds. What if I needed to make an emergency call? These 3rd party backgrounding resource hogging apps cause problems and impact device performance.
If you don't like the iPhone or iPod touch and the way the store is, don't buy the device. The store has NEVER been a free for all for developers and that has always been clear. And the iPhone is not a laptop, its a device that is heavily restricted in resources that can be allocated and performance is a must for critical apps like dialer when you need to make a call.
Jailbreak if you want that much control otherwise buy a different device and quit complaining.
strange you have never heard of handango, or pocketgear. Handago typically has an app on winmo phones. I have had three before my blackberry and they all had the app.
