SDK Problem?

[gardnerv]

Hey guys, i was thinking about this in school the other day. When the SDK is released, it opens a very easy platform for software developers to charge up to 7 dollars for their apps. Now do you think that most of these people that are developing for us today will give up that 7 dollars (or whatever percent apple gives them). I just really dont what this to turn into a software market place where you have to search for a long time to find alterative (often less useful) free apps.

 

[xXriderXx7]

I do not think the many hackers will now start to charge.
It is not their nature, young Padawan.

People hack to test limits, not for monetary gain.

 

[Cleverboy]

Sometimes what you look for affects what you see. I don't think this will be any different in the end. Will the good developers "charge" for their time and effort? Maybe. Might also be that many more professional developers will begin to participate than would have otherwise without some form of financial compensation. I'm sure some of those efforts will fund a few freebies here and there too.

I honestly find it amusing that people would rather pay McDonald's for a couple of happy meals, than a programmer for countless hours of labor and effort. Good lord, not $10! It better be worth it, darn it! I'm happy that Delicious Monster made a quarter of a million dollars in the first month on Delicious Library using its upgrade model.

Matas said the first week's sales of Delicious Library generated enough revenue to pay salary for the previous seven months. "It was exciting," he said. "Not the money. It's that we have enough money to keep doing this, and to expand it."

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2005/01/66276

God Bless America. All hail capitalism.

Peace out,
~ CB

 

[gloss]

Seriously. Most of the apps out there that are truly worth having are worth at least $5-7, especially once they become less buggy and are truly integrated with the iPod/iPhone. Especially if you expect them to be updated, etc.

 

[Bitter]

Seriously. Most of the apps out there that are truly worth having are worth at least $5-7, especially once they become less buggy and are truly integrated with the iPod/iPhone. Especially if you expect them to be updated, etc.

I know for a fact right now, that most people who develop apps for jailbroken iPods/iPhones will NOT charge for their apps, they will keep distributing them for jailbroken iPods/iPhones though, not through Apple. We will see new developers create apps with the SDK and charge money, but they aren't the developers we know and love through jailbreaking.


Bitter.

 

[Cleverboy]

I know for a fact right now, that most people who develop apps for jailbroken iPods/iPhones will NOT charge for their apps, they will keep distributing them for jailbroken iPods/iPhones though, not through Apple. We will see new developers create apps with the SDK and charge money, but they aren't the developers we know and love through jailbreaking. Bitter.

Remember the FIRST native app for the iPhone? Lights Out? It was programmed by Lucas Newman and designed by Adam Betts? Newman was hired by Apple as an iPhone engineer sometime before December of last year.

He did a lot for helping others get the toolchain running and testing their own set-ups with his sample apps ad 18 page instruction PDF guide and XCode template. So, not for nothing, but I think he's going to do a lot of good for those looking to work through the legitimate SDK from Apple... and I'd like to think he's "known and loved" for his contributions to the jailbreaking community. if you're looking to declare that everyone who's done free apps for iPhone has no interest in avoiding explicit support for a jailbreak environment or selling apps for iPhone... I'd find that particularly hard to believe. Programmers have families and bills to pay too. Don't make this point into some weird-ass political crusade. That's silly.

I can almost guarantee you that "jailbreaking" your devices is going to become more and more difficult as time goes on, and most users won't think twice about it. Eventually distinguishing "jailbreak" conversations will be very difficult unless Apple makes a sigficant mistake in its rights implementation. Touch users won't care be "jailbroken" AT ALL, and iPhone users will use jailbreaking primarily for unlocking.

~ CB