

Facebook iPhone Dev Quits Project Over Apple Tyranny - vulpes
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/11/joe-hewitt-developer-of-facebooks-massively-popular-iphone-app-quits-the-project/

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evgen
I find the irony of a developer working for one of the biggest walled gardens
on the internet complaining about walls around someone else's garden to be
very deep into the pot/kettle/black territory...

~~~
madair
Ummm, Facebook's wall is quite a bit less ominous than Apple's. You may want
to return that irony to the store, they cheated you and watered it down.

~~~
evgen
The walls are still there. Facebook is still a roach motel for data and now
they are going to be spanking platform developers whose apps are proving to be
detrimental to Facebook's reputation and user experience. Same tune, different
band.

~~~
tel
It's not really surprising in either case I feel. For Facebook, their social
network is their greatest value. For Apple, it's their experience.

It takes more courage than I can imagine to put your golden egg on a pedestal
for anyone to touch, study, steal.

Sucks for developers, sure, but at some point devs start to sound kind of
greedy. In both cases, you're getting the privilege to play in a very, very
market. At the very least, you should respect the risk these companies take.

~~~
sjs
Resigning to the fact that you're a sharecropper[1] is implicit in developing
on Apple platforms.

[1] [http://weblog.raganwald.com/2004/11/sharecropping-in-
orchard...](http://weblog.raganwald.com/2004/11/sharecropping-in-orchard.html)

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nolanbrown23
He's also the developer behind the three20 project which Apple has recently
been rejecting apps using three20 because it was supposedly using private
APIs.

I can see how that can be frustrating to put in all that work in to develop a
very valuable and powerful library and with the flick of a switch Apple makes
your work almost useless.

~~~
jzting
more information regarding app store rejections:
[http://groups.google.com/group/three20/browse_thread/thread/...](http://groups.google.com/group/three20/browse_thread/thread/c442af6e39a918b0/2375e7a158ee9d1b)

app store safe fork: <http://github.com/uprise78/three20-P31>

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nailer
If he'd like to work on a much more open app platform (where market update
time is less than 24 hours) Facebook's Android app needs some love.

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wmeredith
This is really too bad. I use Facebook via the iPhone app more than the web
interface. I can't wait to see what he does next.

~~~
bkbleikamp
The iPhone app is continuing, if it sucks he can always walk over to the desk
of whoever is working on it and tell them why it sucks :)

~~~
numair
You assume he works in the office...

~~~
cakesy
and that he can still walk.

~~~
numair
Thanks for the useless remark. From what I know, Joe does a lot of work from
home.

(Note to self: HN is starting to get filled with the same sort of know-
nothing, smart-ass comments that cause me to avoid places like TechCrunch)

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jasongullickson
Smartphones, PDA's and other mobile-computing-platforms have been around for
years (more than a decade). Almost all of them have provided third-party
developers with a means of producing software for the platform. While some
were more successful in this regard than others, none of them enjoyed the
third-party-developer support that the iPhone now has, whether you measure
that by number, quality or market share.

What's the difference? Were these other platforms made from inferior
technology, relative to the state-of-the-art at the time? Did they have
inferior marketing? Was cost-of-entry too high for most developers?

The app store approval process is one of the major differences between the
iPhone and all preceding platforms. Is this just a coincidence?

If you find Apple's process unacceptable there are many (ie, all) other
platforms that offer similar devices on which to distribute your work without
oversight by their creators. If you want to develop for a successful platform
then you'll need to learn to appreciate the traits that make it so, and while
not perfect, the App Store approval process is a key factor in that success.

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dpapathanasiou
The TC boys need a sense of perspective; while the App Store review process is
terrible, it doesn't come close to being " _tyranny_ ".

~~~
maukdaddy
Came here to say the same thing. Author needs to go live somewhere where they
can experience true tyranny.

~~~
pavlov
Relax -- it's just a metaphor. The iTunes App Store may not be under tyranny,
but that's like saying it's not an ecosystem because binaries are nothing like
living creatures (nor is it a platform because it's not a flat physical
object, etc. ad absurdum).

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jsz0
Ideology in the work place is tricky. It's something most people should be
very careful about. Most of us cannot opt out of a platform/technology we
dislike personally. Even if you can it may be hard to rationalize their
existence when you deposit your paycheck. I hope it works out for him.

~~~
jimmybot
Nice, I literally read "philosophy" as "ideology" as well:

"however I am _[ideologically]_ opposed to the existence of their review
process."

(I wouldn't take ideology in necessarily a negative way)

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colbyolson
I personally dont find the app very well made. Interesting outcome for the
developer nonetheless.

~~~
ivankirigin
It is the most popular free iphone app. That wouldn't be the case if it
weren't well made.

What don't you like?

~~~
scottjackson
> It is the most popular free iphone app. That wouldn't be the case if it
> weren't well made.

I believe iFart was fairly popular for a time (where popular is defined as
"downloaded many times"), and it even cost money, putting a financial barrier
to entry in front of potential users. Does that make iFart a well-made app
though? I don't think so (though maybe you or others do).

I think the Facebook app's popularity just comes from the popularity of
Facebook the service.

~~~
ivankirigin
As far as farting simulation applications go, iFart was top notch.

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amichail
Aside from obvious quality benefits, the review process is a good thing
because it results in users having more trust in apps developed by relatively
unknown developers/companies.

~~~
madair
I'm not sure all of us see the quality benefits quite so obviously. Are you
implying that dictionaries with censored words are better quality?

~~~
teej
I challenge you to find a popular dicionary that isn't carefully curated. You
can't just call up Webster and get a word added to the dictionary, there's a
vetting process it has to go through.

~~~
madair
Curated != Censored.

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marram
Maybe he just burnt-out and wants to move on to something else?

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weegee
crybaby

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indranil
I can't believe that it's been a year and Apple still has the weird ass review
process!

