
Apple's Mistake (2009) - sillysaurus3
http://paulgraham.com/apple.html
======
interpol_p
I don't know if I can agree with this essay. I've found the App Store review
process has helped me as a software developer, and has helped my customers.

I've learned to take the rejections positively, and in many cases it has
improved the quality of my software. Two cases specifically come to mind:

\- Apple rejected an app for not putting in battery usage warnings when the
app made use of background location

\- Apple rejected an app for including placeholder artwork for in-game
achievements

In the cases where I felt I was right, I have almost always been able to argue
my point with the reviewer and was allowed through. This has been the case
both for policy issues and software design.

That said, there have been moments of pain. Like when I was involved in a
trademark dispute and was required to rename my app. Apple delayed the process
a lot, causing the other party to become concerned (eventually Apple approved
the update but it caused some tension). I think Apple has since improved their
review mechanism to handle cases like this (e.g., now including the option "Is
this update being submitted for legal reasons, such as copyright or trademark
infringement?")

It sometimes feels like software developers think they should be above
judgment; that they should be treated as first-class citizens and not their
customers. I personally prefer Apple's approach. Though I'm glad there are
platforms which cater to both sides.

~~~
mikeash
The review process _can be_ great. But it can also suck. I'm sure you've read
the horror stories. I won't reiterate them, but will say that I've been
involved in some personally.

I don't think it's worth the tradeoff.

I'm glad there are platforms which cater to both sides, but I wish the _all_
did. There is no reason iOS couldn't have the curated, reviewed, controlled
App Store _and_ the ability to sideload whatever apps you wanted, for those of
us who don't want Apple deciding what we can or cannot run on our own
hardware.

~~~
interpol_p
I wonder about being able to sideload — because I sell a relatively expensive
app on the App Store (at least, expensive in App Store terms: $10).

If sideloading were possible I wonder if it would increase the piracy rate for
my app, on which I make a living.

Personally, I would love to do away with the certificates and signing and be
able to run whatever. But I wonder if it would hurt my business. I realise
that piracy is already possible, but I suspect any form of sideloading makes
it a far more accessible option.

Edit: as I said, I'm pretty aware of the sucky bits. My review process
(expedited!) went on for _months_ while the trademark dispute played out. It
was an incredibly anxious time.

~~~
nkeets
There is a 3rd option here:

Allow apps to bypass review. These apps will be hosted on Apple and charged
the 30% fee, but they will not be indexed and not be displayed in any way on
iTunes. You will have to have a direct link to buy them and download them.

------
Steko
Four years and change later the central thesis that developers will abandon
Apple en masse because the App Store is a great crime against programmers
rings hollow. iOS is still the first target for many developers and for those
where it isn't, they're more likely following the enormous Android userbase
most of which Apple doesn't even compete for. I'm sure it has cost them some
developers but the short list of big time Android first apps tells you the
score.

At the end of the day hot dog vendors sell hot dogs in highly regulated NYC
because people in NYC buy hot dogs. Companies sell their goods to Wal-Mart and
Neiman Marcus instead of at the flea market because that's what keeps the
lights on. Small publishers work with Amazon despite horrible terms because it
puts steak on the dinner table.

One thing this article reminds us of it that pg has the not uncommon HN blind
spot for Google who he claims has "remained true to their founding
principles". I guess stabbing a close partner in the back by releasing a clone
of their flagship product is not being evil. I wonder if he's also a fan of
the Samwer brothers?

~~~
MichaelApproved
_" I guess stabbing a close partner in the back by releasing a clone of their
flagship product is not being evil."_

What is the product you're referencing?

~~~
e28eta
Steve Jobs would say the iPhone

~~~
MichaelApproved
I guess that's what OP was referring to but how is it surprising that a major
tech company was getting into the mobile device business? Even Amazon created
a tablet.

~~~
fivethree
Their early versions looked closer to a blackberry. The general Jobs assertion
is that Google switched to full touch screen after seeing the prototypes.

------
argumentum
2009 seems like yesterday, it's crazy how different the world was merely 5
years ago.

Since then, Android has certainly grown into an _viable_ competitor to the
iPhone, though it's still far behind in many ways, _particularly_ developer
adoption and the high end of the market (which is by far more profitable).

Apple has also gotten a bit better and faster in app approval from what my
friends say. Still, the iPhone is a _lot_ less hackable than especially the
_nexus_ phones. It's still bewilderingly hard to test an app with real people
(I'm writing my first iOS app right now and so wish I could just email an apk
to even 5 friends). I know many get around this surreptitiously using the
"enterprise" program (my hunch is Apple knows but quietly lets it slide
knowing that a lot of the best developers do this).

Compared with rooting an android, jail breaking an iPhone seems more risky and
less effective. And Apple seems to have succumbed to carriers wrt banning
tethering apps not only from the app store, but also in code (from what I
hear, haven't had the chance to see if it's possible yet).

 _However_ , there are a lot of reasons startups still start with iOS and
leave android as a second thought:

1\. iOS users actually _buy_ apps, use them, and spend money in them which is
extremely rare amongst android users

2\. A _lot_ more iOS users have the latest OS and _enough_ also the latest
hardware, which means you can do the coolest stuff the platform allows and (at
least initially) not have to worry about deprecating well for legacy
devices/OS.

3\. the devices themselves are (as pg wrote) _just too much better designed_
compared to to even the best android phones. I have a nexus 5 and iPhone 5s
and slowly over time I pretty much only use the iPhone except when developing
for android. It's _little_ things that cause this behavior, like being able to
plug in the iPhone's power cord in the dark (since it's symmetric).

It's still too early to decide whether Apple's tight control is purely a good
or bad thing. You could make a decent case either way.

~~~
SomeCallMeTim
>iOS users actually buy apps, use them, and spend money in them which is
extremely rare amongst android users

So do Android users. Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead even
in revenues. [1]

Android tablets are behind the curve still, but for the first time Android
tablets are outselling iPads -- Android tablets took 62% of the market in
2013. [2]

It will take a while for that lead to actually cause Android tablet revenues
to exceed iPad revenues, but it seems inevitable. So in eventually the Android
tablet revenue numbers will match or exceed the iPad's as well.

>the devices themselves are (as pg wrote) just too much better designed
compared to to even the best android phones

iPhones are nice, but they totally don't trump the features if that's what you
care about. I have the Nexus 5 and I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone; the
screen size alone makes a huge difference to me.

The Lightning connector is elegant. But I can buy a micro-USB cable for a
dollar; a Lightning cable is at least $9. I can have extra cables everywhere I
need one for next to nothing. And yes, getting the polarity wrong sucks, but
having a standardized cable that works on ALL the devices I need to charge is
even better.

It depends on what you care about.

[1]
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android-
apps-closing-rapidly-the-revenue-gap-with-ios-apps/)

[2] [http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-
sold-i...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-sold-
in-2013-android-grabs-top-spot-from-ipad-with-62-share/)

~~~
e28eta
>> iOS users actually buy apps, use them, and spend money in them which is
extremely rare amongst android users

> So do Android users. Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead
> even in revenues. [1]

That statement was new to me. I'm guessing it is specifically talking about
revenue from ads, since the source of the quote works for an ad network. This
discounts revenue from sales (which I believe is nearly nonexistent on
Android), IAP (which drives major revenue for "free-to-play" games on iOS, but
I don't know about Android), and subscriptions (who knows).

I also find the "Android tablets outsold iPads" interesting news. The
breakdown of tablet by manufacturer shows Apple clearly winning (36%), Samsung
#2 (19%), and everyone else below 6% with a large bucket of "Other" (31%).
That's still a strong position for Apple at the high end of the market, and
mirrors the smartphone market where Apple & Samsung make all of the profit.

I think Apple has staked out the premium devices, and will continue to be
successful there. But, won't most of the growth come from global markets where
their products are out of reach for most consumers? Where does that leave
them, and can they afford to continue to ignore the rest of the market?

~~~
argumentum
Most of the growth in smartphone _adoption_ will undoubtedly come from low-end
devices. However, much of the growth _in profit_ will come from people moving
into the segment that buys higher end devices and pay for apps/services.

------
sillysaurus3
I submitted this because I just realized it's been half a decade since this
was written, so if it's true then we should be able to see some evidence of
whether or not Apple actually made a mistake. Has the essay turned out to be
true? Mistaken? Or possibly true in the future?

And if Apple made no mistake, then what does that bode for the future of
programming?

~~~
jonnathanson
On the whole, it's tough to say. But parts of it were certainly prophetic. The
rise of Android is, at least to a degree, testament to the fact that a lot of
developers believe Android is a better platform.

This is a crucial passage:

 _" But Android is an orphan; Google doesn't really care about it, not the way
Apple cares about the iPhone. Apple cares about the iPhone the way Google
cares about search."_

Google ended up caring a great deal about Android. Maybe it didn't in 2009.
Maybe it did, and it was just taking time to figure things out. But it's hard
to argue now that Google doesn't take Android seriously. And now Android is a
big threat to iOS.

In any event, I wouldn't say PG was wrong about this point. Rather, I'd say
that hindsight is 20/20\. Android was in its infancy when PG wrote the essay,
and he was correct in calling it out as a viable threat to iOS.

I don't necessarily agree with the "why" of it, though. Android's rise isn't
really the result of arrogance on Apple's part. It's largely the result of two
factors: 1) its distribution as a decentralized platform; 2) the price-
competitiveness of Android devices. To the extent a lot of developers prefer
Android to iOS, it's an opportunistic preference -- not a moral or
philosophical one. Developers will go where the users are. More and more users
are on Android. A secondary factor is that Android is an easier testing and
deployment environment.

~~~
IBM
Android isn't a threat to Apple, Android just replaced the incumbents
Blackberry and Nokia. There is no Android OEM that can go head to head with
Apple in the market they compete in but Samsung (high-end phones), and even
there Samsung is losing ground to Apple. Market share is only an important
statistic because it may influence developers to focus on one platform or the
other. But Apple had great developers and apps on OSX on smaller market share
and a smaller install base, so there's no way iOS is going to stop being a
developer focus. As for what concerns Apple and their business, as long as
they keep selling more iOS devices every year than they did the last year,
they don't really care how small their market share is.

Market share could get so tiny that developers decide to switch to Android-
first, but as of now iOS still holds the crown. Without other metrics like
user engagement turning against Apple, developers have no reason to be
Android-first.

~~~
jonnathanson
_" Android isn't a threat to Apple, Android just replaced the incumbents
Blackberry and Nokia."_

I'd say it's entirely too early to call the ball here. The long game for both
Apple and Google isn't limited to phones and tablets; it's to gain platform
ubiquity across all devices, across all aspects of your daily life. Both
platforms have a very strong horse in that race, and I'd have a tough time
betting on one or the other right now.

------
shinymark
I run a small game development studio in San Francisco. This still resonates
with us. So much so that our most recent game is Google Play only, at least to
begin with.

We can iterate on the product at near web-speed on Android. Our last game
started on iOS first and at one point it had an update take 22 days to go
through Apple's approval process. It was a complete black box to us - there
was no reason given why it was taking so long and there was no one to contact
regarding why. After not being able to submit a critical bug fix for 22 days
to our players we decided that it wasn't the right place for us to launch on
in the future.

So far I've been very happy with our decision to focus initially on Google
Play. Launching first on that platform has allowed us to iterate on our latest
game quickly, improving the experience continuously for players. Our players
appreciate the quick improvements, and I'm not just talking about bug fixes
here; we're also adding features to address player requests.

Once the rate of change slows we'll port it back to iOS.

~~~
jobu
I've heard that rapid-fire updates to Android apps can hurt rankings. Have you
had any problems with this?

------
salem
My impression of this is that Apple and Android still cannot 100% guarantee
that your personal information is safe from apps, or that content is used as
licensed. Apple's mitigation for this is aggressive curation of the Appstore,
while Google attempts to automate this (there is a delay of a few hours),
which is far more developer friendly. Hopefully over time Android and iOS will
improve further and reduce information leaks in the platform, make granting
permissions optional (no take it all or leave it), and perhaps add an ARM
version of Intel's software guard extensions (SGX) so we can have mutual
distrust between apps and the platform, and have the platforms be far more
open by default.

------
moeedm
Way off the mark.

The number of independent iOS Developers that are out there, who make a great
living building a few apps and supporting their users grows everyday. They
didn't alienate Apple, they reaped the benefits of a well thought out system
that works for everyone.

------
marze
I believe the process on Apple's side has improved significantly compared to
four years ago.

------
caiob
Unbelievable how we're still facing the same issues 5 years later.

~~~
gress
That's because we're not.

