

Are App Stores Evil? - linuxmag
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7573

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aditya
So, what is the right answer here? There's only two real choices:

1) Store

2) No Store

The App store solves packaging, distribution and sales, while making it harder
for apps to stand out. It looks like everybody developing for the iPhone
agrees that Apple having complete control over distribution isn't the best
thing. Perhaps they should let 3rd parties run stores, or perhaps they should
just get out of the way and let developers package and distribute their own
applications if they want to.

The more I think about it the more it seems like app developers are the new
musicians with Apple being the RIAA? "Device security" is just a silly way of
saying we want to keep "distribution royalty".

That being said, from a consumer perspective, having the store on my phone and
not having to scour the web for apps is definitely a good thing. Perhaps,
then, the right answer is to allow 3rd parties to run App Stores and allow
developers to sell their own apps if they choose to do so.

Now, that's what Android is doing, and it's great. But, too bad their device
sucks. However, it does seem like the pressure is mounting and something is
going to give. Either Apple gets out of the way or they fix their broken
approval process.

And god knows what Palm is up to, given that they should've learned from
Apple's mistakes already they seem to be making all the wrong moves so far.

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stonemetal
How about the third option of Store but allow outside channels. Say being able
to load an unsigned random bundle through iTunes or a direct download from the
intertubes.

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aditya
Right. I kinda clubbed that with no store, but no store really means no
single-point of distribution.

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gonzo
What you didn't club is that Apple couldn't keep Flash and Java off the
iPhone/iPod Touch if they let a 3rd party run the store.

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padmanabhan01
If it isn't obvious, convenience to customers or end users is what is more
important than that of developers.having less hassle for users is far more
important than having more freedom for developers. That is how it works in all
other industries and that is how it is supposed to work logically based on
mere # of devs VS # of users. In that perspective, I think App store is just
Great! It does eliminate a lot of hassles for the end user.

I mean, how many articles have we read when a user complains about the App
store. Isn't it always some developer that has issues with it?

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conanite
Isn't there a huge hole in the market where there should be a quality mobile
device running a completely open platform? Such a device would blow the iphone
appstore away, I think.

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dpapathanasiou
Is that a sarcastic reference to Android?

