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I don't think it has to do with the quality of the applications at all. Apple hasn't taken many steps to control quality in their app store, and there's not muc

I don't think it has to do with the quality of the applications at all. Apple hasn't taken many steps to control quality in their app store, and there's not much difference between having an app that's bad because it's a port and an app that's bad because it's a badly made original. What is has to do is with lock in. Right now, there's a decent barrier to porting an application from iPhone to Android, and in most cases the port will cost more than the profit it makes, so it won't be done. If people start using multi platform engines, the ports will be very cheap, and the iPhone will have far fewer exclusive apps, which is a huge threat to their platform. Each multiplatform app reduces the costs of a user switching away from the iPhone to an Android phone or similar. Apple's been on the losing end of lock in with Mac OS for a long time. I think now they're experiencing the effect in their favour and want to keep it going for as long as they can.

davi 17y ago
I think there is also another dynamic at play: Apple makes high-end, high-margin 'lifestyle' computing devices. Every time Steve Jobs gets up and announces a new whiz-bang hardware or software capability in one of these devices, that whiz-bang capability needs to be deployed as widely and quickly as possible into the consumer ecosystem. This rapid deployment lets Apple keep ahead of the Joneses and continue to own the high-end space. If there is a lag while least-common-denominator, cross-platform tools incorporate the new whiz-bang features, Apple loses its temporal edge and gives time to competitors to catch up. The last decade has built up the "Apple == newest" identity in consumers' minds, and they don't want to lose that, it is one of the keys to their hold on the high end (another being incredible design and polish, at scale). If everyone is writing in Cocoa on XCode, Apple's latest & greatest will be deployed that much more quickly. I think this interpretation is consistent with Jobs' terse emails here, particularly the line, "intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform" (emphasis mine).
- stevenwei 17y ago
  I'm not sure how valid this point is...there is already going to be a lag since all of the current app developers are going to have to update their apps to support the new APIs anyway. At best you could say that there won't be an intermediary platform delaying the process...but I'm not sure if that really is a compelling reason to justify this decision.
  - davi 17y ago
    there is already going to be a lag Without cross-compilers, the lag is as you say: developers update their apps. With cross-compilers, the lag balloons: the makers of the cross-compiler toolset need to incorporate the latest Apple features (if they choose to do so given the rest of their market), roll out their tools to developers, then developers have to use the new tools to update their apps. Slow!
- reitzensteinm 17y ago
  After some reflection, I think you're definitely right that it's a factor. But I'd still be surprised if it were the primary one, despite what they claim. The developer base is just so huge, any new platform feature is going to have dozens of apps to show it off right away. Saying that they're doing it to further their platform sounds a hell of a lot better than saying that they're doing it to hurt their competition!
  - davi 17y ago
    I agree this temporal aspect isn't the only dynamic, but I don't see people talking about it much (at all?). I think it's worth thinking about as an angle on the whole thing. Market tempo matters. Doesn't make what they're doing any more palatable, mind you -- but it does make it more comprehensible (to me, anyway).
- blasdel 17y ago
  At first I was thinking that Apple wasn't targeting the game engines with this, but they're releasing a social "Game Center" API to compete with Xbox live and Facebook. Suddenly it matters very much indeed that lots of games start calling new platform-native APIs, right fucking now.
- davidedicillo 17y ago
  I completely agree. Also this push more people to learn and write Cocoa, that will ultimately push those developers to build awesome desktop apps as well, increasing the value of the OS X platform.
MWinther 17y ago
The problem with cross-development tools is that the people using them tend to focus on the app working on all the supported platforms, making it effectively using the lowest common denominator. If Apple releases a new API not available in the cross-platform tool, cross-developers are far more likely to ignore it than developers targeting Apple's platform specifically. I would agree with you that Apple's been doing the same lock-in with Mac OS for a long time, but I'm not so sure they've been on the losing end of anything. I remember that when Jobs came back to Apple, they had free WWDC videos online, and attendance was very much in decline. Since he came back, they removed the Java bridge stuff, Carbon and at the same time they're charging good money for a WWDC that tends to sell out really quickly. Lock-in on the Apple way seems to me to be a fairly successful strategy.

davi 17y ago

I think there is also another dynamic at play: Apple makes high-end, high-margin 'lifestyle' computing devices. Every time Steve Jobs gets up and announces a new whiz-bang hardware or software capability in one of these devices, that whiz-bang capability needs to be deployed as widely and quickly as possible into the consumer ecosystem. This rapid deployment lets Apple keep ahead of the Joneses and continue to own the high-end space. If there is a lag while least-common-denominator, cross-platform tools incorporate the new whiz-bang features, Apple loses its temporal edge and gives time to competitors to catch up. The last decade has built up the "Apple == newest" identity in consumers' minds, and they don't want to lose that, it is one of the keys to their hold on the high end (another being incredible design and polish, at scale). If everyone is writing in Cocoa on XCode, Apple's latest & greatest will be deployed that much more quickly. I think this interpretation is consistent with Jobs' terse emails here, particularly the line, "intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform" (emphasis mine).

stevenwei 17y ago
I'm not sure how valid this point is...there is already going to be a lag since all of the current app developers are going to have to update their apps to support the new APIs anyway. At best you could say that there won't be an intermediary platform delaying the process...but I'm not sure if that really is a compelling reason to justify this decision.
- davi 17y ago
  there is already going to be a lag Without cross-compilers, the lag is as you say: developers update their apps. With cross-compilers, the lag balloons: the makers of the cross-compiler toolset need to incorporate the latest Apple features (if they choose to do so given the rest of their market), roll out their tools to developers, then developers have to use the new tools to update their apps. Slow!
reitzensteinm 17y ago
After some reflection, I think you're definitely right that it's a factor. But I'd still be surprised if it were the primary one, despite what they claim. The developer base is just so huge, any new platform feature is going to have dozens of apps to show it off right away. Saying that they're doing it to further their platform sounds a hell of a lot better than saying that they're doing it to hurt their competition!
- davi 17y ago
  I agree this temporal aspect isn't the only dynamic, but I don't see people talking about it much (at all?). I think it's worth thinking about as an angle on the whole thing. Market tempo matters. Doesn't make what they're doing any more palatable, mind you -- but it does make it more comprehensible (to me, anyway).
blasdel 17y ago
At first I was thinking that Apple wasn't targeting the game engines with this, but they're releasing a social "Game Center" API to compete with Xbox live and Facebook. Suddenly it matters very much indeed that lots of games start calling new platform-native APIs, right fucking now.
davidedicillo 17y ago
I completely agree. Also this push more people to learn and write Cocoa, that will ultimately push those developers to build awesome desktop apps as well, increasing the value of the OS X platform.

MWinther 17y ago

The problem with cross-development tools is that the people using them tend to focus on the app working on all the supported platforms, making it effectively using the lowest common denominator. If Apple releases a new API not available in the cross-platform tool, cross-developers are far more likely to ignore it than developers targeting Apple's platform specifically. I would agree with you that Apple's been doing the same lock-in with Mac OS for a long time, but I'm not so sure they've been on the losing end of anything. I remember that when Jobs came back to Apple, they had free WWDC videos online, and attendance was very much in decline. Since he came back, they removed the Java bridge stuff, Carbon and at the same time they're charging good money for a WWDC that tends to sell out really quickly. Lock-in on the Apple way seems to me to be a fairly successful strategy.