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Wasn't this originally going to be the only way to release apps for iPhones? Later they caved in & allowed native. I didn't get an iPhone until a couple of year

Wasn't this originally going to be the only way to release apps for iPhones? Later they caved in & allowed native. I didn't get an iPhone until a couple of years after all this though so my history may be off somewhat. Point being, if true, this was no 'secret' - it was originally plan A.

JunkDNA 16y ago
No, you're exactly right. In fact, when the iPhone was first released, all the pundits and bloggers were practically screaming that it was so unfair that Apple didn't allow developers to write native apps and that HTML web apps were a poor substitute for what you could do natively. They pointed to how Google got to write a custom app for maps, and how it was unfair to competitors who would be locked out. It was like that for the entire first year of the iPhone. Then, once the app store was announced, it's like all the bloggers and pundits suffered coordinated, selective amnesia. The irritating thing about this article is that the tone suggests this is somehow something Apple would be upset about, when in fact, Apple promotes HTML apps as an alternative to the restrictions of the app store. The success of the App Store is 80% linked to the fact that it's a frictionless purchasing environment. I can buy an app from some random person for 99 cents and not have to worry that he/she has my credit card number. Furthermore, you're likely to think twice as you go to purchase a 99 cent fart joke app and you're entering your credit card number into a web form. That feels like you're spending money. But punching your password into iTunes rarely (if ever) feels like spending money. Apple is excellent at separating consumers from their money. Developers of App Store apps get to use "the hand of Jobs" to ply your cash from your wallet. I suspect that if Apple allowed web apps to bill against itunes accounts, you'd see a huge explosion of pay iPhone-optimized web apps that would otherwise go into the App Store. With a little bit of Safari integration, you could allow developers to put little "buy now" buttons on their web apps and it would feel just like an app store purchase. I doubt Apple would ever roll out such a feature, since it sounds like it would be minimal benefit but have a fair number of headaches.

JunkDNA 16y ago

No, you're exactly right. In fact, when the iPhone was first released, all the pundits and bloggers were practically screaming that it was so unfair that Apple didn't allow developers to write native apps and that HTML web apps were a poor substitute for what you could do natively. They pointed to how Google got to write a custom app for maps, and how it was unfair to competitors who would be locked out. It was like that for the entire first year of the iPhone. Then, once the app store was announced, it's like all the bloggers and pundits suffered coordinated, selective amnesia. The irritating thing about this article is that the tone suggests this is somehow something Apple would be upset about, when in fact, Apple promotes HTML apps as an alternative to the restrictions of the app store. The success of the App Store is 80% linked to the fact that it's a frictionless purchasing environment. I can buy an app from some random person for 99 cents and not have to worry that he/she has my credit card number. Furthermore, you're likely to think twice as you go to purchase a 99 cent fart joke app and you're entering your credit card number into a web form. That feels like you're spending money. But punching your password into iTunes rarely (if ever) feels like spending money. Apple is excellent at separating consumers from their money. Developers of App Store apps get to use "the hand of Jobs" to ply your cash from your wallet. I suspect that if Apple allowed web apps to bill against itunes accounts, you'd see a huge explosion of pay iPhone-optimized web apps that would otherwise go into the App Store. With a little bit of Safari integration, you could allow developers to put little "buy now" buttons on their web apps and it would feel just like an app store purchase. I doubt Apple would ever roll out such a feature, since it sounds like it would be minimal benefit but have a fair number of headaches.