5 ms·

> They treat iPhone apps the way they treat the music they sell through iTunes. Apple is the channel; they own the user; if you want to reach users, you do it o

by d--b 5y ago

> They treat iPhone apps the way they treat the music they sell through iTunes. Apple is the channel; they own the user; if you want to reach users, you do it on their terms. Yep, fast forward to now and it seems that they got it right. Nobody left. Not the users, not the developers. It turns out we really are like musicians

JKCalhoun 5y ago
I've been a developer long enough to have seen the whole industry change, multiple times — Apple may have played a part more recently but there have been other forces at work as well for a long time. Shareware rose, fell, rose again, fell again. Somewhere in the lulls there a developer could publish their software either through small ma-and-pa publishers (I have experience with Casey & Greene, Inc. if anyone in the Mac community remember them) or through AppStore/Steam, etc. At one time publishing meant boxes, floppies, ads in magazines, 15% royalties. A designer at that time, as an example, could sell a font for good money. Fonts though became commodities, the big players (Adobe) moved in and one thread of an era came to a close. CD's replaced floppies and this too had an impact on the industry as well. AOL and the masses coming on-line obviously had a huge impact (and shareware rose again then — ID Software). Again the big players moved in: LucasArts, etc. Quality games were expected to have cut scenes. Everquest and the world-building games that followed required teams of artists such that the indie developer once again was in descension. The iPhone made waves. The AppStore though quickly became a race to the bottom (in price) as a new generation of users came to expect software to be free (like their Facebook and SnapChat). So I don't know, I don't put a lot of blame on Apple in this regard. The industry has been a very dynamic one. One thing I have come to expect about the software development ride though is to never expect it to be the same ten years out.
- d--b 5y ago
  Right I didn’t think about before the internet, but yeah at that time developers were even more subject to distributor’s approval (and cut)!
treis 5y ago
Because the other half of the duopoly treats you more or less the same.
okamiueru 5y ago
Killing the patient also gets rid of the cancer. One wouldn't say the doctor got it right.

by d--b 5y ago

JKCalhoun 5y ago

I've been a developer long enough to have seen the whole industry change, multiple times — Apple may have played a part more recently but there have been other forces at work as well for a long time. Shareware rose, fell, rose again, fell again. Somewhere in the lulls there a developer could publish their software either through small ma-and-pa publishers (I have experience with Casey & Greene, Inc. if anyone in the Mac community remember them) or through AppStore/Steam, etc. At one time publishing meant boxes, floppies, ads in magazines, 15% royalties. A designer at that time, as an example, could sell a font for good money. Fonts though became commodities, the big players (Adobe) moved in and one thread of an era came to a close. CD's replaced floppies and this too had an impact on the industry as well. AOL and the masses coming on-line obviously had a huge impact (and shareware rose again then — ID Software). Again the big players moved in: LucasArts, etc. Quality games were expected to have cut scenes. Everquest and the world-building games that followed required teams of artists such that the indie developer once again was in descension. The iPhone made waves. The AppStore though quickly became a race to the bottom (in price) as a new generation of users came to expect software to be free (like their Facebook and SnapChat). So I don't know, I don't put a lot of blame on Apple in this regard. The industry has been a very dynamic one. One thing I have come to expect about the software development ride though is to never expect it to be the same ten years out.

d--b 5y ago
Right I didn’t think about before the internet, but yeah at that time developers were even more subject to distributor’s approval (and cut)!

treis 5y ago

Because the other half of the duopoly treats you more or less the same.

okamiueru 5y ago

Killing the patient also gets rid of the cancer. One wouldn't say the doctor got it right.