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Look, man, I feel really bad for you. But there are lots of open platforms to develop apps for. You make a choice when you decide to specialize in iOS apps.

Look, man, I feel really bad for you. But there are lots of open platforms to develop apps for. You make a choice when you decide to specialize in iOS apps. The choice you make is to make yourself a bitch to the arbitrary whims of some goofball asshole sitting in Cupertino, who doesn't give a fuck about your aspirations or vision. You can complain all you want, but they made the garden, and they can do whatever the fuck they want with it. It blows. But now you know why you need to support an open platform.

eropple 13y ago
> But there are lots of open platforms to develop apps for. No, there aren't, because a critical part of "platform to develop apps for" is a user base. Specifically, a user base willing to pay money for things. On mobile, that means iOS and to a much lesser extent Android and Windows Phone. "Develop for an open platform" is like telling somebody to grow a third leg. There are no relevant open platforms. Nor will there be, because consumers do not value openness and no other developers are going to damage themselves by only providing products on niche systems.
- TheMagicHorsey 13y ago
  The web is an open platform. Linux is an open platform. Android is an open platform in the sense that, if Google blocks you from the Play Store, people can still install your APK off the web.
  - eropple 13y ago
    Web applications intrinsically suck and aren't particularly viable unless your product fits the SaaS business model (I find that most things of value to me do not, personally) and unless you want to spend your life supporting SaaS (I like not getting pager alerts at 3AM). Linux has such a small userbase as to be essentially irrelevant. Platform fragmentation is a massive pain in the ass and its users are generally unwilling to spend money on software (video game addictions aside). Android has a userbase but they don't seem to really spend money, either; the overwhelmingly dominant revenue source for most cross-platform applications is iOS. And I say that as somebody who really likes Android and uses a Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 as daily devices. You can "develop for an open platform" and have shit-all for a potential ceiling or you can take the (generally minor) risk of developing for iOS and actually have a chance (if small) of making something that pays for itself. It's disingenous to tell developers "well, develop for an open platform" when doing so means you don't pay your rent.
    - TheMagicHorsey 13y ago
      If you are married to a specific business model (selling applications) then yes ... maybe you are stuck on iOS. But, people are definitely making a good living pursuing other business models for software on the web, Android, etc. Some people even make money selling games on open platforms (Minecraft is an example off the top of my head. There are several other PC games that come to mind.)

eropple 13y ago

> But there are lots of open platforms to develop apps for. No, there aren't, because a critical part of "platform to develop apps for" is a user base. Specifically, a user base willing to pay money for things. On mobile, that means iOS and to a much lesser extent Android and Windows Phone. "Develop for an open platform" is like telling somebody to grow a third leg. There are no relevant open platforms. Nor will there be, because consumers do not value openness and no other developers are going to damage themselves by only providing products on niche systems.

TheMagicHorsey 13y ago
The web is an open platform. Linux is an open platform. Android is an open platform in the sense that, if Google blocks you from the Play Store, people can still install your APK off the web.
- eropple 13y ago
  Web applications intrinsically suck and aren't particularly viable unless your product fits the SaaS business model (I find that most things of value to me do not, personally) and unless you want to spend your life supporting SaaS (I like not getting pager alerts at 3AM). Linux has such a small userbase as to be essentially irrelevant. Platform fragmentation is a massive pain in the ass and its users are generally unwilling to spend money on software (video game addictions aside). Android has a userbase but they don't seem to really spend money, either; the overwhelmingly dominant revenue source for most cross-platform applications is iOS. And I say that as somebody who really likes Android and uses a Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 as daily devices. You can "develop for an open platform" and have shit-all for a potential ceiling or you can take the (generally minor) risk of developing for iOS and actually have a chance (if small) of making something that pays for itself. It's disingenous to tell developers "well, develop for an open platform" when doing so means you don't pay your rent.
  - TheMagicHorsey 13y ago
    If you are married to a specific business model (selling applications) then yes ... maybe you are stuck on iOS. But, people are definitely making a good living pursuing other business models for software on the web, Android, etc. Some people even make money selling games on open platforms (Minecraft is an example off the top of my head. There are several other PC games that come to mind.)