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Competition For the App Store Is Mounting
MojoKid writes "Right now the only real 'competition' to Apple's App Store is the Android Market. Presently, anyone using an Android-based phone can download applications from the Android Market, which first started offering free applications in October '08. A drawback to Android application developers, however, is the fact that the potential Android Market user base is fairly small right now, as there is presently only one Android phone available, the T-Mobile G1. However, in the coming months we're also going to see more app stores come online for additional smartphone platforms. Nokia will officially launch an app store for its Symbian OS-based smartphones at Mobile World Congress on Monday. Microsoft is also getting in the game for smartphones that run the Windows Mobile OS, with Steve Ballmer delivering the keynote speech at Mobile World Congress as well."
The company I work for launched a public beta of our third-party app store this week, called Xpressed (the site is brand new, so feedback is welcome). Unlike the app stores mentioned in this article, it's a true "third-party" app store meaning that we're unaffiliated with any device manufacturer or carrier, and so we plan to support any and all phones out on the market that allow applications to be downloaded and installed from non-proprietary websites. Right now this pretty much means most of the Java-based phones on the market (several hundred current phones, plus the hundreds more old and obsolete devices).
It will be interesting to see which model wins out after all of the industry players have their say in this growing application space - whether manufacturer-supported app stores (presumably) integrated with the devices themselves will continue to dominate, or whether third-party app stores like Xpressed will be able to find a footing, especially among developers targeting their apps across multiple platforms.
I can see MS making an app store, but the rub is to get people to be using Windows Mobile based smartphones. So, the key is to get Nokia, LG, and other cellphone makers who are using JVMs on their low end phones to move to WM as the OS of choice. These are the cellphones that people obtain for free with a one or two year service contract, such as Motorola RAZRs. The trick is to get the phones out there in volume. I don't know if this can be done, though.
Once WM is very common, as opposed to now where it pretty much is in a limited selection of phones, both Microsoft, and the WM app makers would benefit. Windows Mobile is a decent platform to write code on. It does require signed code for smartphones for the most part (less with PocketPC devices), but app makers can buy their own certificates and do the distribution themselves.
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianOnFreeRunner
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
I for one extremely dislike virtual keyboards. It's quite clumsy to type on them, unless you have a stylus, and even then I'd prefer Graffiti. I don't mean Graffiti-like method, I mean Graffiti; both Graffiti2 from Palm and Letter Recognizer from MS are bad. Transcriber may be interesting ... if I only wanted to enter English text. In full. All the time.
I use acronyms, I use Croatian language, I use programming language keywords and variable names. I don't enter plain English text.
Graffiti is the best entry method to date, seconded by physical keyboards of any format.
Usually it's not so much the 'scraps' left behind by Apple as the groups that either dislike Apple, or have such a hardon for open-source software and standards that they won't succumb to it.
For instance, whenever asking someone why they have X brand audio device instead of Apple, the answer is "Apple is too expensive", "it doesn't play OGG", "Apple sucks".. Sure, Apple likes to maintain tight control on everything they sell. Sure, Apple likes profits, but who doesn't these days?
Once Apple realises that they can make even more money and have greater market share by reducing prices (maybe drop the price of every computer by $1000, and every audio device/phone by $200), then their marketing will be that much more effective. The problem with Apple vs. Microsoft is justifying spending $2000 on an OS. That's all you're doing. Any Apple machine can be found in Microsoft land with similar specs for 1/4th the cost.
Just to clarify, I'm not anti-Apple; I'm anti-Jobs. His wishes to keep Apple extremely exclusive are what is killing the company. I have an iPhone. I don't see how anyone could use the device if it weren't jailbroken due to the number of things you can't do with it (On the iPhoneOS vs. Android issue: who gives a damn?) due to Apple's restrictiveness. You can't even sync an iPod Touch or iPhone using Linux anymore unless you jailbreak, SSH in, and change a config file to revert to an old DB version that doesn't have their hash check.
Back to the topic though, the iPhone would be awesome, and certainly less made fun of, if Apple would get off of their high horse about their products.. But the customer attitudes probably fuel this.
The reason why the App Store has taken off so phenomenally is because they handle commercial applications. This means that any geek who can knock together a mobile application is tempted to do so by potential profits. Think about it, write an app, get it approved, and then instantly make it available to millions of iPhone users who are only a click away from paying you. That's a huge advantage for Apple - because those geeks will be writing their applications for the iPhone and not the other platforms. This is why there are so many applications for the iPhone already. Apple were really smart here. If you look at the numbers, there are more 99c applications than free applications, and taken as a whole, free applications are a minority.
Android Market is soon going to be rolling out support for paid applications in much the same way as the App Store. Once this happens, you'll see a similar surge in the number of applications available for Android. It won't be as pronounced as the App Store's curve, because Apple have a head-start now, but it will certainly put Android in the game. Although the iPhone has the client numbers, Android has the developer numbers simply because you don't need a Mac to develop Android applications.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
The worst of these is Windows constant delivery of messages to the user. On a desktop the "you have unused desktop icons" bubble is annoying - on a Windows mobile device, a bubble that takes the user focus away from, say
is a serious barrier to usage.
The other thing that finally caused me to switch to a Crackberry (which is fantastic) was that it would crash on receiving a call occasionally - brilliant. It was the HTC Tytan if anybody cares.
-- For evil to triumph it is enough that good men do nothing.
There is only one iPhone, but with some 12M users plus iPod Touch owners as well is a much larger customer base. We've been looking at support for mobile smart phones recently and hands down the iPhone became the priority 1 application to develop for followed by a generic mobile version of our site for everyone else.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Blind and visually impaired people are a small fraction of the population. There is a much larger market being neglected with many touch screen systems.
People who don't live in sunny California who have to wear gloves for part of the year. It's actually been the deciding factor around our Toronto office when coworkers have been picking their new smart phone. Most have been opting for non-touch screen phones, or the Blackberry Storm. The inability to use the iPhone without hassle while you're on the go has ruined its chances of entering the business market.
I'm interested what the policies are on all the different app stores. I know everyone here hates Apple's restrictive policies, but I do appreciate how I can download any app from their app store and not worry about it breaking my iphone, spreading viruses, changing system defaults, or worse (like stealing passwords).
What approval processes and policies do these other stores have?
Killing the company??
Apple made a net profit of $1.14bn (£683m) in the 3rd quarter last year, compared with $904m for the same period the year before, and their market share has just topped 10% for their whole product base.
How exactly are they, killing the company??
- Dan
I don't mind the thickness, as I vastly prefer the tactile response of the slide-out keyboard vs. the on-screen only iPhone.
As far as the camera, I haven't taken the first picture, I have a real camera for that.
The headphone jack dongle doesn't particularly bother me though, I do admit, I'd like to be able to charge the phone and listen to tunes at the same time.
As far as the battery, you're right on. The phone should last at least twice as long per charge.
Though you didn't mention it, some people take issue with the little blackberry-esque trackball. Personally I love it. Again, it's the tactile response I like. It's great for browsing the web and I also think it works well for games.
For the overall design, it isn't the greatest but I've seen much worse on some Windows Mobile devices. It's just the bar was set so high by the iPhone, it's hard to come up with something to top it. As a side note, the bend in the bottom where the trackball and buttons are, is perfect for protecting the trackball when your phone is in a case so I think it was better to put it there than to just leave the phone straight, aesthetics be damned. Some may disagree.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Apple is running back-to-back-to-back record quarters, in spite of the economy. Yeah, Apple is definitely on its last legs...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.