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The Kafka-esque Nightmare of Palm App Submission

Posted by kdawson on from the next-the-hoop-of-fire dept.

MBCook writes "Jamie Zawinski, shortly after the release of the Palm Pre, wrote two free software programs for the phone: a Tip Calculator and a port of Dali Clock. In trying to get the apps published to the App Catalog, he has had to sign up to be a developer twice; fax contracts around; been told (apparently incorrectly) that he was not allowed to release free software for the phone; and told he had to give PayPal his checking account number. 'It's been two weeks, and I have received no reply. In the months since this process began, other third-party developers seem to have managed to get their applications into the App Catalog. Apparently these people are better at jumping through ridiculous hoops than I am.'"

12 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. Windows Mobile by sopssa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is what's actually good in Windows Mobile. Anyone can write software for it and anyone can start a Store site for it. In this respect Windows and Windows Mobile are quite open architectures. All iPhone, Palm and Symbian are really restricted and closed architectures (Symbian requires you to get certificate for the app too), and getting your apps on the stores are a real bitch.

    1. Re:Windows Mobile by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah. It's gotten pretty ridiculous that you need approval to put things in a specific store so people can use them. This is something that Microsoft actually got right.

      Yet on Xbox 360, developers still need to pay $99 per year for Creators Club and then get approval to get their XNA games posted.

    2. Re:Windows Mobile by rboatright · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Excuse me for not jumping on the giant bandwagon here, but let's try something different.

      Back in the "good old days" of palm before the pre, there WAS NO over the air app store installed on the treo. You had to google for someplace to find apps for your treo, you had to go there, you had to down load them, and you had to install them using the hot sync program.

      That was easy for Aunt Minnie (NOT!)

      Palm has NOT FORBIDDEN that process, Dali Clock and Tip calculator are available at this web site, and at PreCentral EXACTLY as they were back int he Treo days, and can be installed by any user EXACTLY as they were back in the treo days.

      Palm has ADDED the over-the-air app store so that AUNT MINNIE can find apps. And people are bitching that there is a small set of hoops that Palm and the cell carriers want you to jump through that if you distribute apps (which could be evil) over THEIR NETWORK not over the in-tar-tubes.

      They want to be able to verify who you are but having a tax ID, and they want to validate that you're serious by charging you $5.00 Wow, that's SO irrational.

      I'm sorry. I disagree.

      Rick Boatright

  2. Let's all be like Apple! by jekk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So Palm decided that they wanted to imitate Apple? After all, "no press is bad press", and Apple sure has been getting a lot of press for the way it runs the AppStore. Locking down the device... it may not be useful to the *customers*, but it couldn't harm the company at all, could it?

    Well, not unless they abandon your platform (or never flock to it in the first place) in favor of Android or even Nokia's Maemo -- platforms that allow the USER to control what they run on their devices.

    I think I've learned my lesson. I am not buying an iPhone, Kindle, or (after reading this) Palm -- no devices from a company that intends to control what I can run on my device. Offering a store: GREAT idea. Carefully controlling what goes in this store and prohibiting any other means of getting apps onto the device: that makes it THEIR device, not mine, and I don't want to play that game.

    1. Re:Let's all be like Apple! by Old97 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are confusing users with developers. Very few users are developers. Those who aren't developers aren't interested in what hoops you need to jump through or in how much "freedom" you have as a developer. They want a reliable, easy to use device and they want a lot of easy to use applications that are useful to them, easy to install and easy to use. Apple has accomplished that. Their numbers of users and available applications prove that. I doubt if any of these companies care about what you personally will buy or not buy. You are not the market they are going after.

      As for developers, if you give them a few tools and access to millions of potential customers, they will jump through any hoops they have to in order to compete in a lucrative market.

      --
      Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
    2. Re:Let's all be like Apple! by node+3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Locking down the device... it may not be useful to the *customers*

      Apple has recently served up it's two billionth app (this number does not include updates).

      More open devices like the old Palms and Windows Mobile may seem more consumer-friendly at first, but when you take a closer look, you'll see that Apple's approach is *far* more consumer-friendly. Far more apps have been sold through iTunes than ever would have been sold if developers had to peddle their wares independently. And even free apps are easier to find, download and install.

      Do you even know how easy it is to get an app for the iPhone? Once you find an app that interests you, it just takes one click to acquire it and have it installed on your iPhone. One click! No downloading zip files, extracting them then installing via some menu system. Just click, and plug in your phone. Done.

      Apple keeps your credit card information for iTunes when you set up your account. You don't have to enter anything in for each purchase, and Apple is more trustworthy than some random web site.

      As far as the customers are concerned, the iTunes App Store is a smashing success.

  3. Hyperbole inflation by tgv · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The name Kafka now gets invoked whenever someone doesn't immediately get what he/she wants. Some administrative thingy gone wrong? Kafka! Your broadband connection doesn't allow you to download at 20Mb and the help desk says that the speed is not constant? Kafka! Your microwave's remote control's batteries are not in stock at your local supermarket and it will take more than an hour to restock? Kafka! You wake up and you find yourself turning into a giant beetle? O wait...

    1. Re:Hyperbole inflation by bwalling · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To quote Wikipedia: "Kafka's work, in this sense, is not a written reflection of any of his own struggles, but a reflection of how people invent struggles." So, this guy whining about his app submission being to trying, is actually Kafkaesque - he's inventing a struggle so he can whine about it on the Internet to satisfy his narcissism.

  4. Re:Who cares about these apps? by jekk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The point is not what YOU think of the quality of the apps. It's not what PALM thinks of the quality of the apps. The point is that the author of the software must jump through ridiculous hoops and beg permission of someone before they can give their app to people who want it. And if the someone says "No", then no one can have it.

  5. Re:We need an open platform / open source PDA. Now by eudaemon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You were correct until scripting for Android http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ was released;
    now "Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, and shell are currently supported, and we're planning to add more."

    So without trying to offend anyone - if a developer can't manage to bang out an app in one of the many languages
    now supported, do you really want to run their app?

  6. Re:Palm App Clunker... NOT! by mcvos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh, and this IS /. Lots of Apple fanboys submit stories all the time here. Or have you not noticed the overwhelmingly positive iPhone stories, even back when they were initially launched and had many similar issues? Or are you blinded by your own fanboyism?

    Apple fanboyism on Slashdot? Are we talking about the same Apple that gets repeatedly attacked on Slashdot for their ridiculous app store approval policies?

    Or do you think that Palm should be allowed to be more draconian than Apple because they're smaller?

    You're the one getting defensive when his favourite company gets attacked, so who do you think is the real fanboy here?

  7. Re:Seriously, He's a troll. by c0d3g33k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You miss the point, not that I made it very well. Jamie's contributions to the nerd community shifted long ago from coder to source of entertainment - he's a rockstar from the early days. You haven't the proper context until you understand that. It's on Slashdot because it's Jamie - the more topical Palm Pre connection was just an excuse. And the whole acting like an a-hole thing? That's part of the game. Rockstars trash hotel rooms, jwz trashes ... whatever pisses him off. Usually with more wit and insight than the average nerd can muster. Hell, his 'fortune' quotes alone are worth the price of admission. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. :-)

    Today's quote:

    Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.
    -- Jamie Zawinski