An iPhone App Store That Apple Doesn't Control

waderoush writes "Princeton's Ed Felten has criticized the iPhone and iPad as Disneyland-like 'walled gardens' and says there's no way the iTunes App Store can 'offer the scope and variety of apps that a less controlled environment can provide.' Now there's a central marketplace where developers can sell iPhone-optimized apps without going through Apple's gatekeepers. Launched today, it's called OpenAppMkt and it's a showcase for mobile Web apps — not just the type seen back in 2007-2008, before the advent of the App Store, but also for new games and other apps developed using HTML5/CSS/JavaScript (in some cases, the same apps compiled and sold as native iPhone apps). Xconomy has a behind-the-scenes interview with OpenAppMkt's creators, who say they're not out to compete with the native App Store, but that developers deserve new ways to reach users."

Comments

Re:Disneyland

[Red Flayer]

Try going to Disneyland and doing whatever you want to do, rather than what the people in control of the park actually condone.

I tried that, and failed -- but it wasn't Disney that stopped me.

For the sake of brevity, let's just say that the Minnie Mouse character is NOT anatomically correct.

Re:Disneyland

[MBGMorden]

Tell me about it. I think I managed to avoid the Cinderella stand-in filing a restraining order, but just barely. I'll be damned if she's getting that shoe back though.

Re:Take a look at their so-called apps.

[jisatsusha]

Add in Fart Simulator and Flashlight and you just described half the apps on the official App Store.

Re:Oh good

[Shoe Puppet]

Sure it is. All you have to do is writing a Perl/.NET/whatever interpreter in Javascript.

Re:Take a look at their so-called apps.

[dbet]

For a second I thought you said "Fleshlight" and thinking it might be time to upgrade to a new phone.