Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

An iPhone App Store That Apple Doesn't Control

Posted by Soulskill on from the mr-jobs-tear-down-that-wall dept.

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."

27 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Hi, I'm at black hat by yttrstein · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And I would like to tell you this:

    The iPhone App Store never, ever looked so good.

  2. Take a look at their so-called apps. by Animats · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sudoku. A flip clock. A picture of a watch. I'm so not impressed.

    1. Re:Take a look at their so-called apps. by jisatsusha · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    2. Re:Take a look at their so-called apps. by dbet · · Score: 3, Funny

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

  3. Disneyland by whisper_jeff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ed Felten has criticized the iPhone and iPad as Disneyland-like 'walled gardens'...

    I like Disneyland. It's a ton of fun. I especially enjoy Bats in the Park. Good fun.

    Oh. Wait. You were trying to use Disneyland as a way to imply there was something wrong with it? Oh. My bad. Sorry.

    On a serious note, however, I think it's very cool that there's now an app store for the web apps that can run on the iPhone. After all, that is one of the features of the device.

    1. Re:Disneyland by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    2. Re:Disneyland by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  4. Apple also has a web app gallery... by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple has a web app gallery too.

    The difference between now and then is, that web apps have access to most of the sensor data on the phone... so there are a lot more ideas that a practical to do as web apps now than there were before.

    But still native apps will always give a developer the performance edge and full access to every nook and cranny of the device.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. Disneyland is fun but by sweatyboatman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wouldn't want to live there

    --
    It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
  6. Re:Oh good by dloose · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This means that if your iPhone app is a pile of Perl scripts, you can push it. What iPhone SDK EULA? We don't know what C/C++/Objective-C limitation you're talking about, we'll list your app in our store! If you feel like writing an app for iPhone in C#, you can push it as a .NET exe in PE-COFF format, instead of having to compile it to native code. If you wanted to port Firefox Mobile and have it use it's own JavaScript engine, you can. You could even push a port of Chrome using V8.

    I'm pretty sure that none of this is true...

  7. Won't install on iPad by dazedNconfuzed · · Score: 3, Informative

    Go to openappmkt.com and click on "Install OpenAppMkt" using an iPad.
    Popup sez "To install our app, use the iPhone browser" and offers to text the link to a phone number, same as if attempted on a PC.

    --
    Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
  8. Slashdot: Disneyland shouldn't exist for anyone... by Brannon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    because some people don't want to go there.

  9. Cydia? by pak9rabid · · Score: 2

    Isn't this what Cydia accomplishes?

  10. It's already been done by MattskEE · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Cydia App Store has also been around for a while, serving the jailbroken iPhone market. Of course there is not a huge number of apps on it, but there are also lots of free apps in the Cydia repository.

    1. Re:It's already been done by stokessd · · Score: 4, Informative

      However, with Cydia there's a huge range of apps that make your phone significantly better. And most importantly they are the sorts of aps that you can't get on the official app-store. Things like frameworks to change the look and feel of your phone (winterboard, and springboard replacements, new keyboards etc). There's better ways to control your phone like SBSettings where all your critical settings are a simple swipe away.

      So no, there aren't a lot of apps that could be sold in the app store (because you'd most likely want to sell them in the official app store), but cydia is like having a couple more isles in the store full of the stuff that will make your life better even though it's officially not allowed.

      Now, where's my damn jailbreak for the new iPhone?!?

      Sheldon

  11. We can't I open a Liquor store in Epcot? by Brannon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Disney should be forced to allow 3rd parties to do anything they want inside Disneyland. If their customers don't want to go into the porn shops, gun shops, brothels, casinos, and check-cashing stores then they can simply avoid those places while walking down Main St.

    It's really just a question of freedom.

  12. Walled garden discussions by Dracos · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All walled garden discussions begin and end with this: Internet vs AOL.

    The outlands will always become more diverse and desirable than the garden. The garden's residents will therefore always abandon it. It is only a matter of time.

    1. Re:Walled garden discussions by Karlt1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The outlands will always become more diverse and desirable than the garden. The garden's residents will therefore always abandon it. It is only a matter of time.

      And after almost a decade, /. users are still predicting that iTunes + iPod will fall to a more opened platform.......

    2. Re:Walled garden discussions by Karlt1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But it has. I don't know anyone with an MP3 player.

      But yet and still Apple sells almost 50 million iPods a year (70%+ market share) and iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world.....

      Phones have leap over mp3 players

      Where can I buy a phone with 160GB of storage (iPod Classic) or even 64GB of storage of the Touch?

      I'd say that the first generation devices have huge advantages because consumers are naive at first. That doesn't usually last and they'll flee the walled garden in time.

      So why have most major developers reported abysmal sells in the Android App Market compared to the iPhone App store even though Android market share is at least half that of the iPhone?

    3. Re:Walled garden discussions by Snowmit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've got another one for you: PC gaming vs Console gaming

      PCs have been around longer, have more options re: hardware & software, not to mention complete freedom for developers to charge and distribute however they wish, along with extreme modability. Meanwhile consoles are hampered by incredibly restrictive walled gardens, developer-hostile revenue splits and licensing and they only release new hardware every few years.

      Given the obvious openness and freedom of PC gaming compared to console gaming it may come as a surprise that console games outsell PC games at ratios around 5:1.

      (Source: http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=15831)

      So now your job is to show that Android vs Apple is more like Internet vs AOL than it is like PCs vs Consoles.

      --
      I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
  13. Re:Oh good by Shoe+Puppet · · Score: 2, Funny

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

    --
    (+1, Disagree)
  14. Nothing Apple itself hasn't said by NameIsDavid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The story attempts to suggest that this is a way to get around Apple's walled garden. On the contrary, this is a fully supported system that Apple has promoted many times. They always say there are two ways to develop apps: an open HTML5-based web app method and the curated App store. What's the news here other than showing people the showcase itself?

  15. Re:HTML5 limits by antibryce · · Score: 3, Informative

    google ported quake to html5:

    http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/01/google-html5-quake/

    so to answer your first question: yes.

    I'm pretty sure HTML5 can access your camera and mic, although I'm not 100% on that. They can also work when you're offline, using the iPhones built-in caching.

  16. Ah, history - where are you? by vague+disclaimer · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Er,Web Apps were Apple's original vision for iPhone Apps, but everyone whined about them and hence the SKD. Web Apps are fully supported, not a swerve-around.

    But still, let's not let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy adventure.

    1. Re:Ah, history - where are you? by Crashspeeder · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Could it be because the webapps are crippled by design? What good is a texting app that can't access your phonebook? That doesn't work terribly well as a webapp does it, now? If you want something useful, it'll have to be written in Obj-C.

  17. I'll catch a carp for this by bryan1945 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But I'd rather have a more controlled environment where, for the most part, the apps have been vetted so they're not trying to steal any info from me. Part of the reason I'm not an Android fan (and no, I don't have an iPhone. Actually, I don't even have a smartphone).

    Being open and fancy-free is fine for some things, but for others I'd prefer some measure of security.

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  18. the Apple point of view by Brannon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    is that you've purchased a ticket to Disneyland by purchasing an iPhone, you haven't purchased Disneyland itself.

    Considering you paid a few hundred bucks for an iPhone and not a few billion dollars, that seems pretty reasonable.