TechCruch has an interesting piece assimilating tidbits from App Store developers that suggests Apple is in the process of cracking down on applications that do little more than a web app could do. This comes just weeks after Apple began it’s purge of cheesy “adult” apps.
Between the developers I spoke to, the consensus was this: Apple doesn’t appear to be opposed to ‘app generators’ and templates per se, but in the last month or so it has started cracking down on basic applications that are little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards. In short, Apple doesn’t want people using native applications for things that a basic web app could accomplish.
The report goes on to quote Medialets CEO Eric Litman who points out that Apple is in the process of ensuring that the iPhone applications offer higher-quality user experiences that set the iPhone apart from competing devices.
Apple wants iPhone apps to be superior to Web experiences because they are extremely sticky and drive people specifically to buy the iPhone over competing smartphone platforms. Apps that are too simple or largely indistinguishable from the Web, other apps or particularly other apps on other platforms send the message to end users that the iPhone app ecosystem might not be particularly special.
It appears Apple is narrowing their focus like Metal Kards to app-building services that simply use basic app templates to build apps that present web content.
To me, Apple should have had this mentality in the first place, and not after they allowed this junk into the store. Because the App Store is a very public facet of the iPhone — that is to say it is a major selling point– Apple is trying to tie it in with it’s own (“premium”) image more closely than they ever have before to differentiate themselves from the sea of junk phones.
So why did Apple allow these in the App Store in the first place? I think it was out of good faith, or more likely a side effect of pioneering a mobile software store. Another reason might have been to help buffer the app store numbers. I would wager these kinds of apps make up a significant number of the apps in the App Store. They’re easy to make, and thus any profit they see off of these is easy earned money.
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