Image Source: Method + Moxie With over 60,000 apps now “ including lots that don ‘t involve farting and are very good quality – and 1.5 billion downloads in its first year, is there anything that can stop, or even slow, the momentum of the iPhone OS as a mobile platform? I certainly don ‘t […]
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Biggest Threat to the iPhone App Store = Apple’s Arrogance

Jul 20th 2009 by

arrogant

Image Source: Method + Moxie

With over 60,000 apps now “ including lots that don ‘t involve farting and are very good quality – and 1.5 billion downloads in its first year, is there anything that can stop, or even slow, the momentum of the iPhone OS as a mobile platform?

I certainly don ‘t see Blackberry or Palm, or Symbian or Windows Mobile “ platforms that have spent years and years getting it so miserably wrong when it comes to mobile apps “ coming up with anything that will touch what the iPhone platform is doing.  I think these folks had nothing until iPhone OS came along, and now all they ‘ve got is ‘Hey, me too ‘.

So I think Apple right now, in this arena, is like one of those great boxers who happens to be at his peak in an era where all his main rivals are mediocre to poor “ and the biggest risk of losing a fight is the ‘beating himself ‘ sort of scenario.

The Mike Tyson don ‘t train before a fight, hang out in Vegas partying, then get KOed by Buster Douglas sort of scenario is what I ‘m thinking of.

And sadly there are times when Apple seems capable of that level of arrogance.  Reading a post today by Marco Arment “ the lead developer of the Tumblr micro-blogging service, and the creator of the superb Instapaper web service and application “ reminded me of this. 

Marco ‘s post catalogs a wealth of issues where Apple is not only dropping the ball and displaying the sort of inconsistent, illogical approach we ‘ve all got somewhat used to by now, but where they show an utter disregard, even disdain for dealing with the people who make the ‘products ‘ that fill the App Store shelves.

Here are just a few examples:

Almost no app updates were approved during the entire month of June with no explanation.

Trying to communicate with Apple is like talking to a brick wall.

Apple refused to field a single question about the App Store at WWDC.

That last point is a brutal one.  I ‘d read that before, just after the event, but still find it unbelievable and so out of order.  That ‘s one of their core audiences “ the developers who are such a huge part of making this platform what it is, and who paid good money to be at the flagship event aimed at (and even named for!) them, and you basically spit on them when it comes to discussing their only distribution channel for iPhone apps.

The most disturbing part is the conclusion Marco reaches as to why solutions may not be coming anytime soon:

Apple thinks this is good enough.

And that ‘s the scariest part of all.

Apple thinks reviews can take 8-30 days and web-capable apps need nudity warnings and the management interface can be buggy and they don ‘t need us to be able to reach them and nobody really needs to take any of this very seriously.

Here ‘s another telling and very worrying thought from Marco:

I ‘ve never doubted the viability of running a serious business of writing iPhone apps before. For the first time, now, I am.

OK, sure he is just one developer “ and maybe even one with some recent negative experiences coloring his thoughts a bit just around now “ but again, all of this just makes me think about the arrogance factor.  

For now, I assume the numbers and the money compensate for a lot for developers “ but at some point, especially with rivals scrambling to attract that same audience “ it ‘s got to become a very bad strategy to continue to piss off and frustrate a group who have been so critical to your success

Check out Marco ‘s excellent article HERE “ which I spotted via a post at Daring Fireball.

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