So as many of you know, I was far from impressed when I first heard of the plans for Tweetie 2 as a brand new app, rather than an update to the original Tweetie app.  Since then, I ‘ve learned a lot more about exactly what options iPhone developers have in this area, and what […]
" />

Recommended: Marc’s ‘In Support of Tweetie’ Post at JAMM

Oct 9th 2009 by

cash_register_1

So as many of you know, I was far from impressed when I first heard of the plans for Tweetie 2 as a brand new app, rather than an update to the original Tweetie app.  Since then, I ‘ve learned a lot more about exactly what options iPhone developers have in this area, and what Apple allows for and so forth “ and about how the decisions about Tweetie 2 were made by its developer, who I got a chance to interview recently.

Last night I read another post that offers some good thoughts on this whole subject, from the perspective of not just an iPhone developer “ but a guy who ‘s been involved in developing and publishing excellent mobile apps across all the major mobile platforms for a number of years.  Marc Tassin, from Ilium Software, wrote the post “ and he ‘s a guy I have huge respect for “ so I ‘ve read the post several times over.

Here is a slice of Marc ‘s post that gets to the heart of the matter:

Under most software sales models the reseller offers a way for us to charge a reduced amount to existing customers for the upgrade. I mean, nobody wants to make you buy the whole application twice. This is one of the real problems with the iTunes App Store.  Not only does Apple not give us a way to charge for upgrades, they don ‘t give us a way to charge less to our loyal customers.

The problem is not Tweetie “ the problem is that Apple hasn ‘t offered a long-term sustainable development environment and until Apple improves this, folks like Tweetie are going to pay the price.

I still feel frustrated and unimpressed with this whole approach to app upgrades and the lack of any ability to treat loyal customers in a way they deserve to be treated “ but I feel frustrated with Apple for creating this situation.  This strikes me as a subject that should ‘ve been thought about right from the outset of the App Store, and certainly should have much better solutions available by now.

I was also interested to see the thoughts on this issue that were shared at TUAW ‘s live chat session with devs about the App Store earlier today “ more on that later.  I think posts like Marc ‘s “ which provide a great developer ‘s perspective “ are a big help in educating not just me, but a lot of users on this subject.

Check out his full post HERE.

Continue reading:

TAGS: