And ultimately with respect to quality control, a perfectly great system is already in place in the Apple Store with a rating system, consumer reviews. There we find that this quality control really isn’t so much about quality when we can read about crashing and leak complaints in a large variety of apps there. Why is it that That’s how quality is generally established in the industry: consumers decide.

In fact, it’s suggested that the quality of iOS apps is often hindered by Apple’s strict review process:

“One possible explanation is that iOS developers can’t fix bugs quickly due to Apple’s approval process. Often it takes at least a week for an update to be approved. Even an emergency request takes about two days. This is often devastating for developers who rack up negative publicity as they wait for their update to go out to customers. With Android, developers can fix issues that come up and immediately seed the new version.” — http://tablet.pandaapp.com/news/02052012/193454888.shtml

It’s the Apple Store that bothers me. We can see that with things like Flash and Java support. And if we’re talking about security, one should look at the security vulnerabilities of iOS more closely. If it’s about quality control, one should see how there are plenty of buggy apps that are being sold through the iStore.

As a software developer, I find it very disappointing that Apple sells their hardware short by putting such heavy control restrictions on their software for often very vague reasons (users often repeat their PR statements, but through more digging and research, one can find that what Apple says often doesn’t match what Apple is actually doing). They make a quality product but it comes with this dictatorship over what can and can’t be put on it.

My brother is a former U.S. Patent Examiner in the area of technology and now an IP lawyer. I may ask him what he thinks. My suspicion is that Apple may avoid some bad PR (even if it’s false) by settling with this kid while not admitting any wrongdoing. And let’s be real: This kid is not going to really sue Apple. He simply doesn’t have the resources. I do think they’d be wise to pay him to avoid the appearance of them “stealing” said app, and to avoid any future debates such as the one we’re having right now.

@Jose
No argument there. App store and amazon issue is pure bull, as far as I’m concerned.

@Dk

The Zune bit was to show that Greg Hughes didn’t invent the idea of Wi-Fi Syncing in the mobile arena. I’m not saying the Zune team did either, but they’re the earliest example that came to mind.

As far as recognition, I don’t know that he really needs it in this case, since the concept behind syncing over Wi-Fi seems fairly basic to me. If Greg Hughes was accusing Apple of actually copying his code, then that’d be another story.