With the Google Voice fiasco (the official Google app gets rejected, then the third party apps get pulled, and now the third party companies are expected to pay for their customer refunds), have you been so put off by Apple that your development plans have changed?
Not really, because I tend to look at the broader picture.<p>All mobile-phone platforms are still ultimately mediated by the carriers. If there's something they don't like, they'll find a way to stop you doing it; maybe it'll be an agreement with a hardware or software vendor, maybe it'll be implemented in the network, maybe it'll just be in their customer terms and give them a justification to cut you off. But they'll find a way to apply restrictions that will make people angry, because they <i>can</i> and because people jumping ship from Apple isn't going to change that.<p>And the alleged alternative at this point is Google. Google, which has a track record of simply shutting down accounts at their other services with no warning, no explanation, no appeal process and no recourse (unless you're lucky enough to know someone on the inside). Which makes "I'm going to develop for Android" sound an awful lot like "I want more of the same". Sure, you don't <i>have</i> to go through Google, but see the paragraph above for why it won't matter.
I've been considering an iPhone-native app for a web app I'm creating. But honestly, I've never been enamored with the App Store. Submit for approval? Gimme a break. Instead, I plan on developing a targeted UI for Safari on the iPhone. If that's not sufficient, I may begrudgingly go with a native iPhone app.
No, I'm sticking with it.<p>But I would avoid doing apps that threaten AT&T by creating an opening for end-runs around AT&T services.<p>However, if I was Google or a third party, say, GV developer with enough funding, I would redouble my efforts on those kinds of apps, to build consumer demand for them as they rolled out on all other platforms.
While there was a time I was always on the edge of technologies (both as user and developer), now I tend to wait bit to adopt new ones.<p>Sure this leads to some missing opportunities, that's the price to pay.<p>I've been watching the iPhone and Android platforms since their inception, and although I felt the iPhone was more "exciting" to develop for, these fiascos make me think it twice.<p>So I'm hoping Android takes off next year, specially internationally.
I'd like to see Apple respond to this "crisis" with adjustments, but it seems they feel no need to.<p>My biggest concern here is Apple being upfront. I can potentially accept the imposition of barriers to products that compete with features on the phone but they need to be completely spelled out in advance. Developers wasting lives developing apps that get rejected without precedence is truly wrong.
My experience developing for iPhone has been great. The income from the few apps I've made easily covers the phone, the contract, and the developer program. I plan to develop on the iPhone exclusively for now. Once some of the other mobile platforms take off I'll make my apps available in the corresponding marketplaces
Tim Bray put it well:
"The big problem is this: I don’t wanna be a sharecropper on Massa Steve’s plantation."
<a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Mobile-Net-Gloom" rel="nofollow">http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Mobile-Net...</a>
So no, I'm waiting to see how things shake out.
When it comes to mobile development, I'm trying to sell software. If I can build an app and sell it on the iPhone then I will, because there is a huge market there right now. It's the best market to sell a simple mobile app.<p>If the restrictions of the iPhone or Apple's politics make it too risky to build and sell a product I have come up with, then I'll have to take it somewhere else. As it is, I think it still pays to develop simple consumer apps for the iPhone. I'll stick with FOSS on the desktop for my cutting-edge or experimental stuff. In the future Android is pretty clearly shaping up to be the platform to push the technological envelope on. The Android platform just isn't nice enough to put up with every day when I have to buy a phone and a plan to really play with it.
Its a risk calculation. When you sign the contract, you give Apple certain rights but you don't know what the likely-hood is that you will be subject to the exercising of those rights or the extent to which they will exercise their rights. Now that we are getting more information we have to ask ourselves again if the risk of rejection and/or coughing up refunds is greater than the reward from the investment of resources in the application. I think you will see new developers shy away or building a lot of low-risk apps where they could take the hit if necessary. I know I'll be looking elsewhere to spend the majority of my development time.
I'm now recommending people develop and put the app in the AppStore for free with advertising or "paypal" donations that let you collect revenue for it outside of the absurd Apple contract.
Could you edit the poll? If so, could you add an answer for those who plan to keep developing for the iPhone but now are also looking into other platforms?