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Comment by Zak | Hacker News Reader

Apple has consistently demonstrated that they don't care about what developers want. They seem to believe, and have so far been shown to be correct that if they can get the consumers, developers will follow. The only way I can see this changing is if a killer app that consumers want becomes available on another platform and not iPhone OS due to Apple's restrictions.

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I think you're forgetting that it's also really fun to make an app that has the best "look and feel". I can make things that make people say "Wow." A lot easier on the iPhone than on Android.

Developers will make apps where it is fun to make apps. I haven't had any horror stories with the app store, so it's still just more fun to make iPhone software than anything else.

The developers who make apps 'for fun' aren't producing the blockbusters that make the appstore so important to the iPhone.

No, but they do make up a fair number of apps that populate the top 100 lists for various categories (even if they're not runaway hits on the most profitable list).

You really think developing software in 25 year old technologies (Objective-C, Cocoa) is fun???

Coming from a lot of .NET at work it's been fun to learn something new, and play around with a new environment (Xcode). So yeah it's been fun. I don't know how long it will last, I've also not written anything terribly complex, so perhaps the pain points will surface more over time.

Handing my phone to my friends and telling them I made what they are looking at has been really fun. Also, telling anyone with an iPhone how they can just search the app store and find my little app is way fun. My Mom installed it even!

> Apple has consistently demonstrated that they don't care about what developers want.

The facts disagree.

The App Store model is unusual and it is not perfect. Few developers have any experience with Cocoa or Objective-C. Developers must use a Mac. iPhone software only runs on the iPhone and is not easily ported to other platforms.

Despite all of that, Apple has attracted developers to the App Store and the iPhone in numbers nobody would have predicted. Meanwhile, all other mobile platforms are rushing to duplicate the model.

It would seem Apple knows exactly what developers want.

No. Apple knows exactly how much developers will put up with.

Google, Microsoft, RIM, and Palm are wishing it was that easy.

Apple only cares about their image. They make that "glow" effect on produvt to attract costumers, and developers go wwhere the people are.

"It would seem Apple knows exactly what developers want."

Aye, money outweighs freedom even today.

Money is freedom.

Depends how many strings are attached to it.

Apple is operating under an effective first-mover advantage. That conveys a lot of benefits that let them get away with a lot of abuses. If/when the other players in the market catch up, that won't hold quite as true.

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