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Comment by signalsignal | Hacker News Reader

I think Instacast, and maybe Flattr as well, should boycott Apple and instead focus on the Android platforms starting with Google Play and Amazon's Appstore. Otherwise they are helping to perpetuate and even reward this kind of behavior.

Does anyone have the link for Instacast for Android?

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Year after year, this 2003 essay by Tim Bray continues to be true:

> I’ve been following some discussions about the future of software applications, and a phrase that came up in my dinner with Robb Beal has been echoing in my mind.What it comes down to is this: if you want to develop software, you can build for the Web and/or Unix and/or OSS platforms; or alternatively, you can be a sharecropper. Your choice, but I think it’s an easy one. Especially since the users out there want you to do the right thing.

> What Robb actually said, in a conversation about Mac software outputs like Ranchero and Watson and his own Spring, was that building for the Apple OS feels like being a sharecropper.

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla...

I think his statement of "the users want you to do the right thing" is being a bit generous. Users want whatever app they want on whatever platform they have. They don't want to jailbreak their device to install your app or go to some out of the way (possibly untrustworthy) place to locate it. Centralized, reliable app stores are liked generally by users. That said, as a developer, it is onerous/depressing to have faceless "bureaucrats" decide the fate of your apps acceptance/rejection.

Funny as a developer I don't have the same problem. I intrinsically understand that it is their store hence their rules. So long as I follow their well published and understood guidelines there won't be a problem.

Just like I would get banned from Google if I didn't follow their rules.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

That essay needs updating. It is entirely possible to be a web developer who is a sharecropper these days (see: massive reliance on Facebook integration, Twitter integration, Google APIs, or any other platform that you don't control and couldn't easily replicate).

I agree, developers need to vote with their feet if they want any chance to influence Apple's policies.

I don't think that can work.

Maybe for a few exceptional cases like Facebook or Twitter, but 99.99% of developers don't have near that much leverage.

In this case, for example, if Instacast isn't in the AppStore most people will simply choose an alternative "podcatcher" that is.

Honestly, most of the companies who could vote with their feet on this issue need the AppStore a lot more than the AppStore needs them.

While the App store is indeed powerful, it's also severely flawed beyond the approval process.

Discoverability is a huge problem, and honestly, more than 80% of the apps aren't very good. And given that iOS apps are still in the gold rush stage, that percentage of crappy apps is growing by the day.

If a significant number of the developers who vote with their feet are part of the top 20% (for quality), and the boycott becomes more widespread, I think Apple would have to respond.

In the post-Jobs era, who knows if something like this could have an impact.

Apple has acknowledged their issues with discoverability with their purchase of Chomp. And again the issue of the 80% of apps aren't good argument is that your definition of 'good' differs from everyone else.

Especially the massive number of young kids buying apps courtesy of the iPod touch.

They're buying the top 20%, in my opinion.

Keep in mind, 20% of 500k apps is 100k apps. Do you really think there are are that many 4 star apps in the app store?

I did two years ago. Sold my iMac and switched to Linux. I think it didn't have that much influence on Apple, but I feel good about it, I get my stuff done, and that's what counts.

What would it mean to boycott a company which has already refused to market their app?

It would mean not making the changes to get it in, which Instacast did.

Instacast doesn’t have an Android version but there’s Podkicker Pro with Flattr integration on Android that does pretty much the same.

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