JWZ and the Palm App Catalog, Part II
jwz.livejournal.com
jwz.livejournal.com
However, there is no "2nd citizen" app store. What Palm is doing is providing a link to your app that can be posted anywhere that will do exactly what JWZ wants: install the app on your phone when clicked. There is no charge for this link, and the app is not reviewed. Palm is simply hosting the app for you AND providing over-the-air updates for your app. What you don't get is the on-device distribution channel.
(Disclaimer: I work at Palm, but am not in developer relations. These are my opinions; I'm not privy to information on this topic outside of what you fine folks have.)
I'm just imagining a scenario where I install your app, and it decides to SMS all of my contacts with a bit.ly link to spread itself, send out emails and do whatever else it wants to.
At least linking through Palm, they know who you are as the app author and can shut down the app if necessary and go after you if your app turns malicious.
I think the much better argument to make in Palm's favor is that 30% is a lot of money, not that it's a good idea to keep users "safe."
2. Palm hasn't tried to shut down the homebrew scene at all. Actually they have been reaching out to developers of those apps and offering to let them host their apps in the official app store too.
3. Most people are not going to go through the trouble of hacking their phone just to install homebrew apps. They expect their phone to act like a phone, and they don't want to have to buy a virus scanner just to protect their phone from threats. For those users, I think the kid gloves are reasonable.
4. I believe Apple takes a 30% cut from iPhone app sales too.
The only difference is they're letting those of us who know what we're doing install whatever we want via the homebrew route.
If jwz really wanted people to have his tip calculator (because the other 8 that are already there aren't good enough I suppose) he could simply post it at one of the many places that are referenced by WebOs Quickinstall or Filecoaster or Preware and people like myself who can't even spell SSH let alone use it can install the app.
That's just semantics. Palm is still in control of it. It is their catalog, and the app is surely hosted on their servers.
So maybe the user-facing interface for getting at apps is a web page instead of a "store" application that runs on the device. That's just an implementation detail. Palm is still mediating my interaction with my customers.
It's great that people want to discuss the upsides and downsides of this approach, but the dismissive language and outright anger in the original post makes JWZ's argument weaker.
JWZ had a very valid point the first time around, and he got everyone's attention, deservedly so. But in Part II he comes across as being whiny and rude, even misrepresenting the Palm press release.
Maybe he's just angry and needs to cool down?
What an awkward phase.
I for one hope for a decent cross-platform browser API that lets me access mobile phone functions (database / GPS / camera) in js and just be done with all this drama.
If Apple had a app store for a next generation AppleTV, it would be a very interesting platform.
Maybe a modular, generic box to include in the manufacturing process, with built-in wireless or ethernet plug, ability to update firmware via the net, and a central app store and paywall.
Alternatively, just build it as a STB with a fairly killer feature out of the box, loss-lead on getting them out there, and control the app sales. The 360 is probably the closest thing to it, but it's large and expensive compared to what would gain greater market penetration.
That's very subjective. It's apparent that thousands of developers feel that what they get in return is worth the price. If they don't like the price of goods and services, they can choose not to buy them. They are not on the whole being deprived of anything that is owed to them. It's accepted as "normal" because it's the way commerce works everywhere, and because these are very established practices in fields other than desktop software.
They should be paying developers
They are! Why do you think developers are choosing to develop for these platforms? Where do you think the other 70% goes?
The problem is twofold.
Firstly Apple. They achieved unbelievable lockin (even accounting for jailbreaking) with the App Store and are certainly raking in a fortune with it. Im not surprised Palm want a portion of the pie.
Secondly; I bet you the Pre is "sold" at a loss. Because Palm looked at the App Store and thought "hey that is a limitless pot of money, lets do it!". Im sure the Iphone/Ipod Touch is sold for the same sort of "loss" - the profit is from tertiary services (this is a fairly standard model, right).
We already have a dangerous simile for this sort of loss leader system: it's called printed news media. They make money off of advertising revenue and that is falling apart as things evolve.
There will be a revolution in phone software at some point; a time when phone providers finally realise they should open up their phones to other OS's the same way computers are. When that happens these companies are fucked; and I dont think it can be too far away. The number of disgruntled App store devs is growing, Android is increasing in popularity and gaining market traction (though I dont rate any of the production phones yet) and it looks like Palm devs will be joining the pool. That is a dangerous group of people :D
Could happen :)
Firstly that you do really have to include R&D cost - I bet that adds a reasonable amount.
Secondly that your using the retail price of the phone; I don't imagine Apple gets that full amount per sale. Plus dont forget upgrades - my upgrade phone [it's coming tomorrow. woo! :)] is costing £50 ($80 ish).
However; good link. I stand corrected, sorry.
The device won't install apps directly off the developer's website - it will only install apps either through the actual app catalog, or through a free link that somehow goes through Palm. However they said that they would provide these links for any app, even without any formal review process. Really, this is a good thing.
Why? Because Palm needs to be able to yank an app if it turns out to be malicious. They are doing this to protect their platform, and it's a reasonable security measure.
Why should I let Palm decide what I can install on my phone? Android, Windows Mobile and PalmOS users have been doing fine with having the option of installing their own software.
The Palm Pre has a thriving homebrew community of hackers who have done exactly this, and have written over 250 apps that don't go through the standard Palm app store and can be installed just by a normal download link.
See: http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-apps
Palm devs have even been following the homebrew community closely and invited many of the developers there to offer their apps through the official app store as well as through the homebrew scene.
My main problem with the iTunes App Store from a customer point of view is I feel like I have tunnel vision and can't really see the app and comments. I wish I had something like the Amazon shopping experience.
I don't see how letting google knowing who he is -especially when they probably ALREADY know- is any worse than letting Palm know who he is. For him to tear his hair out over Palm's bullshit, especially when in all likelihood Palm's will probably lose in the end, seems like a futile and masochistic exercise.
He's a long time Palm fan/user/developer from back in the 'good old days'. Also he's said that he thinks the Pre is an very nice platform to program for and finds it far easier than the iPhone. So basically he develops for the Pre because he likes the Pre, he just wishes it was easier to distribute the results for free to other Pre userd.