There are several posts on Hacker News about the Podcaster application being rejected by Apple for inclusion in the App Store because it duplicates functionality in iTunes. I’m not convinced this app was rejected because it competes with iTunes as some people are suggesting (the line from Apple was that it “duplicates functionality”), but I do agree it’s a serious issue for developers to be only getting this pass/fail vote from Apple after they’ve committed the time, energy, and resources to build the app and submit it. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, but I’m guessing Apple will be going back on this one.
This is one of the reasons that I think Android (Google’s open platform for mobile devices) is going to be a majorly disruptive force (in a good way) for mobile apps. They are breaking down the barriers that have existed around mobile app development, and putting control back into the hands of developers instead of the service providers and handset manufacturers. I guess we will have to wait and see just how this plays out as well, but the idea of the mobile development space becoming more like development for the web is very interesting and exciting.
blog comments powered by Disqus
