Scripting News: Apple & developers

Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

Apple & developers

Daring Fireball: "Perhaps it's playing well in the mainstream press, but here at WWDC, Apple's 'you can write great apps for the iPhone: they're called web sites' -- message went over like a lead balloon."

Read the whole piece about how developers are reacting to Apple's news at WWDC this week, and consider another theory to explain what's going on.

Apple makes a lot of software that developers used to make. Over time they'll make more. And while that's going on they're becoming more of a consumer products company and less of a computer company. How does that translate for developers? The platform is less important and the package is more important. What the consumer gets out of the box matters. The ability to make a phone call, or listen to music or get directions to a restaurant. But run some random app that someone other than Apple made? There's not much demand for that with users.

How do I know? I've been there. When Apple made very little of the software people used, I still had a hard time explaining to people I met on airplanes or ski lifts, generally well educated people who used computers, that I didn't work for Apple, that I was an "independent developer." What's that.

Apple doesn't open up the iPhone because they don't have to and they don't want to. The security argument is bogus. Skype runs only on computers that are wide open. The phone is just one app, as it is just one app on the iPhone. And Apple has some special understanding of security? Well, that was disproven quickly after Safari shipped for Windows, holes were discovered within hours of its release. No it's not security, it's a shift in positioning. Apple didn't come prepared this year for WWDC because it's not a computer company, and they don't need a developer community.

Which of course is a total shame and utter waste because they have one of the best, if not the best, developer communities in existence. Surely something could be done with all that motivated talent that effectively works for free for Apple?

Last update: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 4:00:52 PM

~About the Author~

Dave Winer, 55, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

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May Jul