Apple tightens app development rules
Apple is tightening the app development rules, attempting to more completely control the content that is offered in the app store, and is thereby risking the ire of developers and third-party software and service suppliers.
Everyone knows about the current battle between Apple and Adobe over the use of Flash in apps, but that melee is part of a larger war about what development tools can be used when developing and tracking apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Touch. Last week Apple added a rule, for example, saying that the developers of apps for Apples mobile platforms could only use Apple software in the process of development, according to a New York Times blog. That sparked a huge explosion at Adobe, during which their Flash evangelist made a fairly graphic suggestion to Steve Jobs about where he could put what.
Flash, however, is not the only development tool that could be banned. As an example, it leaves analytics company Flurry, which has developed a system to track the usage of apps on Apple mobile devices. Peter Farago, vice president of Flurry, is not sure if his company is under the ban or not. Farago says, “The truth is that right now, we don’t know a lot. We have a list of questions. … We think we can be compliant by doing some modifications. We’ll do what we need to do to get that to happen.â€
It is pretty clear where Apple stands when it comes to Flash. It is not quite as clear where they stand on companies like Flurry. Those companies may have to wait to see if apps that use their products start to get banned from the App Store.
The war currently being fought is not really about suppliers. It is instead about the control of applications that run on smartphones and therefore about getting users to purchase one type of smartphone over another. The more apps that are available for a smartphone, the more likely people are to buy it. For that reason, it is important to have a lot of apps available, and to control them as closely as possible. Al Hilwa, an analyst with the research firm IDC, says, “There will be a big fistfight for developers and applications over the next few years. This is just the early stages of the battle for mobile telephony. Apple’s financial radar is up, and they are trying to close all the holes.†If these are just the opening shots, we’d better stand back when they start firing the large volleys.
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