03/06/2008, 2:10pm, EST
Thursday, March 6th
Apple unveils App Store for iPhone, iTunes
As part of its SDK announcement, Apple today unveiled the App Store, the sole home for third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. The service will be accessible either wirelessly from the device itself or through iTunes, which synchronizes apps to the handset on its next connection. To fund the store, Apple will follow a pattern set by Handango and other third-party stores and will collect 30 percent of the revenue from each app purchase. Free apps remain free for both the user and developer, Apple notes.
The Store will have only minor restrictions on what can be posted. Illegal material as well as pornography will be the software most likely to be blocked, although Apple has not provided a list of other possible exemptions.
Apple plans to make the store available as part of the version 2.0 iPhone and iPod touch firmware updates and should activate the service beginning in June, when the final software developer kit (SDK) as well as the firmware is available. A small cost is expected to update the iPod touch to add the new software support.
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It's difficult to decide which is more significant: true, complete and integrated solution for Exchange push support, or an intuitive SDK with complete API for everything! The first will drive hordes of enterprise accounts from RIM to the iPhone; the other will drive hordes of consumers from all other mobile gaming devices to the iPhone. All this driving will mean Apple will have to rapidly ramp up the output in China to meet the demand.
Hopefully 12 million iPhones are getting ready to be shipped out of those factories.
Um, except for those enterprise accounts who actually want to control what goes on the iphone, and not have to pay apple for the privilege of loading software on it.
And I notice Apple is charging the 30% to fund the store. I'm sure every cent collected will go to the store too, and not to the bottom line.
But just think how much cheaper it would be for Apple and the developers if they didn't feel the compulsion to control everything you did with the iPhone, and allowed you to just download apps and install them as you saw fit.
2) Has anyone noticed the similarity between the iPhone and the original Macintosh? They both are falling into the same Jobsian desire that Apple should control the entire box and have no control over it (hell, it ended up being one of the reasons he got kicked out).
I'll ask my resident DoD network security expert to night to see if the BB users at his place of work have some work-around for this issue.
iPhones are going to have a lot of personal data on them. add to that their exploding popularity, and you can see why this might be the new data target for spyware/malware and any other ware that might unscrupulously advance people's financial gain. Personally, I'll not whine for a second if you can guarantee me that my info and passwords are safe.
If you don't like the fact that it's a gated system, then look someplace else, or pay the nominal fee to get certified and make your apps work.
I personally don't have the time or interest to check for these issues, so beyond common-sense network usage, I'll leave security up to the professionals, as will the vast majority of others.
With iPod Touch, there is no continuing income directly from the operation of the device, so the dev. cost is offset by your paying for it. I much prefer this than Apple 'taxing' iTMS purchases. The analogy is oddly acute since it would be taxing all users at the benefit of a portion, much like our nation's tax system...
So Testy, couldl be a little less testy about touch costs? You seem quick enough to have caught that little bit of the transcript and all...