Actually, I do take it personally because my livelihood depends on Apple's decisions. I worked for a 3rd party developer in the Apple II days when Apple was shunning its cash cow (Apple II) in favor of its new sweetheart (Mac).
Now, I think the iPhone/iPad are great opportunities for new and interesting solutions, but they cannot replace the desktop. Try developing your iPad app on an iPad. I don't have an issue with Apple making WWDC iPhone focused this year. Just come out an SAY IT. The slap in the face continues to be Apple's removal of Mac as a category from ADA. What THAT SAYS is that Mac is not very important to Apple anymore or worse, that Mac apps can't push the envelope in terms of design anymore (both of which I believe are false). It was a bad move. Also a bad move was announcing WWDC so late. It says to the developer community that Apple doesn't respect developers enough to give a decent lead time for a major week-long conference. Sure, they figure they'll sell out no matter what -- but it's still an arrogant move. They could have announced the dates when they released iPhone OS info, instead, they wait 3 more weeks. Btw.. also a bad move for (smaller) developers IMHO, was the removal of the Downloads link. Since that has happened, I've seen a noticeable drop in traffic. What is the COST of having a download link on the home page for Mac products? It's gotta be close to nil. In other words, Apple isn't even willing to do minimal effort stuff to promote Mac developers anymore. Someone on twitter said it's like being in an abusive relationship. Apple keeps abusing its developers and yet we still come back for more. It's so bad now that Apple is happy to abuse even the big developers (Adobe & MS), which seems to be new behavior. All in all, it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. For my part, I'm planning to skip this year's WWDC. My focus is still on Mac desktop development, so clearly there is very little I will benefit from sessions at WWDC this year (although I will miss hanging out with other Mac developers). I hope that Apple will return its focus to Mac OS X and the desktop down the road. Right now, I'm having doubts about whether that will happen. In the meantime, I have to start considering the possibility that maybe Apple will use also the Mac as a cash cow, in the same way it used the Apple II, to simply fund its future focus on mobile devices. I am hopeful, but am also starting to work on contingencies. Mark On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 9:05 AM, Benjamin Ragheb <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Apr 29, 2010, at 6:43 AM, Ray Barber <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Which kinda makes me think of Macworld. I think it was bad for Apple > > to > > bail from participation. I can understand them wanting to make more of > > WWDC, but AFAIK going to both wouldn't have hurt their bottom line - > > only > > improved it. > > Macworld used to be Apple's time to make big announcements, once a > year. That sucked from Apple's perspective, because they didn't get to > decide when it happened. That effectively gave undue influence over > product and marketing schedules to IDG, a publishing company! > > Post-iPod, the mainstream press pays more attention to Apple. Post- > WWW, the average person has easier access to tech news. Apple can host > special press events when it wants to announce something. It doesn't > need Macworld like it used to. > > So what's the reason to go to Macworld? Keep in mind if they show up > and don't announce anything, there will be critical headlines. So for > the cost of materials, and the cost of people's time to attend---which > are both real considerations even for a big company---what do they get? > > I'm writing all this because you say you could only see an upside in > Apple being at Macworld. Even if you think it's a bad call, you have > to admit their are trade-offs. To do a good job with something you > usually need to focus and eliminate distractions. That's a vital part > of design, which we should all be able to appreciate. > > Apple would rather do a good conference focused on iPhone OS than a > mediocre conference divided in two. Don't take it personally. > > -- Ben > > -- Mark Munz unmarked software http://www.unmarked.com/ ------------------------------------ MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6 Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: http://groups.google.com/group/macsb-talk Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/macsb/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/macsb/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
