> As I read Gruber's article, his main point is that the policy > is wrong, not that the pulled app was in contravention of the > current agreement. However I do think a pre-approval > mechanism would be beneficial.
As I read his comments and those of Paul Kafasis (who is the CEO of Rogue Amoeba Software, maker of some very nice audio products for the Mac) I also see this - that the policy itself is monopolistic - but sadly - arbitrary. Determining if something competes with something from Apple - it is also a "post approval" risk. At some point after approval, Apple can come along at any time and pull the app because new functionality has been added that duplicates this ability. Having Apple copy your work (or coming up with something in parallel, whatever the case) is nothing new, and to Apple's credit, they've never really hidden from developers their willingness to do it. It's like that oversized mole on your loved one - you just accept it as a part of the beautiful package of the relationship. But since there is only a market for the app through the Apple Store, you can never know when the rug may be pulled out from under you. Years ago, I worked very closely with console game makers, in the time when you had to source your cartridges from the console maker. This did create a pre-approval situation that carried a lot of risk (and some companies, like Nintendo, also applied "quality" standards too, at first), but after a while, you would get your catridges so long as you didn't break any of the well documented rules. You had the same monopolistic situation but, you didn't have to worry about the rug being pulled out from under you. It seems to me that to approach iPhone development confidently you need to either: 1. Develop something that isnt your core revenue generator and accept the risk, or 2. Have a relationship with Apple that gives you the confidence you need to move forward Best regards, Lynn Fredricks President Paradigma Software http://www.paradigmasoft.com Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
