A great writeup by Mike Rowehl, Please Don’t Mistake My Apathy For A Lack of Understanding, in response to VentureBeat’s piece iPhone devotion blinds Silicon Valley app developers.
Mike, who is a very experienced mobile developer and technologist in general, writes about his apathy for all the companies and people how now seem to “get it” when it comes to things such as app stores and ecosystems and the importance of developers; the same companies/people who made the life of developers next to impossible (i.e. fragmentation, cost/fees, certifications, lack of support, failing to deliver, over-control) when trying to develop mobile applications in the past. The same companies/people responsible for slowing down advancements in mobility because of lame excuses and FUD and control — that is, until Apple with the iPhone showed them differently.
My comment (modified a bit) that I left on his blog follows:
Agreed. It took Apple the vision to create the integrated experience that even non-techies get how to discover and download of apps. It took Apple to show/change the playing field, vs. being a “yes man”. And it took Apple show how a touch experience and mobile browsing should be, while others were afraid of taking step and while others didn’t get it at all. And, it took Apple to show it is about the experience and ecosystem and the developers to bring value to the mobile platform. Amazing, isn’t it?
Now everyone is copying. Now everyone “gets it”.
But it is good to see now that everyone else is “getting it”, and are doing something about it.
But I agree, don’t call developers blind (or stupid), as what developers are doing is just the opposite – it is not about devotion — it is about low investment, quick time to market, exposure, and large as possible ROI. And as others platform get to show good return potential, developers will develop for those as well… Show us the money!
ceo