Thousands of gadget-crazed consumers were happy to stand in line at Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) stores for hours, or even days, for the chance to buy a next-generation iPhone when it launched in July. Many of them were just as excited when the iPhone "app store" opened its doors, giving them the chance to buy and install hundreds of third-party applications for the device.
But will that rush of enthusiasm make up for a series of recent stumbles on Apple's part regarding the apps sold through the iPhone store?
The first sign of something awry came when an application called NetShare -- which allowed users to connect a phone to a computer and use it as a modem -- suddenly
disappeared from the iPhone store, despite the fact that it had proven to be very popular. Then the app reappeared, with no explanation, only to disappear once again. Not long afterward, another app called Box Office disappeared, again with no notice or explanation, and just this past week an app called I Am Rich was abruptly removed from the store.
Theories abound on the disappearances. Some say NetShare breached the terms of Apple's deal with partner AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T). The Box Office program, which allowed users to check movie ratings, may have trespassed on another company's trademark rights, according to some reports. And the I Am Rich app -- which cost $1,000 and did absolutely nothing -- could well have been removed because its description was misleading or because it was seen as malicious.
Some or all of those theories are plausible. No one really knows, including the developers of several of the applications that have been removed. Apple has yet to explain anything at all.
Can Apple do whatever it wants with the apps in its store? Obviously, it can. It owns the store and the device and has made it clear that certain applications (including those involving porn or security risks) won't be allowed. As several people have pointed out, the store was originally intended as a place to get official Apple programs and was only opened up to third-party developers after hackers started "jailbreaking" the phone and installing other apps.
But Apple's silence, and the sense that Apple doesn't really care what anyone thinks, risk alienating not just iPhone buyers, but developers as well. While the rush of enthusiasm for the company's products could make Apple's reticence less important in the short term, it could cause issues for Apple down the road, as it rolls out extensions to the iPhone line (such as the rumored iPhone Nano) and faces more competition from device makers like Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; Toronto: RIM).
Apple must decide whether it wants to own and control the entire iPhone value chain -- from the hardware down to each individual piece of software -- or whether it needs to open up and give others some measure of control. If the vendor picks the latter option, then it must do a better job of communicating than it has so far.
As any student of Apple history knows, though, relinquishing control isn't something this company shows much interest in doing. As a result, what you see in the iPhone store may not always be what you get.
— Mathew Ingram, Technology writer for The Globe and Mail in Canada
Hello Mathew! We were talking a lot about Apple here, and my theory is that Apple creates a religion of itself.So an absence of something that is produced by Apple is a very smart step in terms of cult organising.It means, that Apple God does whatever he wants and people still accept it and the most important, those who already had these applications are the chosen ones!So it will be very interesting to see the next step of creating the fourth world religion.
It is now exactly a month since launch of the iPhone 3G and the very positive tone of my original piece seems even more appropriate now with longer perspective. Most media treatment is still positive. This site is influential, so it should reflect balanced views.
Kim et al: I have fixed the erroneous reference, introduced somehow in the editing process. Apologies. Whenever you see something like this in a ThinkerNet column, just email me and I will fix it.
Apple has a long and sordid history of flexing it's muscle at the expense of the "little" guy. With a "damn the torpedos" attitude, they show little remorse at the extent of their damage and feel that the casualties of friendly fire are worth it if the end result is positive. You have only to look back at the Pre-intel days...Oh yeah, and the pre OS9 days...oh, and the pre-OS7.0 days...and let's not forget the Newton...which spawned dozens of dedicated Newton stores and thousands of programmers, of which several hundered were exclusivly Newton oriented. Additional support for items like the Tarpon and extensible hardware made for a multi-million dollar industry...outside what Apple did with the Newton it's self...All destroyed with not even so much as a how-do-you-do...Yes, Apple's done this before and those who drink this coolaide are better warned that Apple's history speaks for it's self...unless control of the iTunes store can be wrested from Apple, or an industrious third party creates their own open-source iTunes clone, then as a developer of software and even hardware, your days are numbered and Apple is showing the world it's intentions...and honestly, they are never very good!
As a self-proclaimed Apple fanboy, I disagree with Mr. Ingram regarding Apple's indecisiveness. Anyone who is relatively familiar with iTunes / iPhone / AppStore is familiar with "oneclick", a feature that essentially allows you to quickly buy iTunes content from the iTunes store and AppStore with... one click. No credit card info needs to be entered. I expect that a barrage of complaints from uninformed or quick-to-click users nixed the $999 "I'm Rich" application from the iPhone store.
I expect that AT&T was ultimately responsible for pulling the NetShare application from the virtual store shelves. It is likely that AT&T's service plan for the iPhone, which offers unlimited data usage, isn't really meant to be used in an unlimited manner. The fine print on the service contract prohibits tethering to a laptop, so I am a bit surprised that this even made it through Apple's application vetting process in the first place.
The AppStore is a revolutionary concept in its own right. With any new technology or concept there are hurdles to cross. I doubt that these will be the last two or perhaps even the most significant challenges as the concept matures.
I think you knew you could stimulate another comment from me with wolf references. In the tech field, in medicine, in politics, in life in general, it is hard sometimes to know who the bad guys are or if there are any bad guys. The rebel spirit needs to be maintained even though it is hard to cope with sometimes. Wolves embody that as they do ideas of "into the wild" and female leadership. Not sure how wolves will cope with the singularity but I am sure they will find a way!
Here is one story of rebel art in which you can imagine the spirit of the wolf:
Once upon a time there was a website RebelArtist.com which allowed artists to sell clip art and photographs directly to the public. The website displayed a thumbnail sketch and a larger but watermarked preview image. To download the actual image, you had to pay the price that the artist set for the image. The artist received a very large share of the sale price.
It was a model for an e-commerce model that really worked for the little guy. Unfortunately it died and was consumed by large corporate entities in 2003. Today it is represented only by a lonely webpage at rebelartist.org which states "new light on the dark lies that effect us all will soon be lit..... " .
The page has been saying that for a long time now!
Before the onset of the darkness in 2003 I encountered the work of Philippe Hébert on the rebelartist.com, marvelous images, rich with humor that had one salient characteristic: the lines in the drawings refused to quit when they met another line, they just kept on going! As a consequence all the drawings has little spicules on the edges where rebellious lines had crossed boundaries.
I loved it, could not get enough, bought the images that were there and asked Philippe to create others for me.
I noticed along the way something very interesting from a sociological point of view: Most people loved the images as I did, the exception was managers/leaders of large entities in which I imagine following the rules was quite important. They did not like this anarchist art at all!
Skip ahead then to the summer of 2006. I decided that I would like Philippe to illustrate the book I am writing and so Nikki and I arranged to meet him in Montreal on a sunny Sunday afternoon. He arrived promptly on a bicycle having ridden quite some distance from a remote suburb and we had a very pleasant lunch together.
"Would you like to see the art I am creating now?" he asked.
He pulled out recent work, and I was astounded! The usual styles and shapes I was familiar with in his work were all there, but the spicules were gone! Each line stopped dutifully when it met another.
It was clear the revolution was over, the rebellion quashed.
I babbled on about what I would like him to do with the idea of Plato's cave but in my mind I was still mourning the spicules!
So much intellectual richness is lost when the rebel spirit dies! Technology is shrinking the world, making us more and more alike.
We need some sort of active counterforce to resist the pressures of conformity propelling us to sameness! The future is rooted in the unconventional.
I command every single person reading this, the next time you draw something let the lines cross each other, so whatever you are drawing looks related to the porcupine. It is not the answer to all of life's problems, but it is at least a start!
Viva la spicules! (And viva la wolves!)
(You can see Philippe's art from the spicular rebel phase of his life here . )
Although I have limited understanding in the Apple scenario, I get the feeling that Apple has entered into an uncharted territory and is setting the pace for the pack to follow(clearing out the trees, paving the road, fighting with the wolves). Just as Microsoft gets negative feedback in doing what they do, I'm somewhat delighted to see that another powerhouse in a new arena is experiencing similar sidesteps when forever improving. I'm confident that it's 'temporary', although it seems otherwise when zooming into the present, it was just last year that the iPhone debuted.
The question I have at the moment relates to what 'niche' wiill the iPhone hold or is positioning for as the pace of change compounds exponentially. People are still complaining about screen size....and many have yet to grasp the steep incline we're entering in the wireless revolution. I had an incident today with wireless directions that reminded me of the time right before broadband was widely available. When will the first set of phones with projection technology (input(keyboard) AND display) hit the consumer market?
I'll bet on Steve Jobs and that Apple's initial mistake (if you can call it that for the long run) of 20+ years ago will not be published as a repeat and a downfall when the sequal to "Fire in the Valley" hits Barnes and Noble.
I read that the "Woz" invested in Danger (Sidekick) several years back. I wonder what they have simmering.
Thanks for the comment, Kim. And I know very well where Edmonton is -- I lived there for four years right after I got married, and enjoyed it a lot. I think Larry is right that there's a clear risk-reward for Apple when it comes to controlling apps on the iPhone, and that there are short-term benefits to doing so -- I just think the company needs to think about the longer-term risks as well.
For balance it is good to read the essay by Larry Dignan on this subject on ZDNet. He is a bit more charitable toward Apple. One cannot view Apple from a Microsoft perspective, it is "apples and oranges"! Lol! Very different scenarios.
Reading over my own iPhone essay here I note that the ThinkerNet editors added "Ontario" after Edmonton, whereas in reality Edmonton is in Alberta thousands of miles from Ontario. Part of our role here as Canadians is to inform people about tech issues in that that big grey country to the North about which people know so little, a country considerably bigger than the US and which you are also a part of!
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