In a recent blog post, Marco Arment asked about the timing of iPad deployment. This is my response.
Either I’m missing something, the initial iPad apps are going to suck, or we haven’t yet been told that iPad-native apps won’t be available for some period of time after the iPad’s launch.
You are missing something.
The problem, of course, is that before day one, we won’t have iPads ourselves for development and testing. This wasn’t a problem for iPhone development: by the time the SDK was released, we had all been using iPhones for many months. We knew how iPhone apps should look and behave, and we could test our apps on our iPhones during development for three months before anyone could sell apps to customers.
No, we didn’t. You might have, but thousands of others were left out in the cold, unwelcome to develop for the iPhone. Apple tightly controlled who they allowed in, and many didn’t get developer keys until months after the App Store was opened for business. Yes, we could develop on the simulator, but not on the phone itself. This preferential treatment continued with the release of later beta SDKs and Firmwares. The entire time this was going on Apple was very coy about what they were doing.
You have based your 3 possibilities on a bed of false assumptions.
You have assumed that you can go to the local Apple Retail store, buy an iPad and install software.
This is not supported in the current SDK. At this point you can’t even compile code to the A4.
Apple hasn’t said when it will be supported.
Most importantly there is no guarantee that your current developer certificate will allow you to cryptographically sign and install software on the iPad at all.
Your certificate may work for iPhone and iPod touch only.
Apple may require a separate enrollment fee to get a iPad certificate.
Apple may limit iPad certificates to a select few developers. This limitation may be temporary or permanent.
You have assumed that Apple will accept iPad apps from you sometime on or before “day 1″.
Apple has made no such commitment.
They have committed to their future iPad users that iPad specific apps will be ready on day 1, but they haven’t committed to any developers (AFAIK) that they can submit them.
When it comes to the AppStore, Apple is not a matchmaker helping developers connect to users in a frictionless manner. It sure seems that way and as an indie developer I like the AppStore, but it is what it is, which is Apples playground.
You have assumed that there is a submission queue.
Developers like data structures like FIFO, and lots of them refer to the “submission queue” but I have never seen documentation from Apple that submissions are handled in a first come first served manner. Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that the are several submission piles, and they are serviced at different rates.
2 Comments
Hi Karl,
This post reeks of dissatisfaction with Apple’s processes. That’s fair enough in and of itself, but it’s a little disingenuous to claim that Marco is missing the point, when really you’re just arguing straight past him.
The iPhone went on sale in June 2007, the SDK was released in March 2008, and App Store was launched in July. i.e. developers had been using the iPhone 9 months prior to writing software for it, and then had 4 months of development time prior to the public launch of the App Store. The core of Marco’s concern is that developers will not have had the same amount of time with the iPad (SDK or not) as they had with the iPhone.
Also, why would Apple announce an App Store for the iPad & launch beta SDKs including iPad support (and migration facilities to Xcode for existing iPhone applications) if you can’t “go to the local Apple Retail store, buy an iPad and install software?” Marco’s “assumptions” are based on evidence, your claim that they’re false assumptions seems to be driven by fear, not facts.
Cheers,
Nathan
My assumption are based on realism. Personally I am very happy with the app store approval process. I think most people who have problems are being unrealistic.
When the SDK was released in March 2008, I and tens of thousands of others signed up to get the firmware and keys that would be needed to be develop “on the device”. The vast majority were left out in the cold.
Yes there were apps on the first day, and I’m pretty confident there will be iPad versions of apps on the first day of the iPad AppStore. But that isn’t the same as “all iphone developers will be able to develop for the ipad and ship software on day one”.
I think the most likely scenario is the same one as presented with the iPhone. A small minority will get keys between now and launch day, and the rest of us will get them later.