Apple Finally Opens iTunes for All Developers

For many years now, Apple has had a rather tough stance on applications developers. With the release of the iPhone, Steve Jobs saw the opportunity to force mobile developers to buy a Mac. This actually worked for many years. With the promise of future opportunities for Windows and Linux based developers, Jobs was able to shut everyone else out of the market. You either bought a Mac or you did not code iPhone apps. There were several SDK's that would pop up that would let you code the application, but you could not sell it anywhere. Things have changed now that the iPhone 4 has turned out to be so (insert favorite expletive here).

With the Droid phone hitting the market and outperforming the iPhone, Apple was already feeling a little pressure. That pressure increased a little more when the Droid went to multiple carriers. Many iPhone customers hated the current carrier that you were stuck with on the iPhone. With the Droid, you could choose. That still didn't pull too many away from the iPhone though. It was not until the iPhone 4 hit the market. This phone was doomed from the very start. Steve Jobs even had to struggle to get it to work at the gala release party. They had a dedicated network that was exclusively meant for that instant and they failed. Then you would have to use some duct tape to get the antenna to work properly. Not only did this block a portion of the screen, but you looked rather silly carrying your taped up phone everywhere. This was enough to drag the market to Droid and Blackberry.

With all of this going on, Jobs is finally going to open the developer market to everyone. This is huge news for all developers. Flash and Java developers can be especially happy about this. Now you can market your mobile applications for all three major smart phones legally. The reason that Flash and Java developers stand to make the most is that these languages can be converted easily to all platforms. You can code once and compile the program to fit all three phones. You can then post the same application to all three major app stores and watch the money roll in from all directions. For other developers, especially Windows based Visual coders, you will have to tweak each individual program to fit each phone. While this is still beneficial to do, it adds a couple extra steps.

Many of us have been waiting for this day for several years now. It is amazing news that Apple has finally broke down enough to allow everyone an opportunity to develop for them. It may be a little too late to save the iPhone, but it will definitely put a Band-Aid on the problem for a little while. Personally, I will continue to develop for Droid, Windows, Google, and Blackberry phones. I may add the iPhone to the mix, but not at the expense of loosing quality in my other code. Had they done this a year ago, I would probably have been coding exclusively for the iPhone all this time.

Sources:

Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines