Charles Wolf, of Needham & Co., recently described the iPhone App Store as a “wasteland of mediocre applications” and that it was taking “its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric.” And now, following Apple’s killing of various Google Voice applications for ‘duplicating features’ of the iPhone (possibly at AT&T’s bidding), developers are beginning to question the logic of developing applications for the iPhone platform. Even Michael Arrington, noted lover of all things Apple, and editor of TechCrunch, is dumping his iPhone (and would have picked up a Pre if there was a webOS Google Voice app, somebody tell that guy about Homebrew!).
Mr. Rubinstein, I sincerely hope you’re watching what’s going on here as Palm moves towards finalizing its own App Catalog. While Apple may have led the way into a place we didn’t know we needed to go (the land of the application store), they’ve since gotten lost and wandered into an ever-darkening corner. Palm, we’ve got some helpful pointers, some of which you're doing, some we want to make sure you do.
In its current state, the Palm App Catalog isn’t terribly hard to use, and that’s a good thing. From an easy search system to the use of tags (and the tag cloud), the App Catalog is a breeze. Apple’s own App Store is also quite simple, but lacking in some of the richer features (like tag searches). Now, don’t keep it too simple, we all know the App Catalog is in need of some polish (as that persistent Beta tag indicates).
Speaking of simple - Implement an easy pay system, preferably with options like a credit card with your Palm Profile or PayPal or something else delightfully simple. The opposite of simple: carrier involvement in the payment system. Having apps just billed to the carrier account might seem simple, but looks can be deceiving. Keep my cell phone bill predictable and keep carriers out of the chain on the App Store.
2) Keep it fresh
Once you start publishing more applications (*ahem*), make an effort to keep things fresh in the App Catalog and cycle new apps through the Featured row regularly. We don’t want the App Catalog to turn into a 99-cent wasteland like the iPhone App Store. And don’t be afraid to encourage developers to charge more for quality apps. I think we’d all agree that we’d rather have an App Catalog with low volume but high quality apps than one with a zillion programs, 99% of which are next to worthless. And for whatever-you-find-holy’s sake, please don’t trumpet your App Catalog numbers. While Apple has every right to shout from the hilltops that they’ve got 65,000 apps with 1.5 billion downloads, it’s just not right for a company that’s supposedly focused on quality products, not numbers.
3) Talk to your developers
A good part of the developer uproar accompanying the App Store is the lack of communication between Apple and iPhone developers. Understandably, when you have hundreds off new applications submitted every day, it can be a bit daunting to have a discussion with every single programmer, but when you have reason to deny an application admittance to the catalog, give a defined reason why. If you don't have a good reason to reject an app -- don't reject it.
4) Set developer standards
This goes hand-in-hand with the above point of developer communications: let them know what the rules are, and make sure they’re applied equally to all. With the exception of Classic (since you asked MotionApps to make it), we aren't sure we like the thought that a developer should be granted special privileges or access or a waiver from a certain rule. If there’s a reason for the rule to be waived in certain instances, the case will be made to not have the rule, so just kill it. And be explicit in your rules: do things like define what “offensive” or “pornographic” means to Palm.
Right now, Sprint may be the only wireless carrier with a webOS device on its airwaves, but in a few months that will all start to change. Don’t make the mistake that Apple has made and bend to the carrier’s will. Pulling programs like Google Voice has nothing to do with duplicating iPhone functionality. We all suspect that AT&T was behind the cancellation, fearing the loss of their long distance, international, and text messaging revenue. From here on out every carrier is going to try and impose their demands on webOS and the App Catalog; that cannot be allowed. We would never tolerate our internet provider telling us what we can and cannot download. The same should apply to cellular carriers: they are the conduit between the world and our phone, not the gatekeeper.
6) Stay open
webOS is built on a beautiful Linux core with tasteful dressing in CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. We know it, the world knows it, and our enterprising homebrewers even know how to work with it. Keep the platform as open as it can be and open up as much as you can. The more developers can work with, the richer applications will be built, and the better served your customers will be. And in the end, happy customers are the kind you want, because they’re the ones that will give you more money.
When the time comes, open up even more by providing lower-level access so developers can move beyond HTML-based apps.
There you have it. Six steps down the path you’re already on, and facing the right direction at that. Apple may have led us to the promised land, but they’ve only reached the shore. Palm, it’s up to you to lead us the rest of the way into App Catalog nirvana.
Comments
Hell yeah. Exactly. Perfection.
One thing palm has done right is to not limit your development platform... In example to develop (legal) applications for the iPhone you need to have and use a Mac.
Palm lets you develop on Windows/Linux as well as Mac. Apple demands you have and use a mac to write code for the iphone.
om really? :S
I'm learning something evil about apple every day.
yeah, really
funny thing is, those 10% mac users can produce more apps (i know many apps are garbage, but garbage is on every platform) than other mobile platforms combined - WM has slightly over 20 000 (according to official microsoft documents), nokia cant have much more, android has cca 6000(5000 in july), and palm has... 30? 40? combined we have... 66 040 (im counting 30 000 for symbian and 10 000 bonus just to be sure)
thats about the same as appstore
also im not counting classic apps, then i could also count games i can run via gameboy emulator, nes emulator etc.
You forgot me :( The poor simple blackberry. I too have an 'appstore' I just like to call it appworld. Because its so awesome.
But, I do really have quite a few good apps... but we are for serious buisness people righT? so we will charge you lots of monies.
Oh yeah, and you completely leave out PalmOS. Nice. Not a mobile platform at all. Really. Never was, of course. And no, you can't emulate any of it on WebOS. Nope. Can't do it. Oh, wait...you can. Huh.
I got more utility in the day out of a lot of my old PalmOS apps than I have ever seen anyone get out of most iPhone apps. Producing lots of crapware doesn't cut it. You could have 100,000 apps, and if 50,000 of them are total crap, in my opinion, you have 50,000 apps. Not only that, Apple's toolchain SUCKS. The typical iPhone app works like this: "Hey, it can do something kind of neat, see? Wow, let's pay a buck for that app that takes advantage of some new hardware feature! Okay, now that the novelty has worn off, now what?"
have you even seen WinMo apps? how robust most of them are, they are like mini Windows app. most of whats on the iPhone have no more depth than a widget.
Apple really should have set higher standards to begin with, if its at 65,000 in a year imagine how it will be in 5 years.
Very well said.
Good! Hope they ditch that phone and start developing for a real OS! Web OS :)
if you run for palm CEO. i will have my family and myself vote 100% on you.. well put !!
It's wwwwaaaaayyyyy too late to talk about not bending to carriers. They really, really control a lot. Rather, how Palm can guarantee carrier security and stability is the issue. After all, why have Palm and Verizon been fighting for all these years?
Recent moves by the FCC suggest that it might not be too late. Let's hope we eventually see the day where wireless carriers are the dumb pipes that they should be.
Some would argue that they are already some dumb pipes. Wait you meant. Ah. Nevermind. :)
Palm should hire consultants from this site. Very well put up there!
One lesson for the FCC, who has asked for information from Apple, Google & AT&T regarding this issue is this: users can punish offending private companies *much* faster than the government ever will.
i found that very interesting.. true stuff there.. good job.. i hope you're listening palm
AWESOME ARTICLE!!! +1 leg hump for Derek!
Yeah I know. Hump day is tomorrow
The Pre's HomeBrew forum isn't exactly brimming over with
a majority of high quality apps right now either
and given the open platform there's likely to be
a low signal to noise ratio going forward.
I wouldn't want to see everything in HomeBrew added
to the app catalog. I suppose the official Pre app
catalog could afford to be a bit more choosy, while
HomeBrew apps still exist in their various experimental
and beta forms.
I think that is a mixture of the developers updated the app on the forum as they are developing, so practically alpha phases. And the fact that the SDK just came out a couple weeks ago, it takes time to fully develop a quality app from start to finish.
The SDK license prohibits (in my reading) distributing apps in the HomeBrew forum. I'm personally very hesitent to release my app there as it may be used as a reason not to accept my app to the official store when that is a possibility.
You can't judge what will be available when the app store actually opens to developers.
If you want to complain about something, complain to palm that regular developers can't even submit apps to the app store yet.
I couldn't agree more. I hope Palm gets the message!
I currently have the Palm Pre, Curve 8900 and iPod Touch and having the ability to access all three app stores for 3 different type so mobile OS systems give me the ability to say this:
The iPhone/iPod app store is CRAP. I am VERY surprised that Apple and their followers brag about the 50,000+ apps that available. 50K? I mean, really? 85% of those apps are purchased and then never used again. You have no idea how many times I've purchased an app from there and within a week, I think "wow...what the heck was I thinking?".
The sad part is, it just seems like half of the time, Apple is approving apps (useless ones) just to brag about the number of apps it has. Additionally, it seems that developers are just redeveloping the wheel of simple apps that are already out. I mean, how many "flashlight" apps can you have for ONE phone?
Last but not least, if anyone has an iPhone or iPod Touch, go to your app store now and check out the "Top 25" for each category. I swear every time I look at each one, I think that a horde of 13 year olds decided to buy the TOP 25 apps all at the same time. 2 days ago, the top app (out of all categories) was an (paid) app called "Do not press this button". It was an app with a red button. I didn't purchase it cause I was not going to waste $2 on an app with a red button to find out what happens.
Good. But can Palm do to ensure a higher proportion of high-quality apps? Just encourage higher prices and don't tout app store numbers? I doubt that'll do it.
One more point:
Keep the try-before-you-buy system like the App Catalog, Palmgear etc.
Do NOT copy the App Store system buy-before-you-can-try.
Very good point. I agree 110%
I also agree.
And while you are at it- could you PLEASE label apps with something more than "try me"??? That label is pretty much meaningless.
How about:
1) Openware (open source, free, and 100% functional)
2) Freeware (closed source, always free & 100% functional)
3) Trialware $ (try first free, then after a while no function)
4) Dualware $ (reduced functionality until purchased)
Or something like that. And for EVERY application make it clear in the summary/description BEFORE DOWNLOADING IT:
1) The cost (if any)
2) The length of the trial (if any)
3) A website for the developer
4) How large the application is (how much storage it will take)
5) Current version number
6) When it was first released
7) When it was last updated
8) Screenshots
Hide it under another button if necessary- but many of us want to know such things.
I cant wait to see this thing come to verizon and how you verizon folk wont have your own app store.
;)
Edit - I agree carriers should have little say about things.
Maybe Palm's next commercial Campaige can be what's his name from Waiting say "Hi I'm an Iphone"
and we'll have Pre Lady stand beside him and go
"I'm a Pre"
"I have 65,000 Applications and hold all your music"
and she'll respond
"well I only have 32 apps, but their all useful in some way, and I place decent quality phone calls"
and he'll say
"Well least I'm not creepy"
and she'll respond
"Well least I'm not some foo foo techno toy"
And iPhone will say and we have 7000 fart apps
and shell say we only have 1, because thats all that is needed.
And iphone will say well your just stupid and walk away.
Then she would say. "Walk Away. My phone think YOU'RE crazy too."
Comon people... apple has every right to approve useless apps and I hope that palm does as well. You are the idiots that bought them in the first place.
Now on the other hand, what should be done is make two categories that can filter data. Usefull applications, and useless applications
This could be decided by palm, games, fart apps etc are useless, and anything else would fall under usefull.
Obviousley we would want to rename them something different but you get my point. It shouldnt be about wehat apps are let in, as everyone should have a fair shot at selling there app. Especially when both Palm and the developer makes money from it. But it should be how we access the apps. Categories should be the first thing to pick from in an app store.
Lets face it, those of you who buy the apps that you never use, you bought them in the first place, it shouldnt be palms job to tell you what you can and cant get on your phone. Its palms job to make money which is what they will do with the app store, take 10 - 20% of what you get for the app.
The real problem is that in the App Store most times there is no try-before-you-buy like in PalmGear etc. You have to buy it before you can try it. If after paying it and then downloading it you don't like it, it's your problem. No refund.
In PalmGear, PocketGear and in App Catalog too, you can try (7-14 days trial period) the app before buying. Do you like it? You buy it. Don't you like it? You don't buy it.
These avoid most crap apps because after trying it almost no-one would buy it so developers are not going to write them.
Someone thinks that App Store is cheap because there are a lot of 0.99 apps instead of 10-15 bucks apps of Palmgear etc. But do you think is cheaper to have 20 useless 0.99 apps or one useful 10-15 dollar app that you've choosed and tried before buying it?
Please Palm, keep the try-before-you-buy system !!!!!
Also just because an app is .99 doesnt make it crap also...
"Comon people... apple has every right to approve useless apps and I hope that palm does as well. You are the idiots that bought them in the first place."
WORD!
Excellent article and good points in the comments, too. I think that Palm can do a lot of by-hand editorializing to keep the high-quality stuff bubbling to the top (think an "editors-suggest" tag or something like that).
Also, keeping it try-before-you-buy should help keep the quality high, too, I think. Apple's store is inundated with $0.99 crap apps exactly because users can't try out an app and have to spend the money first. $0.99 fart apps won't fly because users can try it, see it's a fart app and delete it and never pay that money. It seems to me that the developer mindset would be different because they would have to actually try to deliver utility/fun/quality to actually make the sale in that case.
I completely agree!
Try-before-you-buy is the key for more high quality apps and less crap!
Buy-before-you-can-try (Apple store) is good only for high numbers and crap!
The problem with try-before-you-buy is that Apple (and Palm) make less money on that model. There are real costs in building and operating an app store, and if people try, then don't buy, apps, Apple loses money on them. And Apple doesn't like to lose money on anything.
But it is possible to use a try first model in the App Store. A number of developers offer free, feature limited versions of their apps, and pay-for full featured versions. Download the free version to decide if it's useful, then buy the full version if you want it.
Only a minority of developers offer free lite versions. And is difficult to evaluate a full featured program trying only a limited version.
Chieze Okoye very well said. I AGREE WITH YOU 100%
I doubt palm reads the stories here. It would be in their best interest to atleast glance but I doubt it.
hey, they read (and responded to) Engadget's open letter a while back. I don't think it's a stretch to think that they at least look through this, as it is clearly one of the foremost (if not the foremost) pre-focused sites on the web.
Doing it better needs to be the goal.
We all agree offering "real apps" - those you use every day are core to the value of the phone and App Catalog. They can't be too simple or too cheap and Try-before-you-by is the right policy. Palm should be selective in this area and make it a special place and processes for apps like these.
That said, cheap "novelty apps", as stupid as some seem, add value. They create a culture, cause dialog around the product, bring in a continual revenue stream for Palm and Developers, and satisfy some, "albeit bizarre," need of the purchaser. At $0.99, pay-before-you-play-no-refund is the way to go. Don't weed them out or be too selective (within reason). Leave it open and let the community decide - just deliver the tools to help us decide how to spend our hard earned $0.99 and time and separate pile of novelty apps so they don't get in the way of everything else important (this goes well beyond tagging).
Palm, there are plenty of examples of where an Internet service has come along second with a flat out better way and blown away what was there before. Do for App Catalog what you did for the OS.
agree 100% novelty apps for .99 are needed on teh device, also the app store should NOT only be usefull apps as that same type of statement would then exclude games as they are useless when you think about it. If you say that they are usefull well then so are the novelty apps. They just give you something to do.
I don't really agree with what you're saying here. See Phenom's response to this below. The gist is that "useful" is maybe the wrong word, as Games at least exercise some portion of your brain. Fart and other "novelty" apps do not.
Any application will exercise a some part of your brain. Just for how long is the question.
Right, but come on. I think that that's a bit too much of a stretch to say that even a simple game like Solitaire should fall into the same bin as "Don't Push This Button" the App. It's all a the same scale, sure, but there are quite clear and generally accepted separations that you seem to be deliberately ignoring.
That said, I agree with your basic point (no need for Palm to explicitly exclude novelty apps; I think with try-before-you-buy, the problem will take care of itself). I just disagree with your corollary implication of "games and novelty apps are in the same category of non-usefulness".
app store is still the only game in town
Not until Palm has something better. I can see it now: Palm Ad - the AppStore sucks 'cause there are 30,000 fart apps.
Apple Ad - and Palm's App Catalog has, excuse me?, did you say 30 apps in total?
Yeah, comparing app stores is really something Palm wants to do.
Palm should really try to use these "Iphone's useless apps" as a key topic in their new commercials.
I hope that Jeff Zwerner is listening.
Wow. So Apple reallly screwed up the App Store didn't they? What an unmitigated failure. It could have been so much more successful if they had only stuck to the tried and true Palm method of app distribution and pricing.
I'm sure that most iPhone developers are really itching to dump the platform that everyone is using and move to the platform that nobody is using. Have a hard time finding someone else with a Pre? What do you think goes through a developer's mind when he goes all day without seeing ANYONE that might be able to use his software.
I'm sure that the people involved in developing the App Catalog are determined to learn from the App Store failure.
SARCASM METER
Most analysts agree that 2.5 million Pre will be shipped by end of year. You need to think in terms of MARKET SATURATION before making a comment like this. Do you know how difficult it is as a developer, to make your application visible within the iTunes store? It's ridiculous. Now look at the Palm Pre store and think about how easy it would be for a developer to gain some visibility of their new app. Developers will come to the platform because of the instant visibility. OF course, this benefit will diminish over time if the Pre is successful, but hopefully the Pre app store is structure in a way that provides a better mechanism for finding quality apps.
Tons of straw-men in your sarcastic diatribe, but short response is that even the most successful product has mistakes and shortcomings associated with it that competitors can learn from when designing their competing product.
If you are 1 good App out of 500, for an install base of 1 million, the chances are higher of selling more than 1 good App out of 50,000 for an install base of 10 million.
Many times when a big fish in a smaller pond is much better than a fish no one sees in the ocean.
Out of 100+ apps for my IPod Touch that I downloaded, I use maybe 2 weekly.
On my Pre, I always use AP News, Weather, NFL, Tweed, Open table,Fandango and others.
I hope palm keep out or at least limit the number of useless apps.
I think games and 'novelty' apps are in two seperate categories. Games often utilize higher reasoning skills (ie planning, strategy, etc) to accomplish a goal. They can utilize hand-eye coordination (so called rythm games), train basic math skills (understanding stats & bonuses in RPGs), etc.
A fart app doesn't do this. A flashlight doesn't do this. Games aren't useless - they're facilitators of brain developement. :)
I was just going to say exactly this, Phenom. Well put.
Nonetheless, people seem to want to buy fart apps. If people want to buy it, should Palm deny them that opportunity. Don't make the mistake of assuming that what's important to you is what's important to everyone else.
Judging by sales, there are an awful lot of iPhone owners who have no interest in "serious" apps, and lots of interest in novelty apps and games.
Agree with everything except the pricing part. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to pay $30, $50, or geez, I've even seen $70 for a PHONE APP. I don't care what it does, this is still a PHONE, not a computer. Developers will have to figure out the pricing that makes them the most money, and I can guarantee you it's not $70.
I, like you, would never buy an app for that price. So my thought is that developers would never charge that much for an App. I think the correct approach would be to stick to the .99, $2, $5, $10, and maybe $15, $20 price points on apps and we will be okay with that - but the $10, $15, and $20 apps must be darn good!
Exactly.
If I am going to pay even $5 for an application, it must be something that I will use at least a few times a month or keep me entertained for at least a few hours. I would pay at least $15 for a well-written notification nag program RIGHT NOW.... because I would use it all the time, every day.
But more importantly:
Do we actually "own" anything after "buying" a non-free application? What if we have to wipe and restore the phone? What if we break and replace the phone? What if we sell the phone? What if we upgrade to a newer Palm WebOS phone later?
Or do people just pay money for instant gratification and have not given a single thought to the future?
im pretty sure any purchases will be linked to our palm profile or something of the sort. so i highly doubt that would ever be a problem
Here's an app that starts at US$60, and goes up to around $200. It also has an extremely strong community, with a large number of loyal users because there is *nothing* else out there that offers the same feature set. Nothing out there that even comes close to it.
Admittedly, it's also a very niche app and I can't imagine that you'd be interested in it at any price, but there we go:
http://www.pleco.com
So yeah, don't go assuming that there's no place for for $50+ apps - there is.
In fact, the latest generations of smartphones ARE computers. They can word process documents and spreadsheets (with the right software). They can securely store my passwords. They can surf the 'net, and send and receive email. I can create databases, and update and query those databases, on my phone. I can accept meeting invitations and add them to my calendar, and build and update to-do lists. I can even edit pictures on my phone, although I'm not sure I want to do that very often.
I agree that I wouldn't spend $50 on a fart app, but $50 for a suite that will let me edit MS Office documents doesn't seem unreasonable, when the desktop MS Office costs hundreds of dollars. $20 to $30 for a tethering solution seems like a bargain compared to purchasing an air card and contract.
Is every app worth that much? Of course not. But to say that No app is worth that much is just silly.
this is a really great conversation going on here...and i can't agree more. the iphone is very pretty has loads of apps and sparkly dodads and such, but i want a phone that works and works well. i can't wait to build themes and learn how to build useful apps. and to see what the great people here have built. good stuff people, good stuff
The problem with the Pre's App store and the way it is currently implemented is simple. Once the program is downloaded to the pre the source code is 100% open to be copied/modded by anyone who knows where to look in the pre's file system. Untill this issue is fixed don't expect to see many companies spending a ton of time developing apps.
I agree, and they could stop this ifthey had a way to block super root user mode.
Not only is that a horrible idea, it is pretty much impossible. There will always be a way to break it again... just creating a cat and mouse game while pissing off everyone that wants to do something interesting with the phone.
The really complex applications that do a lot and cost real money (to make and to buy) are not going to be html and javascript. They will be binary. And those are (obviously) not source code revealing. You could decompile them, but it would take a very, very long time to do anything with it.
Besides, even if the source *is* revealed on the phone for a commercial app... MOST people are probably going to be willing to buy it if it is:
1) Useful
2) Reasonably (low) priced
3) Convenient to get and pay for
Binary is not an option in the Mojo SDK
EXCELLENT ARTICLE! LISTEN UP PALM!
Sorry for caps but I could not be more enthusiastic!
I think they should only allow quality, tested apps in the App Catalog. And limit the number of duplicate apps. That way the quality of the app catalog isn't diminished. People will still be able to get their flashlight apps our there for others, but just not via the App Catalog. That's one of the beauties of the WebOS. You can install what you want if you have the desire. You don't have to jailbreak the device to do it. Why dilute the App Catalog with nonsensical or dangerous apps? It doesn't do Palm or its user any good.
To be fair, many of the Apple App store developers offer a free lite version of many of their Apps or they offer a free version with ads. If you really like the App, you can purchase it and you get more features and/or no adds. AOL does this with it's IM program. Free, it has ads, for $2.99 no ads, I do not know if you get additional features.
I like the Pre App store, most Apps are full featured and if you do not like it, you pay nothing and delete it. I would like them to list what it will cost after the beta is up. But the Pre needs more Apps as we all know, three of the current are restaurant recommendations and another two are city info ones. These are great but I would like some more. Maybe one flashlight and one fart App could be fun?
Your point about there being free versions of paid apps in the App Store is well taken, but the devs basically making DIY try-before-buy behavior highlights the opportunity that Palm has to address the App Store's shortcomings in this regard by building support for it directly into the Catalog itself. I think that it's exactly this Wild West, do-it-if-you-wanna attitude of Apple's App Store that has led to the crazy variation in app quality. Say what you want, but back when I regularly used PalmGear/PocketGear, I could count on a fairly high average level of quality in my search results.
Only a minority of developers offer free lite versions. And is difficult to evaluate a full featured program trying only a limited version.
Palm & Sprint would be absolute fools to reject GV at this point. this is a golden opportunity to let it pass then market the fact that Apple/AT&T didnt.
Palm: App Store quality over quanity, add a fracking scrubber and track location memory to the music/movie players. I brush that touchscreen by mistake and lose my spot on long podcasts all the time...
What I think many people are missing is that the biggest issue with the Apple's app store is not with applications available in it, yet with the store itself. There are simply too many applications, period, and no good way to search through them. There are many great applications there, yet they are too hard for most people to find. Implementing try before you buy is a great idea, yet it won't solve this fundamental issue when the app catalog really takes off, (I am saying if, not when :).
One thing that Palm can do to address this is to implement some sort of personalized recommendation system, like the Nokia Ovi Store already does. It does not need to work in the same way, as long as it works. Of course, this is only one solution to the problem of information overload. A personalized search might work too. Any other ideas?
#7: Don't prevent developers & users from side-loading apps that don't make it into the App Catalog. Palm owns the catalog, but not the phone. Users should be allowed to load any app they want. We wouldn't tolerate MS or Apple telling us what apps we can install on our desktops, we shouldn't tolerate them telling us what apps we can install on our handhelds.
Good point. I agree 100%.
Hey Palm - Keep hiring former Apple employees for your organization and you will see the same issues pop up over time that Apple is dealing with now.
For some reason, Palm believes that it must hire Apple's rejects in order to compete with the company. That is a really bad business practice and that will keep Palm behind Apple in terms of market share and profit for years to come in the wireless industry.
I love how people are justifying an app store that does not exist yet and bashes Apple's store. You can project all you want but it doesn't mean squat until the actual store goes live. This is all I hear in these comments, "Apple's store sucks, Palm's store will rule." What's wrong with that thinking?
Those who rely on analysts' opinions regarding how many Pres will be in the market by year's end are so gullible. All analysts do is try to stimulate the market with speculation. We all saw how that worked out in our current situation, didn't we? Don't be a sheep...The Pre is doing well but its success will be limited until Palm and Sprint attack with advertising. I love how Sprint's commercial about the Pre says "Thousands of customers are enjoying the new Pre." Funny stuff right there.
Palm: Personally, I don't need an app store. But if you must have one, I agree with the above EXCEPT the fact that it seems to advocate a single legit app store. Please do not do this.
By endorsing a single legal source of getting apps, you WILL eventually fall into all the traps Derek is advising against above, no matter what you do. You will exhaust enormous resources in administering it; ask your former Apple guys. Us users would love that money and manpower spent in upgrades and new generation devices. If not, the app store and its policies will instead define the platform, NOT the innovations which make WebOS a success.
"Homebrew" only exists today because we know the app store needs time. But have you noticed there are already competing siderloaders and multiplication of PayPal "Donate!" buttons in homebrew threads? Yes, the PalmEconomy is BACK. Please nurture. How?
Make all development (and its distribution) mainstream; eliminate concepts such as "sideloading", "jailbreaking" and "homebrew". People will think that WebOS dev can only be done by hackers, not everyman.
Your language in the conditions of use seems to go both ways; I'm hoping that that's beta too.
Why do we need to wait for Palm to do everything for us? FileCoaster + the homebrew app list is awfully close to what you're asking for. A version of FileCoaster that reads homebrew apps so you don't have to cut & paste links from the browser, then add a payment mechanism and you've got almost everything you asked for.
If someone writes a reusable trial period module that developers call from their code, and then we've got that feature too.
All we'd be missing is the central authority part where someone validates that the apps are well-behaved. Personally, I'd pay a small fee for that service.
To promote the try before you buy paradigm, I think Palm could add a simple function to the Mojo SDK that would allow for a simple lock code mechanism - tied to something like the e-mail address in your palm profile (for the backup).
The TBYB app could run in demo mode until you purchase the app. When you purchase, the vender emails you an unlock code. All you need to do is copy and paste it and you are good to go.
Many of the PalmOS apps have been using something like that for years. I just store the unlock codes in an e-mail on gmail. If I ever need to re-install, it is dead simple.
In the rare case where I did lose the unlock code, I sent an e-mail to the developer who just looked up my e-mail address (or name) and sent me the code again.
It is simple, clean and encourages downloading to try it. It has the statistical benefit of upping the download numbers :-)
Cheers
The idea of "try before you buy" being a built-in function of the app store itself is a good one. And fortunately, there is a hugely successful precedent for Palm to emulate (so to speak), in the form of the Xbox Live Arcade.
Microsoft made it a REQUIREMENT for developers to offer free trial versions of their games in order to qualify the full versions for sale in the Arcade. To hear MS tell it, Live Arcade has been a smashing success, and the availability of a free trial version of EVERY game has been a big driver of sales (the Arcade games sell for $5-$20 each).
Palm should definitely hold Live Arcade as an example to follow. Ironically, I don't think MS can do the same for their nascent Windows Mobile app store, since the wide distribution method of WinMo apps is already so well-established. (Right?)
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