Facebook for iPhone Developer On webOS

Joe HewittJoe Hewitt's the man behind the native Facebook app for the iPhone, which has sat atop the App Store download charts for what seems like forever. Today came the announcement that he's quitting the project, and TechCrunch reports that it's squarely down to Apple's draconian App Store policies:

My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

Joe goes on to say that he intends to get back to his roots as a web developer. It was that last part that caught your correspondent's attention, because if there's one mobile platform that's truly gunning for web developers, it's Palm's webOS. PIC reached out to pick his brain on the topic...

I was at the event a month back where Palm announced their new app distribution policies, and I found it to be a big step up from Apple, but still not good enough. We shouldn't have to register with Palm to distribute our app. Users should be able to download and install apps directly from any URL. Having talked to some folks there, I am optimistic they will adopt that model at some point.

I would love to develop for WebOS. It's probably my favorite of all the current mobile OS's, although the performance of the Pre is absolutely horrid and I can't imagine developing for it until they optimize their software and put out better hardware.

So there you have it: webOS is great, but desperately in need of optimization and the hardware could use some spit and polish. And Palm's new policies are good, but could be better. We can't help but wonder how many other high-profile developers are out there that feel the same way...

My own opinion? Complete app distribution freedom worked fine on Palm OS. Why can't we have the same on webOS?

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a ringing endorsement?

Gekko @ 11/12/2009 12:50:17 AM # Q

"the performance of the Pre is absolutely horrid and I can't imagine developing for it until they optimize their software and put out better hardware."

not exactly!

i doubt he's using a Pre. peel back the onion and it's hardly a ringing endorsement. even moral crusaders have their limits!

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OCEntertainment
11/06/09

"Come develop for Palm! Where it's dead simple to make an app that a very small percentage of the population will ever use! Remember, fewer users means less bug reports for you to deal with!"

RE: a ringing endorsement?
CFreymarc @ 11/12/2009 8:37:17 AM # Q
Where did the money flow on this one?
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Brilliant

abosco @ 11/12/2009 9:58:15 AM # M Q
Users should be able to download and install apps directly from any URL.

****ing brilliant. Because this solution only subjects 40 million mobile Internet and email users to phishing and spyware scams right on their smartphone!

Dude, companies have done side-loading before. It's economics. The simple fact is that it is wildly more successful to have a single distribution channel. People know of one place, and one place alone, to get apps. These companies follow the money trail.

You want to take a moral stand? Awesome. Unfortunately, software developers have to eat. They'll keep making apps for the iPhone so long as there are morons like me willing to buy them.

Techcrunch with another anti-Apple hard-on? Shocking.

RE: Brilliant
CFreymarc @ 11/14/2009 8:03:14 PM # Q
Abosco, you have it so right here. Long and short, the main reason why the Apple App Store exists is to keep away the anti-social software developer making malware and getting money to those whose labor made the product.

I'm just waiting for the first wave of trans-Android viruses and malware that runs up cell phone bills by calling toll lines and international traffic. I'm sure Apple is just waiting for that to happen.

Finally, I hope Apple does something a long the line of "I'm an iPhone. I'm Andriod" with two young women as the characters. The iPhone could call Andriod a slut for letting anyone let app run without checking them out to a girl fight starting.

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abosco

rsc1000 @ 11/12/2009 10:31:01 AM # Q
I think you missed the point:
Nobody is saying that they should close down the WebOS app store (or same on other platforms).
The point is that developers should have the option to distribute directly if they choose. On the iPhone, my company has to pay money, register our test devices, create and install special provisioning certfiicates on those device just to be able to install OUR OWN software for testing! And we had to wait (after paying $) a number of days for this 'previlege'. And when we need to add another device (to say...show a customer) we have to add that device to the provisioning and do a new build of the software. Thats right: to test on another device I have to recompile the f$#@ing code.

Your argument against side loading makes no sense.

Trust me - all developers that sell their software will continue to use the OS venders app stores as their main channel of distribution for their wares.

As for software developers eating: given that we are talking about developers continuing to have the abiltity to distribute apps through the store (where 99% of consumers will continue to buy the apps) i dont understand how this hurts developer financially.

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