Friday, March 07, 2008

iPhone developer response to Apple's 30% cut on iApp sales, and why I still won't order one.

iApp developers aren't too worried about Apple's 30% cute on all iPhone App sales -- "How about we make shitloads of money at 70% and ask questions later?"

Well said. The iPhones application distribution model is fantastic.

I almost ran out and bought an iPhone today. I had to tie myself to a chair and reread my August 2007 list of iPhone demands (rev Oct 2007). Of 9 non-negotiable demands, exactly 1 (a trivial one) was met in the past seven months.

Some of my demands will be met by iPhone developers - after June 2008. Some may be solved with the promised 2.0 firmware update. NONE of them have been met today. Gordon's third law of acquisition was written for this precise situation: "Don't buy on promises or potential. Acquire for real value now. Anything in the future is a plus (or, sometimes, a minus)."

So when the SDK is really available, and when I see the true state of the 2.0 firmware update, then I'll buy.

In the meantime, I've been abusing* the Aperture trial offer long enough. Instead of an iPhone I've ordered my copy of Aperture 2.01.

* If you delete the prefs you get another 30 days of trial. With 2.01 you have to swap a library in and out as well. It took me a long time to decide that Aperture's virtues outweigh its many flaws; I suspect Apple knows about the little quirk that extends the trial.

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