The iPhone App Store is nothing new
In 2005, I had an Audiovox XV6600 pocket PC phone. I filled it up with free programs and paid programs, achieving everything I wanted to do with it. I had IM, decent web browsing, ssh, scientific calculator, and other programs I can’t remember.
Today, I have a generic Windows Mobile 6 smartphone, and, as I did back then, I have a whole bunch of programs from different vendors, including Opera Mobile, installed on the phone.
I really don’t have any special love for Microsoft. I also don’t have any hatred for Apple (although the Cult of Mac is a little annoying). But everyone seems to forget that Microsoft has, albeit imperfectly, provided a platform for app development on their mobile OS for several years. Also, unlike Apple, Microsoft has developed an Operating System that works well on a wide array of devices from a wide array of manufacturers.
Apple’s victory with the App Store was the victory of a well-marketed and well-presented rehash of what Microsoft operating systems have always offered: freedom of choice in applications.
What Microsoft can offer that Apple still does not is freedom of choice when it comes to hardware. By locking down your hardware choices, Apple may wisely free up resources for building the wicked interfaces we’ve come to love. It’s still worth pointing out that Apple locks you down more (hardware, service provider) than Microsoft ever has. And, in many ways, Apple has followed the lead of Microsoft and Palm in terms of allowing freedom of choice of applications.
If I had it my way, neither Microsoft nor Apple would dominate the market. Microsoft and the handset makers still have plenty of work to do to catch up to the user experience of the iPhone, and Apple deserves all the credit it has gotten for pushing the envelope in that department. Here’s hoping Android, or some other Linux flavor, starts dominating.
Tags: app store, apple, iphone, microsoft, PocketPC, smartphone, windows mobile
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:38 am
“Also, unlike Apple, Microsoft has developed an Operating System that works well on a wide array of devices from a wide array of manufacturers.”
Wroking “well” is definitely subjective in this line :-p
“freedom of choice in applications”
I have never had a problem with finding software for the Mac platform. I just migrated from my four year old laptop to a used desktop, and I had over 300 items in my applications folder, many of those items included folders with other apps (everything from adobe to my own applescript and automator apps) and that doesnt include the 30 apps i have in my utilities folder. freeware and shareware on OS X has always been outstanding, and I have seen many apps start in the OS X platform only to have windows users ask for a PC version on the developers blogs.
“What Microsoft can offer that Apple still does not is freedom of choice when it comes to hardware.”
That freedom of choice comes with one thing i will always choose to do without, multiplying the number of parties who want to shirk responsibility. Ever heard of that friend that called Micorosoft tech support, only to be told to call Dell, and then the Dell guys just told them to call Microsoft? Seems like i have heard that a dozen times, right before i convert that person into an apple user…
Also concerning hardware, I must say that Apple’s hardware is certainly not lacking in the least. PC World Magazine stated that the fastest computer that they tested running the resource hogging Vista was a Mac. The thought of windows on my Mac makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit, but I definitely am glad that the option is there for others.
Apple definitely has some flaws (there are some control issues that I would like to see disappear, the the lack of firewire is becoming alarming) but I have always felt that their innovation has a lot more to do with just the packaging. The app store is definitely a new experience, that Microsoft is ( as always with Apple products ) attempting to copy. What the app store does lack, the Jailbreak developers make up for in spades.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Nobody ‘jailbreaks’ Windows Mobile phones. And in terms of Microsoft being first to allow freedom of choice in applications, I’m referring to mobile platforms.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
True.
The need for jailbreaking was created by the control issues that I would like to see disappear. Not sure why Apple took so long to release an SDK after their initial release of the iPhone, but I certainly found it baffling myself.
Still, most likely it was their intention to have an app store for the iPhone all along, and it just took them a while ( a looooooong while). They have been selling games on iPods for several years now, it would seem illogical to assume that they never intended to do the same for the iPhone and were therefore following the lead of Microsoft.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
http://www.macworld.com/article/139245/2009/03/iphone_beats_windows_mobile_boasts_of_25000_applications.html?lsrc=rss_news
I think this should prove that the App store is definitely something new. In spite of how long the windows mobile platform has been around, and the limited time that the iPhone has been around, developers have far and away decided that the iPhone platform and the iTunes app store is THE mobile platform to write for.
Even if you subtract the 1,000 fart applications in the iTunes store, there are still well over double the amount of applications available for the iPhone than for windows mobile.
Maybe that is why Microsoft is releasing its one iTunes-Store-like app store now.