I suspect Apple will undergo significant changes to some of these
policies for their app stores.
In addition to the onerous situation you described, consider the many
opportunities for small and medium organizations to put their iOS
devices to use solving problems specific to their business, like
inventory tools, point-of-sale apps, etc. - the type of stuff we
LiveCoders have been making on the desktop for such orgs for decades,
now potentially even more useful with mobile counterparts.
With Apple's current policies, it's so difficult to deploy custom apps
specific to a business that it's prohibitive for many of them.
But with Android, you just turn off the developer lock and copy the APK
file.
A majority of people in the US work in small businesses.
This is too big a market for Apple to continue to insist that those orgs
use Android whenever they need cost-effective deployment of custom apps.
Given the size of this audience and the current competitive state of
things, I'll go out on a limb to predict that Apple's iOS will become as
easy to deploy custom apps to as Android by this time next year.
If not, they'll lose out on a million opportunities coming up in the
months ahead as tools like LiveCode make it possible for even small
businesses to afford this sort of custom development.
Bob Sneidar wrote:
Everyone by now has heard about the App Store. Apple even has gone so far as to
deploy Lion this way, and appears poised to provide ALL Apple produced software
this way... AND NO OTHER. So what's the big deal right? Seems pretty convenient!
Well the Devil is in the details. First, each App Store account can only
purchase Lion once. You cannot then take that App Store account to another
computer and use it to purchase another copy of Lion! For most people, this is
a non-issue, but for a corporation with LOTS of Macs deployed, this is a cold
slap in the face! Now we have to make up an account for each computer, and then
keep track of which account is used by which computer so we can use it for
purchases just for that Mac in the future! That is just UGLY!
Now they DO have a volume licensing deal, where you can buy 20 licenses
minimum, and then make a DVD installer to deploy it, or create a custom image
and go that route (not good for upgrades though). So you faithfully buy the 20
licenses. Oh but whoops! You forgot about the 5 other guys at another campus!
No problem, you will just buy 5 more, right? After all, you already purchased
the 20 minimum. NO SIR!!! You must buy ANOTHER 20!
You would think that Apple would just say, "Oh sorry our bad! Here you can now
create a corporate app store account and use it as many times as you need to! Thanks a
bunch for the business!" But instead they are pushing out inadequate hacks, and then
telling their business customers that this is t he way it is, and deal with it. To their
credit, the price of Lion is dramatically cheaper, so maybe that is much ado about
nothing. Still, Apple users have never been about the price of the product, but the ease
and convenience.
The Apple of the past has always had a great reputation for thinking things through
pretty thoroughly. Not anymore though. We used to keep our corporate credit card on file
at the Apple store, so whenever we wanted to buy something, they would just run it. Apple
Corporate has put the kibosh on that, forcing businesses to apply for terms, and they
want to see you financials first. Our accounting department says no way, so no net 30
account for us! The upshot is we will have to go elsewhere from now on to purchase our
Apple products, and what is the position of Apple Corporate, the regional manager, the
store manager and the business manager at the local store? "Oh, well."
We used to be one of their top customers ever. Now we are no customer, and no one
at Apple is even flinching. When I see this sort of thing happening to a company, I
envision a large lake frozen over, but large cracks forming under the surface. And
this from a lifelong Apple diehard! It is my impression that there are people at
Apple who have wanted to implement their lame ways of doing things for a long time,
and now that Steve is gone, they see the opportunity to prove what smart guys they
are! Instead they are making a bunch of really bad choices. In a few years time
there may not be a big distinction operationally between Apple and an unwieldy
behemoth corporation like AT&T.
Bob
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World
LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
LiveCode Journal blog: http://LiveCodejournal.com/blog.irv
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