A couple people have asked me to post an update about my iPhone love/hate relationship, as a lot of things have been rapidly changing in that arena.
Executive summary: Since I infamously rage-quit the iPhone (due to the apparent rejection of the official Google Voice app, and ongoing frustrating app store policy decisions) and came crawling back a month later, it remains my primary phone. I’m still very wary of the app store as single-source of software. But over the long term, I couldn’t continue to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And it is a big, beautiful baby to be sure.
jwz posted something today which certainly rings familiar and true. Pre and Android both have pretty good mobile operating systems. They’re just not as good as the iPhone yet.
It’s not just that the iPhone has fancy woo-woo transitions and purty graphics; it runs all the way down the software stack. For example, when I tap on something, I don’t have to hover for five seconds wondering “now did it get that tap, or do I have to do it again?” This is something other platforms are still struggling with. When we say you have a bad experience, this is the sort of thing we mean. It has little to do with features, and everything to do with core functionality.
And for Mac users, that great experience goes double. I add an event on the iPhone, it gets MobileMe’d and it’s on all my desktops without some disastrous intermediate desktop syncing software. Same with contacts, bookmarks. I don’t have to think twice about it. I remote control my iTunes library from anywhere in the house from my iPhone. I can even pick which speakers the music comes out of thanks to Airport Express.
Worryingly, iPhone competitors have less reason than ever to provide a stellar experience for Mac desktop users, as the iPhone has that angle sewn up. I expect future non-Apple smartphones to scale back Mac desktop support even further than they already do, as it will cost them a fortune to provide an experience that’s even half as good as the iPhone provides with the iTunes/MobileMe ecosystem.
As bitter as it tastes being locked into AT&T and the app store, I do have a business to help run and, having tried all the alternatives (and I do mean all), the iPhone does best what I need with the least amount of getting in the way.
Now, regarding the app store, things are clearly still in a great deal of flux. I commend the recent addition of support for free apps to have in-app purchases, enabling true trial periods. This is a very welcome improvement.
Also welcome is AT&T’s lifting of their inconsistent (it was apparently iPhone-only) ban on VoIP applications running on the 3G network.
Long app review times still seem to be the norm, but I’m hearing less overall about stupid rejections, and things generally get un-rejected when appropriate. Hardly an ideal process, but there at least seems to be forward movement, not stagnation. The big exception being Google Voice, and I’m going to continue to needle Apple on this point.
AT&T’s official position is that they have no hand in the GV rejection. Apple’s position is that GV has not been rejected, but is still under review.
Well, it’s been under review since about June or July by my calculations, and I think it’s time for Apple to commit. Is Google Voice rejected? And if so, why? And I don’t buy that users are confused by a second dialpad that they specifically requested be installed.
Finally, the issue of app store economics (especially customer purchase behavior) is something I’ve continued to publicly be befuddled by. However, Marco Arment’s widely-linked article The Two App Stores jogged a thought loose that I think finally made things jell for me:
The iPhone/iPod Touch, being available for both Mac and Windows, has a single source of software in the app store. That Mac AND Windows thing is key. The app store is not just a software market for Mac users. This is why it blows the minds of indie Mac developers like myself. It’s because it follows the rules of the general software market, not just the Mac software microcosm that we Mac indies enjoy.
Specifically, you have a large group of people who will download and suffer any old shit by the bucketload as long as it is free or extremely cheap. And you have 10% of people who are actually particular about software quality and are willing to pay for it.
In other words, you have the Windows market, and the Mac market, but within the app store itself. And you’d better be damn sure which one you’re targeting, and set pricing and development schedule accordingly.
So, that’s where I’m at. I’m on the iPhone. I’m very happy for the most part. I continue to want reassurance from Apple that they understand why the app store process and rejections are frustrating, and to see them continue to evolve in that respect. I’m happy to see the changes that have happened in the last month. I encourage the other smartphone competitors to keep at it, but maybe revisit their priorities. May the best phone win.
