No App Store? 100% of nothing is nothing: quit this entitlement bullshit already

This week’s #idevblogadaypost is going to be short and not so sweet. I can get ranty sometimes – normally when provoked directly. The provocation this time was less direct and more incessant. It’s the culmination of listening to a bunch of iOS devs – some of which I do actually hold in otherwise-high regard.

I’m sick of hearing iOS devs complain about Apple, about Apple’s policies and about Apple’s terrible treatment of developers.

It’s their platform. They created a market. If you don’t like it, fuck off.

I wrote started to write a full post about this earlier, and planned to bring together my thoughts coherently. I had references on market laterals from the HBR and everything. But I can’t be bothered. I am very much looking forward to getting this off of my chest as quickly as possible and getting back to what’s important: testing earth-tone base colors for the delivery of Citadel goodies I’m expecting tomorrow.

In virtually un-edited form, here are some of the notes I started to make earlier: 

• Apple created a market. Duh.
• It is, was and probably always will be their platform
• Apple are known for lock-in to their stuff
• Apple are known for not sharing things until the last minute
• Re devs not having access until launch, some people seem to have managed just fine in getting stuff ready.
• Just because you’re developing for the App Store, doesn’t mean that you represent the average, typical or most likely example. “Camera+ from Tap Tap Tap sold 78,000 copies on Christmas day, but no one else I know sees numbers like that” << of what relevance is that?
• People like to moan… so most of what you read on the web (yes, including this) is people moaning. Those who are doing well have got better things to do.
• Apple most probably think about what they do and how it affects developers – they know what they’re doing.  Maybe their considered opinion is that it works best this way.
• Apple tend to stand by the information they do publish – they told us the Mac App Store would be 90 days, and it was 90 days.
• “Apple's secrecy cripples their ability to have a positive relationship with developers.” So what? Their App Store continues to lead the space.
• iTunes (the music store) is notoriously lacking in features for both users and creators / publishers… yet it is still head-and-shoulders above the competition (it also created a market).