Sadly, I’m afraid a lot of users are closer to this point then they’d like to admit. Apple, how many customers must you lose before you listen?
Dear hardworking iPhone developer,
I will not be buying your software. This is no fault of yours, so I apologize in advance.
Recent developments in the area of Apple messing with both you, the developer, and me, the customer, have soured me on this whole iPhone app nonsense. I’m sure this doesn’t come as a surprise. All the usual suspects of Mac development are either crying foul or else deciding to just completely ignore the iPhone platform.
I’ve been trying to understand Apple’s position for a while, perhaps even to the point of siding with them too much. But so after having one of those “hey, it finally affects me personally” experiences last night - nothing huge, just my favorite wikipedia app, Wikipanion, getting the now ubiquitous NC-17 rating - something flipped. I can’t do this crap anymore. I will not spend money on iron curtains, no matter how nice the pattern.
This sucks for you, though. You still make your living by selling apps, and I don’t want to punish you for Apple’s boners. So here’s what I can do: if your app looks great, I will pay you the full list price any other way I can. PayPal, something from your Amazon list, cookies in the mail - I’ll get creative. Luckily, most of you eggheads are easily reached via email, Twitter, etc. these days.
See, I’m the sort of person who buys iPhone apps without a lot of forethought. If an app comes highly recommended or it looks exciting, I’ll spend a buck or five and skip the anguish of reading the reviews. I’ve bought scores of screens worth of iPhone software and I use (or even keep around) maybe a few dozen apps. And that’s ok - some apps do their magic once and then they’re put away. Others I’ve downloaded just to play with the snazzy UI. I mean, I, the least allergic person in the world, have bought several allergy apps - because I wanted to study the UI, and because I wanted to tip my wallet’s hat to the developers.
So I’m no stranger to supporting quality work without benefiting from it directly, which is what will happen here, since I won’t be downloading the actual app. And that still sucks a little; you won’t get a star rating or a store review from me, and your download count won’t increment. Sorry again.
What will change my mind? Something like one of those open letters from Steve would be a start. It would signal that Apple recognizes the problems, at least. Stories of sanity restored to the app review process from you, the developers, might start popping up. That’s the way things have been fixed before.
This is not a call for a boycott; it’s just a personal decision regarding what I can and can’t reasonably support. And tithing threefold to an entity and a process increasingly disrespectful and downright hurtful to all humans involved - well, that doesn’t work for me.
