Comments on: iPhone Ups and Downs, Unhappy Developers, and the MIDI Controllers You Can’t Have Yet

By: Create Digital Music » iPhone News: iDrum, BtBx In, Mixtikl Out, Strain with Apple Rules Showing

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:33:36 +0000

[...] The developers can’t talk about specifics because of the NDA covering the agreement, but they do point back to some of the issues I’ve discussed here. [...]

By: J_chot

J_chot — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:17:45 +0000

I’m so damn sick of iphone music applets. they are fucking USELESS. even if it were a guitar tuner, I bet it wouldn’t work that well. How many people actually own one of these consumerist sand-traps?

can we please talk about something other than a godamn rich-kids toy?

By: Create Digital Music » Pro Tools Controller for iPhone, iPod Touch Available; More DAWs Coming

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:41:32 +0000

[...] Something else really odd is going on – I can’t access the ProRemote full version via the US iTunes. Yes, Apple’s store seems to be as screwy as developers are saying it is. [...]

By: Douglas Edric Stanley

Douglas Edric Stanley — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:20:26 +0000

Even worse is the documentation situation — because of the @#&§%$* NDA, as everyone has made abundantly clear. Even the *documentation* is filtered through the NDA-gauntlet. Much of the documentation is also incomplete, despite an honorable attempt to have many of the basics you would need at least demo’ed in a more-or-less-functional example. So with enough Cocoa experience you can kinda-sorta make your way to a decent app by just plodding through their examples.

Still, there is a whole unlocked potential because of the NDA that is just so amazingly silly to keep bottled up. What, we can’t even talk about code openly online? That simply will never hold. I do not understand how angry developers has to be the inevitable consequence of the Apple secrecy machine. Everyone who wants to, has already looked at the API’s (and are probably busy trying to copy them), and anyway most programers don’t want to code in Objective-C, no matter what Apple says. So Cocoa needs some developer love, precisely for all those dipping their toes in for the fist time. Filtering it all through the Developer portal, is @#&$*%§ insanity.

But of course most interesting applications use at least one rare and obscure technique, and I’m finding the whole lack of documentation of sound generation maddening. There are some pretty big holes there, especially given that the Mac OS X and iPhone development kits do not match up.

By: Zsolt

Zsolt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:46:09 +0000

p.s. have you seen this?

Apple patent application for touchscreen DJ-ing:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=2&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=gesture&s2=scratching&OS=gesture+AND+scratching&RS=gesture+AND+scratching

By: Zsolt

Zsolt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:44:23 +0000

Hm…

Could it be just a coincidence or a little more evidence about Apple planning a touchscreen computer? The iTouch name rejection gets me thinking…

By: Jay Vaughan

Jay Vaughan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:50:59 +0000

Hey, do you want MIDI controllers in your pocket phone?

Get an OpenMoko Freerunner. I’m about to release a MIDI app for it .. and I didn’t have to ask *anyone* for permission.

(Keep an eye on scap.linuxtogo.org if you wanna see pretty pictures in the next day or so..)

By: Adam Jay

Adam Jay — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:12:56 +0000

Interesting article. I had absolutely no idea that the AppStore was so backed up with so many eager developers awaiting communication from Apple, let alone approval. This NDA really seems to be the biggest barrier to making the AppStore transparent and not full of 5 versions of the same ToDo or Soduko app.
Thankfully blogs like this and even those such as TouchArcade let us end-users know what is on the horizon, but i could never imagine as a developer, spending months on something only to have it stalled for approval and then once finally approved - finding 4 more Apps just like it. The end result is an AppStore with more crap than substance and red on the faces of many talented developers who are suddenly at the will of Apple more than ever.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:59:11 +0000

@Tim: Ha!

Well, I’m not trying to protect myself here — I do my share of rants and raves about Apple. The point is, a developer likely knows better than I whether the program is broken. So, if the dev says it’s broken, something’s wrong. Developers are Apple’s “customers”, too, especially now that they’ve committed to this App Store and the developer ecosystem.

That’s, incidentally, going to be the long-term test of the iTunes ecosystem, as well. Apple wants to create these closed models for how music, video, and now software is distributed. The usual complaining aside, those systems only work for *Apple* so long as the creators of the content for those stores feel like they’re getting a good deal.

(Well, unless Apple can create a virtual monopoly on distribution. But various economic and logistic practicalities I think prevent them from doing that with iPhone vs. other phones, and the iPods *do* run video and audio you’ve bought elsewhere.)

So, yeah, the devs aren’t so happy. But I do think some of this stuff that is indeed broken can be fixed. The NDA doesn’t have to last forever. If Apple is committed to the store model, they can help to better support the long tail for it, better support developers.

By: Tim Thompson

Tim Thompson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:24:40 +0000

(”Broken” is his word, not mine.)

Made me smile. I thought someone can only use that construction if they are running for political office, or already hold a seat. But, alas, this kind of usage bleeds over to respectable people too. (I sometimes think I understand how the US constitution and international treaties are so misunderstood by politicians, judging by their language skills.)

In any case, thanks for the thorough report!