Apple will allow third party tools for iOS development

[preslove]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/apple-backpedaling-on-some-ios-development-restrictions-will-al/

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple...laxes-restrictions-on-third-party-tools/38985

Awesome. They were probably scared of getting slapped around by the FTC. This was a nasty, completely anticompetitive, anticonsumer policy. Glad to see they're doing the right thing. Who knows, if they keep this up I might buy an iPad

edit, it turns out gizmodo has a better explanation of the situation: http://gizmodo.com/5633721/apple-to...lopment-tools-publishes-app-review-guidelines

 

[Pliablemoose]

Some excerpts from the guidelines:

• 
  [*]We view Apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.
  [*]We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any more Fart apps. If your app doesn’t do something useful or provide some form of lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted.
  [*]We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it”. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.
  [*]If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.​

 

[mmntech]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/apple-backpedaling-on-some-ios-development-restrictions-will-al/

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple...laxes-restrictions-on-third-party-tools/38985

Awesome. They were probably scared of getting slapped around by the FTC. This was a nasty, completely anticompetitive, anticonsumer policy. Glad to see they're doing the right thing. Who knows, if they keep this up I might buy an iPad

edit, it turns out gizmodo has a better explanation of the situation: http://gizmodo.com/5633721/apple-to...lopment-tools-publishes-app-review-guidelines

I think it probably has more to do with this...
http://www.android.com/

Than it does the FTC.

 

[preslove]

I think it probably has more to do with this...
http://www.android.com/

Than it does the FTC.

I don't know. An FTC lawsuit, fine, and ruling to change their policy would have looked really bad. Apple really wants to keep up their good image--it's one reason they can make their huge margins. There was no way their developer tools policy would have passed any regulatory scrutiny.

Some excerpts from the guidelines:

They didn't include one of the caveats:

* If you're a major publisher, like playboy, Sports Illustrated, or Marvel, our content restrictions don't apply to you.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

So how soon before we see Flash on our iDevices?

 

[Oyeve]

I think it probably has more to do with this...
http://www.android.com/

Than it does the FTC.

Agreed.

 

[senseamp]

Too little, too late. Apple should open up or shut up.

 

[DivideBYZero]

So how soon before we see Flash on our iDevices?

You know what, I really hope it doesn't happen. If it's such a big deal then why don't we have those who can already use it on their phones going on about how awesome it is?

 

[senseamp]

You know what, I really hope it doesn't happen. If it's such a big deal then why don't we have those who can already use it on their phones going on about how awesome it is?

You could always not install it, if you don't want it so much.

 

[Pliablemoose]

You know what, I really hope it doesn't happen. If it's such a big deal then why don't we have those who can already use it on their phones going on about how awesome it is?

First rule about Flash...

:biggrin:

 

[ViRGE]

Flash? on my iPhone? Well there goes the neighborhood.:|

 

[zerocool84]

You know what, I really hope it doesn't happen. If it's such a big deal then why don't we have those who can already use it on their phones going on about how awesome it is?

Search the many threads about how us that have it and have run into a website that is Flash only, are great to be able to turn it on when we want and turn it off when we want.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Search the many threads about how us that have it and have run into a website that is Flash only, are great to be able to turn it on when we want and turn it off when we want.

Not seen any of those threads, and to be honest, what sites are flash only?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Not seen any of those threads, and to be honest, what sites are flash only?

someone will always pull up some small site with some crappy developer that doesn't conform to typical development styles and requires flash.

Ok, I'm not saying there aren't sites out there, but for what I typically check up on my phone (Wiki, CNN, Reddit, Digg, AT forums, other forums, gmail, yahoo sports, espn, etc) I honestly don't need flash. And quite honestly, Flash performance was never great. Some Droid 2 reviews mentioned this.

Everyone's argument is: Well you can turn it off if you really don't want it. Or.. at least we have choice.

It's like people demanding a shitty choice. Like please Comcast, offer us a 1mbps plan for $39.99. I know it's only $5 cheaper than your 6mbps plan, but at least we have choice. Ok, it's not that bad, but you kinda get what I mean. Flash is great to have, but not a killer. If I get it, that's great. If not, big deal?

 

[zerocool84]

someone will always pull up some small site with some crappy developer that doesn't conform to typical development styles and requires flash.

Ok, I'm not saying there aren't sites out there, but for what I typically check up on my phone (Wiki, CNN, Reddit, Digg, AT forums, other forums, gmail, yahoo sports, espn, etc) I honestly don't need flash. And quite honestly, Flash performance was never great. Some Droid 2 reviews mentioned this.

Everyone's argument is: Well you can turn it off if you really don't want it. Or.. at least we have choice.

It's like people demanding a shitty choice. Like please Comcast, offer us a 1mbps plan for $39.99. I know it's only $5 cheaper than your 6mbps plan, but at least we have choice. Ok, it's not that bad, but you kinda get what I mean. Flash is great to have, but not a killer. If I get it, that's great. If not, big deal?

Someone mentioned that the menu for Red Robin which isn't some tiny site was Flash only and they needed to check the nutritional facts for food and since they had flash on their phone they were able to do it.

 

[dguy6789]

Onion Radio, non Youtube video.

 

[preslove]

Why do people confuse flash development tools with flash media?????

This has nothing to do with flash on phones. Adobe flash cs 5 allowed developers to write in flash and then convert it to iOS code to make an App. Other companies have made cross platform development tools, too. Apple banned these in a cynical ploy to make developers choose which platform to focus on exclusively, and Apple's install base makes that decision an easy one.

The FTC started investigating, because this was pretty clearly anti-competitive & apple changed their policy.

Has nothing to do with flash on iPhones.

 

[ViRGE]

Why do people confuse flash development tools with flash media?????

This has nothing to do with flash on phones. Adobe flash cs 5 allowed developers to write in flash and then convert it to iOS code to make an App. Other companies have made cross platform development tools, too. Apple banned these in a cynical ploy to make developers choose which platform to focus on exclusively, and Apple's install base makes that decision an easy one.

The FTC started investigating, because this was pretty clearly anti-competitive & apple changed their policy.

Has nothing to do with flash on iPhones.

It has everything to do with Flash on the iPhone. Adobe's development tools are just statically linking a Flash runtime in to the application. This change encourages developers to write terrible Flash applications for the iPhone instead of a proper native application in the first place. And then whose fault is it when these applications misbehave and start killing the battery? Not the developer and certainly not Adobe, that's for sure.

The goal should be to discourage developers from using Flash - so that they don't build applications with it or make it part of their sites (see: Red Robin). That is achieved by not supporting it in browsers and not allowing Adobe to statically link their demon spawn in to applications.

 

[preslove]

It has everything to do with Flash on the iPhone. Adobe's development tools are just statically linking a Flash runtime in to the application. This change encourages developers to write terrible Flash applications for the iPhone instead of a proper native application in the first place. And then whose fault is it when these applications misbehave and start killing the battery? Not the developer and certainly not Adobe, that's for sure.

The goal should be to discourage developers from using Flash - so that they don't build applications with it or make it part of their sites (see: Red Robin). That is achieved by not supporting it in browsers and not allowing Adobe to statically link their demon spawn in to applications.

But "flash" is still not supported by the iPhone. This has nothing to do with flash elements in a website showing up in the browser, or a flash game on a website showing up.

As for performance, the suite provides optimization tools. A good developer writing in flash and optimizing for the iPhone should be able to create a good iPhone app. All without Apple supporting Flash.

But the thing is, there are other cross platform development tools. Like the Unity and Unreal engines, like Ruby on Rails.