New Apple Developer Mandate May Land Company in Hot Waterby, aquatsr
Long playing the underdog up against behemoths, Apple may have to taste a bit of what it's been fighting against since before the popularity of the iPod and iPhone. Due to a new rule from Apple that states developers for the App Store only use Apple Development tools, the U.S. Federal government is looking into whether this merits an antitrust investigation.
Most developers write a piece of code for a certain hardware and then change parts of it, often using intermediary software, in order for it to run on a separate device. Apple's new declaration, in essence, ensures that applications meant for the App Store are developed on an exclusive basis. in other words, an individual is not allowed to use an non-Apple tools to write a piece of software that ad ultimatum will run on an iPhone, iPad or iPod.
This seems to be in response to Adobe's attempt to get Flash onto Apple's devices, for which Apple and Steve Jobs have repeatedly (and somewhat viciously) denied. Packager for iPhone would have let people use Flash development tools in order to make apps for the iPhone (and related devices) without actually using Flash. The recent missive from Apple prohibiting outside development tools may be aimed squarely at Adobe, a company whose market share fell 2% when Jobs attacked the company and forcefully stated that Apple would
never support Flash.
Apple seems to be on a path to make enemies with everyone. It's ironic that a company which stirred the love of consumers by standing up to companies like Microsoft would fall prey to mistakes similar to those of the tech giant.
Source:
slashdotnew york post
