Please Don't Mistake My Apathy For A Lack of Understanding
There’s an interesting discussion floating around that a fanatical devotion to iPhone is blinding mobile developers to larger potential markets. And I’m amazed. Really, just freaking flabbergasted, that the conversation could even be taking place. How can anyone seriously say “well, you’re ignoring all those potential millions of handsets out there running Symbian” and keep a straight face? I’ve been working, for years and years. And years and years and years and years, trying to get out to all those handsets, trying to build applications or websites that were able to hit a critical mass of users on all those handsets out there. Or at least enough users to run a profitable business. Lots of us have been trying to.
And generally we’ve been working at it alone. There’s been little help from handset manufacturers, little help from operating system providers, and really no help at all from carriers (though they’ll be very quick to tell you otherwise). Whenever us developers would complain about it or attempt to change the way things worked there was always some excuse about why things aren’t better. We would ask for more capable browsers and the response was that battery life and network constraints make it impossible to create a browser of near desktop capability on a mobile device. We would ask for development tools that would make it easier to get started developing and make it easier to debug and we were told that mobile development is just too complex to try to make it simple. We would ask for a simple payment system that didn’t result in massive checkout dropoff and everyone would just laugh.
The entire system was deadlocked cause no one with the power to was really interested in shaking it up. We kept getting fed excuse after excuse justifying the general lack of forward progress on all fronts. But then something comes along that makes it easy, often profitable, and frequently even fun to develop for mobile again. Apple has exposed the fact that the lack of progress in mobile wasn’t something inherent in the system. That someone with the right motivation can really shake things up and get the train moving again.
So what’s the response from all those players who just got plowed under by Apple, sitting on the sidelines with egg on their faces? They start what sounds quite a bit like a FUD campaign cause they really don’t have any solid ground to stand on any more. Why should I start caring about the Ovi store now? I’ve done Symbian development in the past, I’m familiar with the handset lineup, I have an E71 currently, have been a long time user of Nokia devices, and I know what Ovi is the number of handsets out in the market.
You know what? I still don’t give a crap. And no, I’m not even sorry about not giving a crap. Actually I’m somewhat offended at someone impugning my foresight and knowledge of the market by saying I’m blind to other potentials cause I’m in love with iPhone. I know what’s out there. I’ve been running free events in the Bay Area for more than 5 years now to try to bolster the mobile community when nothing else would. I’ve been working in the industry for about three times as long. I’ve developed for just about every platform, and I know the ecosystem extremely well. It’s not that I’m blind to everything else. I know everything else that’s out there, and because of that I’ve chosen to develop for iPhone.
Stop lying to yourselves, and definitely stop lying to us. Is the Nokia store supposed to challenge Apple? Or Microsoft supposed to? Or RIM? You know what folks, you had your chances. If you want to impress me, if you want me to start developing for your platforms again, get your houses in order. Once things change, once you get your stores developed, released, and proven as a good commercial channels to end users - then we can talk again. Until then we’re all just going to keep laughing at you and developing for iPhone.download dragon tiger gate divx
April 11th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Your post made a lot of sense. I’d ignore the likes of VentureBeat which is just trolling for pageviews by creating fake controversies.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I think your post, while spot on, misses a few points. Nokia’s “store” has existed for a while and they have a way to get developers apps on to their store.
Second they also do have a decent developer outreach effort going.
Trouble is the users. They simply dont care for the applications that come on the platform regardless of how good or bad they are.
The iPhone user is typically more tech savvy, albeit with a similar disposable income, more likely to “try new stuff out” and show their applications to others.
The Nokia E71, N95 users are less likely to do so. I have a N95 and have had a Blackberry. I still would develop for the iPhone.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Miker, you should check out the Anssi Vanjoki interview too. http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/02/nokia-aims-to-prove-there-is-mobile-demand-beyond-the-iphone/
The article might piss you off even more. ;) In many way I feel sad (and scared) for Nokia…
@Mukundthe: the typical iPhone users are actually not that tech savvy but are willing try / download anything for free. A real life example here: *ALL* my cousins (all the their early 20s to mid 20s) in the last 12 months switch to iPhone 3G. Now they are browsing and downloading on their mobile device - that’s something I thought would never happen at a family gathering.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:12 am
[...] Developer and blogger Mike Rowehl has since blogged that he’s flabbergasted at the assertion mobile app developers are blind to platforms beyond the iPhone. He writes that there are clear and compelling reasons developers like himself are steering clear [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Amen.
Apple’s not perfect, and neither is the iPhone. And yet some people seem to write off the real enthusiasm that Apple has been able to stir up in the consumer and developer communities as some sort of cultish devotion that has no basis in reality.
You know what? Even if you were right that it’s just a cult to shiny things, it’s still kicking your ass. It’s time to foster your own counter-cult or get out of the way.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Well said Mike. Mukund, there is no difference between the typical iPhone customer and the typical Nokia S60 customer. In both cases we’re talking about status-conscious consumers who want to buy a high-end phone. The difference is that downloading applications for an iPhone is obvious and easy and many of them are fun to use. Downloading applications for a Nokia phone is not obvious, not easy, and often no fun at all. It’s confined to people who in your words are ‘more tech-savvy’ and ‘more likely to try things out.’
I have many friends whom I do not consider ‘tech savvy’ and who never downloaded an application for a mobile phone in their lives - until they bought an iPhone.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Preach ON, Preacher!
Tell it like it is, Brother Mike :)
April 12th, 2009 at 1:08 am
hell yes! couldn’t agree more miker.
April 12th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Bravo Mike!
I would add Palm to the list as well. They had a great ecosystem before but flushed all of that down the toilet. Technologically, Palm had been stale for the past few years. Dream on if they think it’s a walk in the park for the Pre to overtake the iPhone!
April 12th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Hi Mike,
this common view among mobile developers you bring forward here has become in the last couple of months somewhat of a “fact”. Ergo “these” conversations have become less and less and folks are surprised when one brings them up.
While Jason was busy doing actual business for Skydeck at the Mobile World Congress I was merely talking to carrier, device and networks folks as to evaluate what that mobile apps thing really means to them. To summarise: that message from mobile developers has not reached these folks. For example, I talked to 6 carriers about this and they differentiate not only on what they think should be happening (to further their interests), but also on what they currently see.
Opinions like this one, brought forward in the tone of “this is a fact”, flabbergast these folks. When I ask them to give me feedback “on mobile developers thinking like this and doing that” I get branded with “American” or - worse - “Silicon Valley” bias. I asked Matt to send me over a G.I. uniform in time for the next mobile conference so people can easier identify me as the blind Silicon Valley fanatic you talk about.
Opinions like this have not reached the mainstream conversations in the industry. Yet they will increasingly take place in the months to come and will affect mobile developers.
In a certain the mainstream carrier/device/network view is spot on. I talked to some HR/headhunter folks to get an idea of how many developers got into mobile last year. To get a number on that was pretty hard, but there was some consensus that there are around 20.000 developers somehow connected to the Apple App Store. Most of these guys don’t have prior mobile industry experience. According to these sources, most of these developers are to be found around the Valley, Seattle, LA & NY. Only a small % of these developers seem to be folks outside the US. The notion of this being an American trend is not that far off.
Carrier/device/network folks don’t meet these 20.000 as the 20.000 don’t seem to attend the MWCs and the CTIAs where these folks expect the mobile developers to show up. That’s probably not that surprising to you (though it is to the conference folks). An exchange on this issue, however, needs to take place. That’s why we will keep covering the story of blind mobile developers at VentureBeat.
April 12th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Whilst I don’t believe that you’re blinded by iPhone-lurve, it’s not the only game in town. There are profitable businesses running across other devices, and have been for years.
iPhone has *absolutely* shown a better way and shaken up an industry for the better. I can’t wait to see what happens to the industry when the market leaders in mobile devices are as helpful as Apple have been. Whether that comes from Apple becoming the market leader, or the incumbents emulating them, I neither know nor care. It’s going to happen, and that’s a good thing for all of us.
And Apple have built a fantastic economy around apps, but (as elsewhere) it’ll be characterised by a few big successes, and a large number of individual failures: not everyone building an iPhone app is going to get rich.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Kudos for this post. I love how Apple sent a wake-up call to the mobile phone industry, and now they’re all scrambling to catch up!
Reminds me of how Microsoft has for decades treated developers to garbage products because they didn’t have incentive to produce quality.
I hope the desperate attempts at copying Apple fail for all these wanna-be players. And I hope the iPhone puts them out of business, with no hope for a bailout.
April 12th, 2009 at 10:16 am
[...] • iPhone devotion blinds Silicon Valley app developers - Mainly because iPhone apps are so much more rewarding to both build and use. [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Apple showed a much better business model for buying/selling apps to the users, the mobile phone manufacturers and the carriers.
I’ve had many, many, many phones and all of them required me to log in to the carrier’s site and download games. Those games were then locked to that device. If I upgraded my phone then the carrier made me purchase that game/app again. I gave up on it. I didn’t want to piss that money away anymore. Even on my Symbian devices, that had a store outside of the carrier control, the store was hard to navigate and there were no controls in place to help prevent a malicious program from being downloaded. All-in-all, the application download experience prior to Apple showing everyone how to do it was abysmal.
I have probably spent more on mobile applications and games in the last year for my iPhone that I have in the past 9 years combined. I *wanted* apps and games but it was such a pain that it wasn’t worth it. Now downloading an app is as easy as an impulse buy and app developers are reaping the benefits.
April 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The frustration is well understood. I can wax poetic about the trials and tribulations you highlight and fill up many pints of beer with stories about the reasons why the barriers, control points, and technologies are set up this way in a Symbian and a Nokia marketplace.
Rest assured, there have been many individuals involved that have been paying attention and have been acting on these needs well before the iphone came around. It’s a big industry and there are many strategies and initiatives to align and evolve.
The Foundation we have formed and the asset distribution model we proactively endorse enables us to overcome many of those same barriers. You now get the addressable market, and many, not one object of desire. It took us a while to get here and now we have not only listened, but will continue to learn.
Best // Lee
April 12th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
[...] counter argument from Mike Rowehl points to Apple as the company to break open the old boys network of carriers and manufacturers [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
With all due respect, I have no interest is buying an iPhone nor do I care about the loads of rinky-dinky copycat applications littering the App Store landscape. I use my Nokia S60 phone for my work as a doctor mostly and don’t use it for a play thing. If you are willing to write an application that will do something I need to accomplish my tasks or make my life easier then you’ll have a customer. Until then the Nokia landscape has plenty of applications for my needs.
I’m only waiting for UpToDate to release a Nokia S60 version of its medical database and I’m set. By the way, I pay a yearly subscription to UpToDate of several hundred dollars. Once you write an app worth my time maybe you can tap into the millions our hospital pays every year for these things. Until then you’r just another iPhone Tetris knockoff developer and resident iPhone twit.
April 12th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Man, I only have 1 thing to say, you are comparing a marketting device to a platform…
April 12th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
[...] hoje desenvolve para o iPhone, mas já trabalhou por anos criando soluções para o Symbian. Em um post de ontem, ele mostra a sua indignação com o mercado de mobile, que estava totalmente estagnado até a [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
[...] hoje desenvolve para o iPhone, mas já trabalhou por anos criando soluções para o Symbian. Em um post de ontem, ele mostra a sua indignação com o mercado de mobile, que estava totalmente estagnado até a [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
[...] devotion blinds Silicon Valley app developers”, and a number of developers took offense. Most notably, blogger Mike Rowehl. Since then, we’ve seen developers list the panoply of challenges they face when designing [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
[...] devotion blinds Silicon Valley app developers”, and a number of developers took offense. Most notably, blogger Mike Rowehl. Since then, we’ve seen developers list the panoply of challenges they face when designing [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Agreed. It took Apple the vision to create the integrated experience that even non-techies get the discover and download of apps. It took Apple show/change the playing field, vs. being a “yes man”. And it took Apple show how a touch experience and mobile browsing should be, while others were afraid of taking step while others didn’t get it at all. And, it took Apple to show it is about the ecosystem and the developers to bring value to the mobile platform. Amazing, isn’t it?
Now everyone is copying. Now everyone gets it.
But it is good now to see everyone else “getting it”, and doing something about it.
But agree, don’t call developers stupid, as what developers are doing is just the opposite - it is not about devotion, it is about low investment, quick time to marget and exposure, and large as possible ROI.
ceo
April 12th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
[...] great writeup by Mike Rowehl, Please Don’t Mistake My Apathy For A Lack of Understanding, in response to VentureBeat’s piece iPhone devotion blinds Silicon Valley app [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 1:30 am
[...] they didn’t care enough — so long as the mobile industry maintained its status quo. Mike Rowehl, a mobile industry insider, writes: The entire system was deadlocked cause no one with the power to was really interested in shaking [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 2:12 am
A year ago, even before the App Store, we outlined the 10 factors required to compete against Apple in the mobile space in:
Who can beat iPhone 2.0?
http://counternotions.com/2008/03/10/iphone2-competitors/
A year later, most of the manufacturers and carriers are still promoting devices as opposed to platforms/ecosystems. I’m afraid the horse, the train and the ship have all left a long time ago.
April 13th, 2009 at 9:59 am
You make a very compelling case from someone who is actually in the fray…
April 13th, 2009 at 10:38 am
As long as the alleged “service providers” call the shots, no one will come close. Android’s best bet (and Nokia’s) is getting themselves well-separated from individual phone companies so that they can truly be a cross-the-board open platform. Apple has a phone-service partner but it’s secondary (or entirely absent, for the Touch), while G-Phone is only available with an annoying T-mobile chirp.
Do I think they’ll actually be able to do it, in any schedule that’s worthwhile for a startup business? No.
I’ve never noticed a tech-features iPhone ad, btw. Not even at the very beginning. They’ve always focused on applications. Only electronics-industry people care about pixel pitch. Everyone cares about how to get to grandma’s house.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
[...] Mike Rowehl spoke for the developer community with his response. [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Tom wrote: “I use my Nokia S60 phone for my work as a doctor mostly and don’t use it for a play thing. If you are willing to write an application that will do something I need to accomplish my tasks or make my life easier then you’ll have a customer. Until then the Nokia landscape has plenty of applications for my needs.”
Such as Epocrates? Nope. Head, meet sand.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
[...] or Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile. It’s worth reading posts from Ewan MacLeod, Mike Rowehl, Om Malik, and Cristine Gonzales. Not surprisingly, we also have strong opinions on this subject. [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Victor Panlilio: “Such as Epocrates? Nope. Head, meet sand.”
As a practicing doctor, I don’t know anyone that uses Epocrates. The only people who talk about Epocrates are non-doctors (or family practioners) who don’t know about things like Lexicomp, PEPID, or UpToDate. Both of which are used by us daily. To be quite frank, Windows Mobile is the product of choice for most doctors today but many are transitioning over to either Blackberry or Nokia S60.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
[...] that may not phase industry veterans, what really shocked me was that some VC-backed mobile consumer startups in Europe aren’t [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
hallelujah. I’ve only been in the mobile industry for 3 years and you describe the accurate frustrations I and a number of my companions have felt for a long time. I’m finding it hard to give a damn about any of the carrier stores at this point, even though they are still doing a lot of business. What a difference a year makes. Thank you Apple, for at least putting a size 12 boot up the rear-end of the entire wireless industry.
April 14th, 2009 at 6:48 am
One major issue with most Americans is that, they tend to think the world ends at the borders of their country. Miker is a typical example of such people. You don’t want to develope for the Ovi store, fine!!! Its no big deal, you are whining like the Ovi store is gonna crumble without silicon valley developers.
Look, there are thousands of developers out there from europe, asia and russia, who have started development for the Ovi store and by the time the Ovi store is launched, it will have the best chance of knocking the app store of its throne. This “my-way-or-the-highway” mentality is the reason why we Americans are disliked overseas, we feel without us the world is nothing. We have to get rid of such mentality. It pisses me off when the world is being judged by what happens in the U.S.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:54 am
but theres a difference, iphone’s are gay.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:43 am
@Tom: “The only people who talk about Epocrates are non-doctors (or family practioners) who don’t know about things like Lexicomp, PEPID, or UpToDate”
From the product websites (I checked):
Lexicomp: available for iPhone/iPod Touch
PEPID: available for iPhone/iPod Touch
UptoDate: “Your web-enabled PDA device or phone may be able to access UpToDate online at http://pda.uptodate.com if your device supports HTML, cookies, and JavaScript”
Conclusion: your original dismissive response? Still an EPIC FAIL.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:19 am
@Patrick: “but theres a difference, iphone’s are gay.”
Tell that to Dimitry Medvedev, the current Russian President, who uses one. Bet Vladimir Putin uses one, too. The ex-KGB bad boys will probably punch jagged holes in your cranium for making such an asinine statement.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:26 am
@Emma: “It pisses me off when the world is being judged by what happens in the U.S.”
Well, unfortunately, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all U.S.-based companies even if they derive much of their revenue from outside the U.S. The current global economic crisis was precipitated by U.S.-based investment banks, which created made-in-the-U.S. CDO’s that were bought by many non-U.S. banks. So, like it or not, when the U.S. economy sneezes, the rest of the world tends to catch a cold. Not much we can do about that yet, I’m afraid. (And I’m not even American).
April 15th, 2009 at 8:54 am
So… when does your PR job at Apple begin? Great post man! I recently got an iPhone at work, and I have to say, there really is no going back to anything else. I’m a Windows developer by trade, not a Macboy, but I recognize superior quality when I see it. I kind of wish Windows Mobile OS would go the way of the dinosaur.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
[...] Mike’s post has generated a load of great comments and it’s well worth checking out. [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
[...] April, 2009 Mike Rowehl on developing for iPhone vs other handsets: “It’s not that I’m blind to everything else. I know everything else that’s out there, [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Really Mike, Really??
April 15th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
[...] Good read in case you have missed it. What mobile developers really feel. [...]
April 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
here here Mike. This sums my thoughts and feelings as well.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Oh btw, how much did apple pay you to post this?
April 20th, 2009 at 4:48 am
For those of you wondering why Mike is so pissed off at Nokia, one word Installat.
We just sent our app to be published at Ovi, they are now putting it through “a quality assurance (QA) process”. Wish us luck!
April 20th, 2009 at 8:12 am
@Tom: “The only people who talk about Epocrates are non-doctors (or family practioners) who don’t know about things like Lexicomp, PEPID, or UpToDate”.
How far out does your strategic vision go? If it’s over two years, you haven’t appreciated the striking advantages has over the ‘other guys’.
Apple has 1st mover advantage as a MOBILE PLATFORM:
- Full BSD Unix based OS (40 years of legendary high quality development)
- iTunes App Store with micro payments, millions of credit cards, 40,000 apps, 1B downloads (soon), secure downloads w/ global malware kill capability
- Free best-in-class SDK with profitable app distribution system
- Exploding medical, military, game, and general innovation
- The iPhone is the ONLY phone hw that upgrades to major NEW OS releases
Sorry. Gotta run, but you get the picture?
April 21st, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Great Blog with some very good points. But lets not forget the importance of an end to end story AKA ecosystem. The mobile world has forever been a series of worlds made up of islands (and not very big islands at that). There is the device maker world that evolved out of a hardware mindset in which almost every device is an island and even on those islands there are great variations due to the influence of the operator world. The operator world is made up of islands that evolved out of companies built to put up networks and install and run great big boxes where voice was once king. Now they are all in the software world where giants battle for control.
In all of this there has rarely been a successful attempt at creating a gravitational pull to applications and services. Apple on the other hand had iTunes and a hugh built in market due to its dominance in the MP3 player space. It was this market that made the Apple app store’s success possible. Yes you can point at all the great tools, programs, reachable market, and events and say that is what did it, but other devices also have those things so why do they fail. No single built in already deployed, in use by millions, and easy to use ecosystem.
Until the mobile phone worlds realize this they will continue to miss the mark you are asking for. Oh many of them have seen the surface of this and are now deploying or working to deploy their app stores. As if an app store set up on an island is going to do the trick. Nokia has the best chance (chance I say) of creating a gravitational pull but not if they stand alone and only set it up on a few of their device islands.
Success takes buy in and commitment, and it does not rise from committee.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
[...] our iPhone meetup earlier this month there was a lot of discussion from the developer panel on which platforms they [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:34 am
[...] March 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report, our monthly look at trends in the AdMob Network. At our iPhone meetup earlier this month there was a lot of discussion from the developer panel on which platforms they [...]
May 6th, 2009 at 10:52 am
[...] Rowehl in his rant “Please Don’t Mistake My Apathy For A Lack of Understanding” explains the reasons behind his choice of iPhone as a preferred development platform. [...]
November 18th, 2009 at 11:01 am
[...] that hasn’t exactly worked out, has it? Refer to Mike Rowehl’s excellent rant on the subject: There’s an interesting discussion floating around that a fanatical devotion [...]
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:19 am
[...] that hasn’t exactly worked out, has it? Refer to Mike Rowehl’s excellent rant on the subject: There’s an interesting discussion floating around that a fanatical devotion to [...]