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Comment by novum | Hacker News Reader

Apple has always tried to control all aspects of its platform, hardware, and software, so I don't think we should be surprised by its draconian rules governing the app store.

That said, I think it's pretty clear by now to most of us that iPhone/iPod Touch users and developers alike would benefit from a more transparent, less restrictive app policy. I'm just not sure that kind of policy is in Apple's DNA.

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It surprises me that they are so successful, despite their draconian rules, fanboism thrives.

Try publishing apps for another phone platform.

I intend to, but not in protest. I will still develop for the iphone, and if my apps are rejected, there is always cydia.

Since Apple has the only mobile platform where you can only get applications from one source (them), this is really simple.

For instance on my Windows mobile phone, using MSIE mobile (which sucks) I can go to opera.com, download a cab-file, install it and I'm good to go. Google maps? Just go to maps.google.com and it will offer you to download and install a native Google maps client.

If I want to, I can develop stuff myself, no signing or service-provider or Microsoft approval needed. What exactly are you implying here?

Those draconian rules are affecting the developers, not the end users, at least not directly. One could argue that every time a developer D cannot publish an application A, it affects the end users, but it seems that the impact is not severe enough. As long as the platform itself is popular enough to present a lucrative market, most developers won't abandon it despite Apple's behavior. And as long as the platform has lots of developers releasing new stuff for it, it will (barring a snafu on another front) remain popular.

I disagree, as an end user I had to return my first iphone in frustration. The potential was obvious, but the draconian rules meant I couldn't do what I needed with the hardware I owned.

Now that the jailbreaking community is thriving, I bought another iphone, and I'm more than happy with the progress of efforts like cydia.

Maybe they are more in touch with what people actually care about? (ie, the actual core functionality of the device and its usability) It's a bit absurd to assume people are fanboys because they choose to buy a phone despite the fact they cannot install a kama-sutra app. The simpler and more obvious explanation is they don't care. Some of the AppStore incidents annoy me but, at the same time, it's nothing that makes me want to stop using the iPhone platform.

"It surprises me that they are so successful, despite their draconian rules, fanboism thrives."

They are the Disney of computing.

Many people like that soup-to-nuts 'We control the experience' experience.

Actually, my friend likens Steve Jobs to an abusive father.

His fans love him BECAUSE he punishes them, but then does something really nice to make it up.

That's the most ridiculous ad hominem attack I've ever heard. "Your friend" should be ashamed.

No one goes to pick up a new Mac Book because they feel Steve Jobs has punished them in some way. They do it because the machine has great design, a nice operating system, a failure rate that is less than its competitors, a user experience widely considered to be superior to other offerings, because it's consistently rated best in class by Consumer Reports, because it runs commercial software on a UNIX core, because it "just works"... Not because Steve beats them.

If Apple screws up once an a while (granted: it's hard to see this constant inappropriate rejecting of apps followed by a 180 change of heart as anything but a screw up) and continues to be popular with users, it's because users appreciate Apple's overall value in spite of some obvious policy shortcomings.

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