A $250,000 snub for the Google phone

Since the whole point of the Google phone was to open up the mobile web to the kind of creativity that drives the rest of the internet, it may seem odd that a programmer who made $250,000 with an iPhone game has no plans to make a Google-friendly version.

Steve Demeter, who sold copies of Trism through Apple’s App Store for $5, has said he’ll develop more iPhone-only products rather than adapt his existing game for Google’s Android operating system. The reason, he told Silicon Alley Insider, is that it would just be too much trouble:

“Do I want to be spending six months to write the game, and another six months making it compatible? If I had Trism available for Android, and there are 50 Android devices and every time one of them crashes (the users) contact me, do I want that?”

In other words, Google’s messily democratic approach to open standards creates more problems than the simple clarity of the Apple dictatorship.

In the last few weeks, rumblings of discontent about the App Store have been getting louder. Several programmers have complained that Apple’s vetting process is slow and opaque, while others have accused the company of blocking programs that might have competed with its own applications.

Tales of Trism’s success must heighten the frustration for these programmers, who no doubt believe they’re sitting on the next great money-spinner, but Demeter’s reaction may also niggle away at Google strategists as they lap up the coverage of the G1 launch.

Apple’s terms are tough and its control absolute, but precisely because of this it can give developers access to a trusting (and paying) audience. Whether Google is able to do that remains to be seen, but if it can’t then the best developers and the best apps are likely to end up on the iPhone.

Comments

wow, congratulations on finding both an apple lackey and an idiot hack to fall for the propoganda, your editors must really be working hard :)

[; )]

Ha Ha... This is a classic example of bad journalism, it doesn't really matter what the reporting COULD have uncovered... it only matters what the rag WANTED to publish. This is not an article, but an editorial.

[Alex Kerr]

As a long time developer who did a professional study of both iPhone and Android software development kits (SDKs) I can say Mr Demeter's attitude is pure nonsense. A good programmer and businessman would port that game in a lot less than 6 months, having impartially seen if there is a market for it. The C language of iPhone and Java on Android are not far apart in real terms, nor are the actual OS funtions. Suggestions of fragmentation are also farcical given Google's commitment to avoiding it, the entire industry wanting to avoid a repeat of the mobile Java debacle, and only one Android device on the market so far.

[josephmartins]

Why do people always feel the need to refer to those with whom they disagree as hacks and idiots, with no evidence to support their claims?

And why is it that this usually happens during discussions about Apple, Google, Microsoft or Linux?

And, Alex, have you actually tried to a) develop an app for the iPhone, and b) port it to Android? If not, you're simply speculating regardless the experience you claim to have.

[Gurmit Singh]

I am also a developer and who are you to tell me which platform I want to make my software available? Its solely my decision. 6 months to port or 6 hours, it doesn't matter. If my product doesn't sell, it is "my product" that won't sell. Nobody can tell me what to do. Sounds arrogant? No. Plane truth.

It should not "seem odd" that a programmer is reluctant to work with no assurance of being paid. (No one should think this attitude is "arrogant" either.) Of course, millions of programmers do participate in unpaid volunteer work, or develop applications for fun, but if this were suddenly mandatory, it would not be volunteer work or fun, but slavery.