Bad news for iPhone or good news for Android? Joe Hewitt is the man behind the very popular and, in my opinion, very well done iPhone Facebook application. Joe recently tweeted to his followers:
“Time for me to try something new. I’ve handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I’m onto a new project.”
This is interesting indeed. While I don’t want to be happy about iPhone users losing such a great app developer, I’m hoping his new project is an Android app. I’d love to see him write something as nice as the iPhone Facebook app for the Android. It’s powerful, easy to use, customizable and a great Facebook interface for those not wanting to navigate over to m.facebook.com. Techcrunch, the site I read the original story on, went and got in touch with Joe and asked about the decision. Joe’s response was refreshingly honest:
My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.
The web is still unrestricted and free, and so I am returning to my roots as a web developer. In the long term, I would like to be able to say that I helped to make the web the best mobile platform available, rather than being part of the transition to a world where every developer must go through a middleman to get their software in the hands of users.
Wow, that’s pretty straight forward to say it was Apple’s policies with application approval that turned him off. I’ve read many reports, as I’m sure others have as well, stating what an arbitrary and frustrating experience it is to get an app approved through Apple. Well, let me say to those developers who are feeling the pain, why not try your luck with Android. I think you’ll find it a much easier system and with less overlord feel to it. Don’t get me wrong, Apple and their app market are hugely successful for many developers and I’m not against them, I’m for Android and hope to see more developers soon. Feel free to come on over and try the Android waters.
via Techcrunch.
