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Established iPhone Developer Writes Personal Letter to Steve Jobs
MacBlogz - One Stop Apple News —
Craig Hockenberry is an extremely talented Phone developer currently working at the Iconfactory. He’s been in Apple’s app store since it first launched, and is voicing a few of his thoughts regarding the app store in a heartfelt letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Below is the first section of Hockenberry’s letter to Apple. The entire letter can be found over at furbo.org.
Dear Steve,
As an iPhone developer who’s been in the App Store since its launch, I’m starting to see a trend that concerns me: ...
News: Mix: Scandyna, Ferrari GT, Monopoly, App Store pricing
iLounge | All Things iPod, iPhone, iTunes and beyond —
... a world-themed game board, a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode, the ability to save and resume games, “Did You Know?” Chance and Community Chest cards, and more. Players can shake their device to roll the dice or animate the movers, and can use the touch screen to flick and drag property cards, simulating a real-life game experience. Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition is available now from the App Store and sells for $8. iPhone and Mac OS X developer Craig Hockenberry has posted an open letter discussing the consequences of the proliferation of $1 “ringtone” applications on the ...
Developer Says Cheap Apps Stifle iPhone’s Potential
Cult of Mac —
... In a post Tuesday at his furbo.org blog, Hockenberry published an open letter to Steve Jobs, saying, “I’m not going to give you suggestions on what to do” about developers (himself included) working on 99¢ titles that have a limited lifespan and broad appeal instead of on “the cooler (and more complex) ideas that could see the utility of the platform taken to another level.” ...
‘Ringtone Apps’ - The Problem of Getting Noticed in the App Store
Apple Eclectic —
... but it’s also a development we should have seen coming from the moment that Kleiner Perkins chap stepped on stage at the iPhone SDK event. The Mac still has the feel of a little pond about it, where software can flourish based on its own merits and word of mouth. The iPhone is another league entirely. It’s mainstream, a consumer product rather than a computer, and reaching the majority of iPhone owners is another skill developers are going to have to master.
Craig Hockenberry
Daring Fireball
Mobile Phones ...
On the proliferation of crapware on the App Store
The Apple Core —
... , $4.99), recently went on a tirade on the proliferation of 99¢ “crapware” apps that are available on the App Store. In is his open letter to Steve Jobs, Ringtone apps , Hockenberry says: We have a lot of great ideas for iPhone applications. Unfortunately, we’re not working on the cooler (and more complex) ideas. Instead, we’re working on 99¢ titles that have a limited lifespan and broad appeal. Market conditions make ringtone apps most appealing. The problem, according to Hockenberry, is that the economics of the App Store forces developers to produce easy, cheap apps with ...
iPhone Developer E-Mails Jobs About App Store's Flaws
Wired: Gadget Lab —
... "It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve learned what it takes to make a kick ass product for the iPhone," Hockenberry wrote. "The problem now is funding those products. We have a lot of great ideas for iPhone applications. Unfortunately, we’re not working on the cooler (and more complex) ideas. Instead, we’re working on 99¢ titles that have a limited lifespan and broad appeal." ...
Cheap App Store Apps, an Obstruction for Innovation?
Planet iPhones —
... , describes the issue with the pricing of 99c “Ringtone Apps” in a letter to Steve Jobs . Â Â Â In this letter, he has mentioned the problem with 99c which he calls “ringtone apps” or “crapware”. According to him, developer’s are reducing the prices to stay in the competition and in the long run. He complains that it is difficult to get recognition in App Store without a great or “kickass” product. Â Â Â Craig also states that, “this is ruining innovation as developers with great ideas don’t have enough funding to make good apps and to get good sales, they have to ...
How to Succeed in Apple’s App Store
The Mac Observer —
... of the 1890s, many launch out on a venture; only a few get really rich. Of course, the expectation of becoming wealthy and having it fall flat could lead to rationalization and bitterness, likely directed at Apple and the competition. The Trap I started thinking about all this when I ran across a blog entry from developer Chuck Hockenberry who was concerned about the low price of apps in the App store. He called them "ringtone apps" because the cost of the app, $0.99, is the same as a ringtone. He argued that it's hard to recoup the development costs of quality software in ...
Stemming the Crapware Flood: How Cheap Is Too Cheap?
iSmashPhone —
... In an open letter to Jobs, Hockenberry decried the rise of what he termed "ringtone apps" -- quick and dirty programs whose prices are being slashed to US$0.99 for no other reason than getting favorable positions on iTunes. This is producing a mindset where iPhoners will buy an app just because it's at the magical ninety-nice cent price point, and pass over a more useful program for US$4.99 because it's "too expensive." It also forces programmers to rethink what they want to develop, based on development costs vs. target pricing: ...
The Trouble With the iPhone Apps Business [Behind The Curtain]
Gizmodo —
... Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory, developers of Frenzic and Twitterific, started things off with a post lamenting the difficulties of rising above the iPhone app's endless sea of 99-cent mediocrity (a sea I have spent plenty of often painful time wading through for our ...
App Store Issues Get Heated, Apple Remains Silent
MacBlogz - One Stop Apple News —
... Even though it may seem like Hockenberry’s “Dear Steve” letter is focused around the marketing problems some have faced with their apps, the underlying issues revolve around Apple’s entire policies with the way they manage the App Store. Something all too familiar to anyone that spends time inside the app store. ...
Stats: 99 cent apps aren't selling any better
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) —
... because apps priced there sell better (and developers say they can't fund really great apps priced there). But Mobile Orchard did a little number crunching, and ...
Apple tweaks App Store layout amid developer unrest
AppleInsider —
... is at No 9. Two out of top 10 is not bad, I guess for this category." Earlier this week, Twitteriffic developer Craig Hockenberry wrote an open letter to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, pointing out that developers have been lowering their App prices to the lowest possible level in order to obtain favorable placement in the App Store. "This proliferation of 99 cent 'ringtone apps' is affecting our product development," he said. "We have a lot of great ideas for iPhone applications. Unfortunately, were not working on the cooler (and more complex) ideas. Instead, were ...
The App Store Goes Under the Knife to Appease Developers
Mac|Life all RSS Feed —
[image] Apple has dealt with criticism on how the App Store is arranged. Developers complained that the layout wasn't conducive to selling apps that weren't 99¢ or free. Twitterriffic developer Craig Hockenberry, wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs explaining that developers have been lowering the price of their Apps in order to get some top ranking face time in the App Store."This proliferation of 99 cent 'ringtone apps' is affecting our product development," he said. "We have a lot of great ideas for iPhone applications. Unfortunately, we’re not working on the cooler (and ...
App Store changes layout, threat of the fleshy palm still looms
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) —
... The concerns, though, of the Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry (who earlier this week published an open letter to Steve Jobs detailing his frustration with marketing iPhone apps) may not be entirely assuaged. He argues that the price appeal of 99-cent apps ( ...
Apple Tweaking iPhone App Store: Good News For Shoppers, Developers (AAPL)
Silicon Alley Insider —
... What the new layout doesn't appear to do, yet: Give higher priced apps an advantage over cheap, $0.99 "crapware" apps, which many developers have complained about. If you haven't yet read iPhone developer Craig Hockenberry's manifesto yet, it's a good one. The gist: Because Apple's "most popular" list, where many/most purchases come from, favors the apps that have been downloaded the most -- not the ones that've brought in the most revenue -- it's riskier to fund more expensive, higher quality software. ...
ExtraBITS for 15-Dec-08
TidBITS: Mac News for the Rest of Us —
... Why Cheap iPhone Apps Can Be a Problem -- iPhone developer Craig Hockenberry (Twitterrific and Frenzic) works through the math of why it's a problem that developers need to lower prices to get favorable placement in the App Store. One possible solution: trial versions. (Posted 2008-12-09) ...
Tonight on the ‘Your Mac Life Show’
Macsimum News —
... Craig Hockenberry is a principal figure at IconFactory.com and he has written a very interesting article about “Ringtone Apps” about how the proliferation of 99¢ “ringtone apps” is affecting the company’s product development. We’ll talk to him about the article, its ramifications and what IconFactory is up to at Macworld... ...
Interview: iPhone dev gets existential about "crap" apps
Infinite Loop —
... ," High explains that he "hit a brick wall for app ideas," but after getting inspired by Craig Hockenberry's " Ringtone apps " blog post and spending 20 minutes with the iPhone SDK, Sound Grenade was born. It "really is a terrible app," High laments, but he submitted it to the App Store on January 13, 2009. Just two days later, Sound Grenade was published and netted "50 glowing reviews." Downloads ramped up over the next few days, and on January 20, Sound Grenade broke into the top 10 free apps almost everywhere in the world, scoring 106,831 downloads in a single day. This is ...
Opinion: 99-cent apps a steal, but who's really being robbed?
Macworld —
... : namely, how much should iPhone applications cost, really? It’s a difficult concept, as the society we live in has inculcated in consumers the desire to always get the best bargain, which too often is mistakenly interpreted as the lowest price. Developers such as the Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry have discussed the resulting prevalence of “ringtone apps” —cheap applications that usually go for 99 cents or less and often don’t do much. It’s a tempting price point to hit, if only for psychological reasons. Apple itself knows that, having fought for years to hold onto the ...
Don't Expect a Huge Increase in Complexity Of iPhone Apps Any Time Soon [App Store]
Gizmodo —
... But back to the main point. If $5 is the new standard price ceiling, developers aren't going to be willing to devote time to their projects. It's as Craig Hockenberry of Twitterific argued: bigger projects need a bigger payoff, but if those developers price their apps too high, there won't be enough income to make those projects worthwhile. ...
