Show Me The Money

Had an interesting conversation with some developers Friday night.

We were talking about mobile development, the new Palm Pré, the Android phone(s), and the Apple iPhone.

The developers I talked to really dissed the Apple SDK and App Store… even though they’d never developed an iPhone app or posted anything on App Store (and despite the fact that iTunes has an online history of selling stuff online for seven or eight years…. but I digress).  I also listened to how much better Android was than iPhone (biggest chuckle of the night – hearing a python developer dogging objective c.  Nobody’s baby is ugly I guess).

Really?  How do you sell your apps?

Oh – you can’t yet.

But hey – you don’t have the MAN telling you what to do, right?

Look – I have frustrations with the Apple setup.  It sucks that they take 30% off the top.  And that you have no input to feedback on the approval process.  And that issues that are not flagged in some apps are show stoppers for your app.

But truth be told, it is currently the Gold Standard and the only game in town if you want to deploy iPhone apps beyond 100 of your closest friends.

And it is a proven business model. And businesses pay real money to develop and actually deploy your work.

So you shut up. And you get in line.

It reminds me of a friend in Nashville who started a CD store selling only the music he liked.  He was out of business – of course – within a year.

Sometimes in business you simply don’t deal with the way that you wish things were.

You have to be concerned with things like actually making more money than you spend.  And by catering to existing modes and models.

So, for you guys all hot and bothered about the Pré and Android SDKs, I simply say:

Show Me The Money.