Linked List: June 18, 2008

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

On Software Bundles 

Noodlesoft’s Paul Kim on his experience selling Hazel through the MacUpdate software bundle.

MLB readies $5 At Bat iPhone App 

Jason Snell:

According to Gould, the MLB At Bat application will be available as soon as the App Store launches and will cost $4.99 “for the rest of this season.”

Sold.

Macworld Podcast: iPhone Developers Roundtable 

Macworld editorial honcho Jason Snell interviews Brent Simmons, Craig Hockenberry, and Greg Titus regarding iPhone app development.

The Talk Show, Episode 22 

“I’m very sensitive about my hands.”

Stewart Butterfield’s Resignation Letter to Yahoo 

I love it.

In Ten Years Time, Will Apple Be the New Microsoft — an Abusive Monopoly? 

Ian Betteridge raises a good point regarding Apple’s absolute control over what will be distributed through the iPhone App Store:

While Apple has a relatively low market share and there’s plenty of choice of platform, the control that Apple has over the third party application market really doesn’t matter. If a really cool application appears that Apple refuses to sanction, its developers can just up-sticks and move to S60, or Java, or (if they’re nuts) Windows Mobile and reach an equally large audience.

But what happens if Apple’s market share grows to the point where it has a monopoly — 70-, 80- or even 90% market share? That might take ten years, but it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, and it’s certainly something that Apple would like to have.

I agree that the current App Store model simply wouldn’t scale — at least legally — to that sort of market share. But I think (a) it’s the sort of problem that’s good to have; and (b) I question whether the handheld market will ever settle around one monopoly software platform the way desktop PCs did.

Celtics Rout Lakers for 17th NBA Title 

I was going to mention how simple basketball can be (give and go, pick and roll); I was going to ask whether any player has ever been so overrated as Kobe Bryant (nothing but fadeaway jumpers when his team needed him most); I was going to point out how beautifully economical Ray Allen’s game is; I was going to give credit to Danny Ainge, whose 1989 trade to Sacramento heralded the end of the last great Celtics team; and, of course, I was going to link to Kottke’s prediction. But instead I’ll just quote Kevin Garnett, hugging 11-time champion Bill Russell at courtside a few moments after the game ended: “I hope we made you proud.”