Joe Hewitt on the App Store

Joe Hewitt, advocating for Apple to open the App Store to all technically compliant apps:

Oh, but you say that iPhone apps are different, because they run native code and can do scary things that web pages can’t? Again, you’re wrong, because iPhone apps are sandboxed and have scarcely any more privileges than a web app. About the only scary thing they can do outside the sandbox is access your address book, but Apple can easily fix that by requiring they ask permission first, just like they must do to track your location.

Very similar to Wil Shipley’s proposal. The bottom line is that Apple should remove subjectivity from the review process. That would benefit everyone: developers, users, and even Apple itself.

★ Wednesday, 26 August 2009