Reuters: ‘Regulators Mull Antitrust Look at Apple’

Reuters:

Apple said allowing third-party tools would result in “sub-standard” apps. But critics say the company is abusing its position.

“For us and the whole developers community, it really locks us into a single platform,” said Michael Chang, chief executive of mobile ad network Greystripe, of Apple’s rules.

Chang said a basic iPhone app might cost $75,000 to build on Flash, and a few thousand dollars more to convert it to work on Google Inc’s Android mobile platform. But with the new restrictions, a developer must spend another $75,000 to build the app from the ground up for a non-Apple platform.

This guy isn’t a federal regulator, but he seems to be arguing that he has a right to use Flash, or at least some sort of cross-platform solution, to develop for iPhone OS. Why not write web apps, then?

One developer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Apple’s new app development rules were just “incredibly broad. The fact that you can’t use any other tools to build your app is just ridiculous.”

But he acknowledged that apps built using Apple’s tool look and run better than those built with third-party technology.

So the new terms are “ridiculous”, unless you’re concerned about how apps look and run.

★ Tuesday, 4 May 2010