iA Writer’s Android App Is Frozen in Carbonite

iA, which has been shipping a version of iA Writer for Android for 7 years:

By September, we thought we had honored our side of the new agreement. But on the very day we expected to get our access back, Google altered the deal.

We were told that read-only access to Google Drive would suit our writing app better than the desired read/write access. That’s right — read-only for a writing app.

When we pointed out that this was not what we had, or what our users wanted, Google seemed to alter the deal yet again. In order to get our users full access to their Google Drive on their devices, we now needed to pass a yearly CASA (Cloud Application Security Assessment) audit. This requires hiring a third-party vendor like KPMG.

The cost, including all internal hours, amounts to about one to two months of revenue that we would have to pay to one of Google’s corporate amigos. An indie company handing over a month’s worth of revenue to a “Big Four” firm like KPMG for a pretty much meaningless scan. And, of course, this would be a recurring annual expense. More cash for Google’s partners, while small developers like us foot the bill for Android’s deeply ingrained security shortcomings.

Developing serious productivity apps for Android sounds like fun. (See also the footnote on how stunningly rampant piracy is on Android, too.)

★ Friday, 27 September 2024