Tim Bray hates the idea that hardware guys can kick software guys around

Tim Bray Throws His Hat Into The Android Ring Because He Hates The iPhone

Sorry Tim, get used to it. Your idea that software writers should have the right to put their software on anybody’s hardware is coming to an end. That is a privilege not a right.

No vendor has the right to put their product on the shelf of any retailer in the world. It takes a lot of hard work and no small amount of luck to have your product distributed. The software world will be no different.


7000 companies were created just to make apps

An estimated one in five iPhone developers are companies founded specifically to create applications for the iPhone, according to the latest Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse survey. That represents the second-largest category of developers behind only preexisting online companies, including giants like Google, Facebook and eBay. Those established brands take up 22 percent of the iPhone developer share.

link: AppleInsider | Startup developers represent one in five on Apple’s App Store

Flurry argues that with 75 million units sold, the platform is reaching a critical mass where major brands being to take a dominant position in terms of position and sales rank.

This argument is suggesting that the platform will be a sustaining technological improvement to existing industries such as traditional media, online media, retail and traditional gaming.


App Store vs. Facebook as Platforms

Since the App Store launched in July 2008, 35,000 unique companies have released applications, which translates to 58 new companies launching apps each day. This appears to be the largest amassing of 3rd party developer support by any development platform in such a compressed timeframe. For example, comparing the number of applications created for the Facebook platform to the App Store over their respective first 9 months, Apple boasted 25,000 apps to Facebook’s 14,000. Comparing respective growth in apps after 14 months, Apple had widened its gap to 85,000 apps over Facebook’s 33,000. At the App Store’s 18 month mark, reached this January, the number of iPhone apps was reported to have exceeded 140,000 compared to 60,000 we estimate Facebook had reached over the same number of months. Apple now leads Facebook with over twice as many available applications. We believe the difference in growth rates can be attributed to the App Store providing better monetization possibilities for application developers than Facebook. Developers, like all rational companies, pursue markets where the path to revenue generation is clear.

link: Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse, February 2010