Apple to iPhone Developers: So… Happy with the App Store?
TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has started sending developers invitations to take a satisfaction survey with regards to the App Store in general, and the App Store approval process in specific.
Apple asks you to answer with: “Very dissatisfied,” “Somewhat dissatisfied,” “Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,” “Somewhat satisfied,” “Very satisfied,” or “Don’t know.”
They also ask, “What one thing could Apple do to make the iPhone Developer Program better?” and give you a text box to write anything you want. A few months ago they certainly would have gotten some interesting responses there.
Indeed and as we suspected, “wait for developers and bloggers to get really ticked off and then have Phil Schiller email them” wasn’t a scalable solution. TechCrunch speculates that the improvements in the App Store approval process starting 2010 involve more and better trained staff, since approval speed has improved and reportedly even communications between Apple and developers is better.
So, if you’re a developer, what will you be telling Apple? And if you’re not a developer, does it matter to you that Apple is trying to improve their developer relations?
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TBH the only thing I need (want) it to have is a higher resolution screen. Give me that and I’ll be in line. I’m due for an upgrade on my 3G and I don’t have any problems with the design, form factor, etc. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.
I think this is essential so more and more people hear how great and easy it is to make apps, which will result in more, and hopefully better (enough with the fart apps!) apps
(Even though im not a devloper)
The thing I wanted most? Removal of NDA. It’s just stupid, who cares if the world knows the APIs? They’re gonna find out eventually.
I hope some awesome developers will express there feelings about jailbreaking, I mean we pay for the device apple should be flattered we love our phones so much we would go out of the way to hack it.
I agree with the jailbreak comment. Developers should 100% request for a more open source OS so that certain apps can be possible the way they already exist in Cydia.
I believe they should do what Yahoo did: hire trained librarians to add apps to appropriate categories > subcategories.
And if you’re not a developer, does it matter to you that Apple is trying to improve their developer relations?
Absolutely it matters to me. I am a heavy user of the iPhone and App Store apps on a daily basis. Like many other readers of TiPb, I greatly appreciate the attention to detail and high quality of top-notch iPhone software (think Tweetie, BeejiveIM, Facebook, Epocrates, etc) written by passionate developers. At a minimum, these talented developers deserve to at least feel like their opinions are being heard and seriously considered so that they will continue to approach iPhone development with enthusiasm. (The example of Joe Hewitt/Facebook comes to mind here.) The end result is better, more capable apps for the user.