PlayRatty: iPhone Developers Discuss Ups, Downs Of Apples Application Store

This is cache of http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/01/iphone-developers-application-store/. Cache is the snapshot of article that we took when we index feed.
To see original page click here.
We are not affiliated with the authors of this article and not responsible for its content.

iPhone Developers Discuss Ups, Downs Of Apples Application Store

2008-08-01 21:31:56 by Patrick Klepek in MTV Multiplayer

Just a few weeks ago, Apple launched the iPhone 3G and application store on iTunes. Both have proven wild successes for consumers, but how have developers been feeling?

MTV Multiplayer recently spoke with Publisher X founder Doug Kennedy and Phantom EFX president Jim Thompson about their experiences working with Apple to help support the company’s newly developed gaming platform.

The application store has raised many questions. Should there be a standardized pricing model? Does Apple need to institute a quality standard for applications?

“When the application store launched, it was a learning process not only for us as a publisher and a developer, but for everyone that works on the application store and learning what’s things are going to work and what things aren’t going to work,” said Kennedy. “We’re looking at this as a marathon, not as a sprint out of the gates.”

“We’re looking at this as a marathon, not as a sprint out of the gates.”

That sounds a little like the argument made for casual games like “Boom Blox.” Publisher X’s casino games aren’t the only games of that type on the application store, either. “MotionX Poker” has proven a breakout hit. In response, Publisher X will lower the price to just $.99 for a week in early August.

“How do you weed through hundreds, if not thousands, of games six months down the road and finally the ones that are cream of the crop?” Kennedy said. “With DS and PSP, there’s an approval process to get a certain quality of game onto the device. It’s really going to be up to the consumer to speak loudly about which games they want to be playing and really communicate that out to the network of thousands of consumers.”

iPhone games don’t have online multiplayer yet, and Kennedy and Thompson believe developing the infrastructure for multiplayer will help companies like themselves stick out from the competition. Someone in their dorm room might have no trouble coding a “Texas Hold ‘Em” game, Kennedy said, but they won’t have the resources of Publisher X.

Just because you develop a good game, however, doesn’t mean people will notice. “The biggest fear is that you’re going to have a great game, a title that is just loved, but it isn’t positioned properly and just falls off the app store because nobody knows about it,” said Kennedy. “[Apple] could become a victim of their own success, where everybody wants to develop for the platform, but how do you really ensure those games are really getting out there and being downloaded.”

A possible solution would be Apple acting more like a Nintendo or Sony and approving each individual application. Right now, Apple will allow anything that conforms to the restrictions presented in the iPhone software development kit.

“The biggest fear is that you’re going to have a great game [that] falls off the app store because nobody knows about it”

“I think there’s a fine line there,” said Thompson. “Yes, you’d like to see [Apple show some] control, but on the other hand, it allows [for independents]…we were all pretty small at one time, so having that opportunity, it’s tough to knock that.”

It’s going to take some time before developers and publishers figure out what works. In addition to a lack of quality standards, there are no standardized pricing structures on the application store. You are allowed to charge whatever you want.

“It’s kind of been a little bit of a race to the bottom,” said Kennedy. ” I like the fact that some of the titles are holding fast and steady at the $9.99 price point. If a dorm room kid developers a 99 cent Texas Hold ‘Em game, puts it up on the platform and then starts getting downloaded…the game may not be as good as, say, a product from us, which is at $4.99…it’s a challenge. I would prefer to see some sort of stable pricing model, but I don’t think that’s something we’re going to see in the future.”

The success of the application store means publishers can’t ignore the platform, no matter the hiccups. Publisher X told me they should be announcing more iPhone support in the next week or so.

iPhone owners, what do you make of Publisher X and Phantom EFX’s concerns? Are you happy with Apple’s handling of the application store so far?