> Develop for iOS. Apple has humans who answer phones and create support tickets and escalate issues and follow up and respond.
Is this true? Because if it is, my next phone will be an iPhone and I will completely move into the Apple ecosystem and develop for publishing in the App Store instead of Google Play Store.
Even though I don't do anything bad, these kind of news do have me absolutely scared that it's simply not worth it. It's beyond ridiculous how Google is treating developers. At least be precise in the cause of the termination, explain exactly what has happened.
I've worked on apps on both platforms, and with others who have.
IIRC you can actually organise a call with somebody at Apple to discuss issues, but not with Google. Can anyone else confirm this? The app dev who shared this info with me was making millions for both Google and Apple.
The same app dev had their app taken down from Google Play but then reinstated within 24 hrs after some furious emailing. I know of another dev who received no response to their desperate emails, who was told to never try to create another account, just like OP. This dev hadn't made Google any money.
Which is a shame because the platform as a developer is awesome. I've developed for both iOS and Android and will always favour Android. But Apple seem to have more consistent and possibly better customer service compared to Google, especially when it comes to the ability to get a knowledgeable answer after failing an app review.
Bummer for the developer, but bad stuff happens randomly to people. Google is able to operate because of the scale of automation they use. I use Google services but often back up my data.
For this developer, as someone else said, Fdroid is a possibility. Same problem as with Apple’s store. I have one app on Apple’s store, but it is free and simply an example program for a book I might finish writing someday.
I would feel nervous depending on either company’s App Store for my livelihood.
Yeah, it’s amazing how painful Google makes any sort of developer support for a company that’s supposed to be “developer-centric”.
With Apple, you may have to convince them of your opinion, but you can very quickly talk to a human who will reply with an actual, thoughtful response.
With Google, if you manage to get a human on the other side of the line, you’re probably weeks or months later, several automated forms and replies deep, and completely confused.
FWIW: As a dev I've made both contact with Apple and with Google reps and it was like day and night. Apple actually offers support and tries to resolve my problems while Google feels like getting some bureaucracy done at a public office or worse. (Speaking of European bureaucracy, YMMV.)
Apple is being too ridiculous at this point. Devs need App Store but Apple also need devs. Being so hostile is going to hurt them pretty bad, both for Apple and for Google.
This is a platform that millions use, this isn't a simple freedom that developers don't have for not using Apple's platform. If Google doesn't support their developers, even if they've already made millions, Google will lose a decent amount of market after developers leave their platform because of these law suits. Imagine 2 or 3 of Googles major games dropping support for Android because law suits they lost in court.
Though I was mostly talking about customer service part and development relations in terms of that.
Google regularly bans developers for absurd reasons or no reasons at all, doesn't let them talk to any humans until the developer causes enough twitter storm and gets some tech sites to write about it to get some attention from Google. Apple at least lets the dev talk to human beings.
I really don't like Apple and would never develop something in their store but I have to admit - at least a human called him and he had some dialog. If this was Google it would have been shut down without any recourse and probably taken the devs entire Google account with it.
"The difference in sizes between Apple and Google’s stores has a lot to do with the ways the two companies choose to manage their mobile app marketplaces. Apple puts developers’ apps through a more extensive review process, while Google allows its developers to publish directly, only stepping in after the fact to deal with things like Terms of Service violations or mobile malware distributions."
Which they do in a harsh and unapologetic way.
The net is filled with accounts by developers who have had their apps removed or developer accounts closed with very little explanations or support on how to restore their account.
Is Apple kinder to developers than google? I always thought it was the other way around but maybe apple's process you before publishing the app is kinder than google's "shoot you in the back" attitude. At least with apple when you are in - chances are that you will stay in...
Well, talk about taking your ball and going home. News like this is something I would have assumed from Apple rather than Google (based on the amount of code they've contributed).
Maybe it's political, maybe it's technical but this is a bit of news I expected yet didn't see coming.
I'm an android developer and I agree with this comment. The article as a whole paints a really bad picture of Apple's development process when, in honesty, I wish Google would learn a bit from the things Apple does really well. I really hope people don't think it's okay to ship an app with a typo in the title -- that's just lazy and irresponsible. While I wish the $99 fee was only required to publish an app (as opposed to being required to develop one), I'm still waiting for the day when Google can truly compete with iOS on a platform and tools level. In my opinion, Google has a long way to go on that front despite their increasing market share (and all revenue advantages that ensue).
Agreed, 100%. Google is basically saying: "We'd love to get this software on as many devices as we can but Apple has their stuff locked down and won't let us develop how we want to so go talk to them about it."
I've just spent 5 minutes googling this claim. It seems totally unfounded. There are stories about how Google engineers, including Rubin, were nonplussed when Jobs first demoed the iphone, because they had no idea what was coming.
There are official explanations for Schmidt's departure from the Apple board that acknowledge the ios/android conflict but do not imply any malfeasance on his part. There are stories that Schmidt even left board meetings when iphone issues were discussed, precisely because of concerns about this.
I'm not saying you're wrong about this, but the evidence for such a claim isn't as obvious as I would expect if it was true.
You are applying a technical reason here, but see the bigger picture. Google is being cut off on making money on iOS generally - in web properties, in apps via admob, etc, etc, so may have made a decision that it is no longer supporting it and may be doing so just as leverage. Apple would see the danger that it would drive folks to alternatives that do support Google products.
> Develop for iOS. Apple has humans who answer phones and create support tickets and escalate issues and follow up and respond.
Is this true? Because if it is, my next phone will be an iPhone and I will completely move into the Apple ecosystem and develop for publishing in the App Store instead of Google Play Store.
Even though I don't do anything bad, these kind of news do have me absolutely scared that it's simply not worth it. It's beyond ridiculous how Google is treating developers. At least be precise in the cause of the termination, explain exactly what has happened.
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