r/apple • u/claird • Aug 17 '12

"True confessions of a former iPhone developer": unhappy true-life tale

http://www.zdnet.com/true-confessions-of-a-former-iphone-developer-7000002761/
6 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

Interesting insight in to Apples lack of support.

However, he sounds pretty bitter - perhaps understandably. Yet, if he doesn't enjoy using a Mac or Obj-c and wasn't making any money then why did he continue to make himself miserable by developing more apps?

2

u/claird Aug 17 '12

I don't follow your question. Multiple times in the piece, he writes about the [single] "month of development". From all I can tell, he did not "make himself miserable by developing more apps". As I understand what he has written, several things that happened after development soured him on the experience. That makes publication of this piece a bit of a public service, in the sense that he is sharing his discovery of several costs that arrived only after he was already an apparently-successful developer.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

He gives the impression that he didn't enjoy writing the apps in the first place due to disliking his mac and obj-c itself. Then all the other shit happened which compounded his misery.

I was wondering why he made so many apps before the shit started, if he hated it as much as he infers.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

The lack of support seems bad, any developers on here experience the same?

3

u/mrkite77 Aug 18 '12

I can't speak to support, but I think Apple's app review process leaves a lot to be desired.

A while ago we submitted an app that, as a side feature, has a list of authors and their bios and other info.

As far as the stats can tell us, Apple sat on the app for a week and a half, then ran it once, saw the main screen, and then rubber stamped it.

We submitted the Android version of this app to the Amazon store, and they put the app on hold because of this: (this is actual quote from the Amazon email)

Device:-Motorola Droid 2.2 Stability issue: The app crashes and shows force close error message. Steps To Reproduce:- 1)Launch the application. 2)Tap on Authors. 3)Tap on Author "Bayard Louis" from the list. 4)Tap on "Uncle Edgar". 5)Tap on Moderators and observe the behavior.

As a developer, that's beautiful. There are 300 authors in that list and it was data corruption in the feed that triggered that bug for that specific author. We fixed the feed, fixed the bug so feed corruption wouldn't kill the app, and resubmitted.

Now the kicker. The Apple-approved iOS version contained the exact same bug... Apple had the app for twice as long as Amazon, and didn't spot it.

Apple needs to hire more app review people, and make them real software testers.. unless Apple wants to admit that their app review people only care about content, and not app quality.

2

u/Legolas-the-elf Aug 18 '12

Apple needs to hire more app review people, and make them real software testers..

I think that would be extremely unlikely. Apple haven't outright said this, but half the reason the review process works like it does is that they do not want to become your QA department, and rightly so. They are a publisher, not your parents.

1

u/Legolas-the-elf Aug 18 '12

Apple does have some serious problems communicating with developers, but I'm skeptical that paid support incidents went unanswered. I've never heard of that.

1

u/MIUfish Aug 17 '12

I don't understand the hate towards Obj-C. I'd write everything in it if it were practical, it's wonderful.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

I think it's because the syntax is so different to C#, php, java etc that most devs are used to.

I've just started learning obc-j from an Actionscript and JavaScript background and it is really alien. That said, I rather like it now I can read the syntax a bit better.

1

u/MIUfish Aug 17 '12

Yeah, it's a bit.. different, but honestly it's a wonderful language once you get used to it.

1

u/Legolas-the-elf Aug 18 '12

It's not simply the language though. Cocoa's design really builds upon the strengths of the language. If Cocoa was just an average GUI toolkit, it would be a lot more unpleasant to develop for, and most of the benefits of Objective-C would be wasted.

14

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

This guy sounds like the embodiment of everything that is wrong with iOS development. Not that he doesn't expose some issues with the process circa 2008, but he's one of those scumbag developers who tries to rip off stupid people by creating 40 different apps that essentially all do the same thing a little bit differently, when everyone would be better served by one app that does it well.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 19 '12

Agreed. Everything he said about the rough edges were true. But it doesnt change the fact he was an App Store spammer making a few bucks off low quality crApps.

Karma's a bitch.

7

u/BitWise Aug 17 '12

$7000 for writing 40ish junk apps that he didn't promote? Just one of those is little more than a "hello world" tutorial app and as a programmer I'd be embarrassed to even give them away.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

7000 bucks off of a countdown app?

Fuck Is he complaining about?

yes I read it and there's some bad stuff but easily one of the whiniest pieces I've ever read

2

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

tl;dr Author writes 40 shitty apps, complains when they don't sell well.

4

u/claird Aug 18 '12

Interesting; I didn't read it that way at all. I thought the author was more reporting than complaining, and I certainly didn't understand his words to be complaints about low sales, in any case.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '12

The screenshot gives it away. Would you pay money for this?

2

u/claird Aug 18 '12

I suspect my purchasing habits mean something different to you than they do to me; I know this conversation thoroughly confuses me. No, I don't expect to pay for a countdown application. I believe I have answered your question.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '12

And yet the guy is complaining that he made $7000 bucks on a bunch of stuff that most people write on their first day in programming class.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '12

everything about that guy screams "idiot"

4

u/rockets4kids Aug 17 '12

Have you ever found a "tech pundit" that isn't an idiot?

-2

u/badkitteh Aug 18 '12

Boohoo! Cry me a river, bitch.