Also, people don't freaking read and we can pretend that it's somehow our
problem, but what's so hard at looking at the list of required dependency
and reading:
- wants access to your location
- wants to read your contacts list
The problem with this is these apps poison the whole marketplace. If I'm going to buy a car, I'm not going to buy it from somewhere where half the cars, perhaps the popular, good-looking ones, phone home to advertisers and track my location for profit and where it is my job to read all the paperwork to check which ones do and which ones don't.
The reason why the App Store has been so attractive to developers is that it has engaged users who know the downside of installing random app Foo is not high. If we train users to be wary of apps, it will not be good for hones developers of good quality apps either.
Err, the reason why the App Store has been attractive to developers is because it's a distribution channel that generated money, period.
> If we train users to be wary of apps, it will not be good for honest developers
So what you're saying is that users would learn to not trust implicitly random strangers making promises in exchange for cash and that would somehow harm honest developers? Like how in the world did you reach that conclusion?
Dude, selling an app on the web or in an app store is no different than selling something in the real world. You find some initial customers, if your product is good those customers will give you reviews, they'll tell other people and so on. Trust is something you earn. I don't see where the problem is for "honest developers", I really don't.
>> Err, the reason why the App Store has been attractive to developers is because it's a distribution channel that generated money, period.
I agree. My point is that a large part of why this is true is that users have learned that installing random software from the App Store is mostly harmless. This is in stark contrast to the situation on Windows (desktop) and Android (mobile).
>> Dude, ...
Thanks.
>> selling an app on the web is no different than selling something in the real world. You find some initial customers, if your product is good those customers will give you reviews, they'll tell other people and so on. Trust is something you earn. I don't see where the problem is for "honest developers", I really don't.
Selling an app on the web is different because the user doesn't know who you are. In real life, they can make assessments about your scaminess based on a whole host of (possible irrelevant) factors: is your shop clean and tidy? Is it in a dodgy part of town or on the main high street? This makes them feel more comfortable trying your thing out.
On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog. Or worse, a contact-list sucking, location-tracking, SMS-scanning scammer.
So what you're saying is that there's a business opportunity here, to build an app that provides "quality reviews" of other apps and alerts users when an app they are considering (or have installed) is suspicious.
The reason why the App Store has been so attractive to developers is that it has engaged users who know the downside of installing random app Foo is not high. If we train users to be wary of apps, it will not be good for hones developers of good quality apps either.