iPhone Developer Limitations

The iPhone developer program has several inherent limitations. Price is the first issue. The developer's kit can be downloaded for free, yet publishing the programs on the application store costs $100. Currently, the developer's kit only works on Apple Macintosh computers. Apple will also take 30% of the sales from each application and 70% will go to the developer. Despite these limitations, hundreds if not thousands of programs have been developed for the iPhone. Most programs cost 99 cents to download. Considering some estimates say Apple will sell 10 million iPhones this year, selling a few hundred copies of programs will cover the initial costs. In comparison, Google's Android operating system for mobile phones has a more open developer program. The developer program will work on multiple platforms and there are currently no stated fees to publish the programs. Both Google and Apple are trying to establish themselves as the operating system for mobile phones. The benefits would be similar to what Microsoft has experienced with establishing Windows as the operating system for personal computers. Currently, Google's method is more in line with Microsoft's history. The developers create software for the platform without paying the owner of the operating system.

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