Closed App Store or open Android Market? Both, please.

Apple and Google are at war over whose system of accepting apps is better. Here's why they should offer both.

There is little doubt that one of the biggest changes in technology over the last ten years is the adoption of the smartphone. And well as changing the habits of mobile phone users, it's meant a lot of changes to computers in general. Not all have been good - it has propagated some ridiculous patent lawsuits, and it's encourages the rise of some highly dubious "freemium" games - but one of the best things it's brought, in my opinion, in my opinion, is the concept of the app store.

In the Linux world, the idea of the app store is old hat. For decades, most Linux distros have been orgnaised into packages. Some are integral to the system, such as the kernel and desktop, some are standard packages such as Libreoffice, and some are extra packages that users add to their system. To add an extra packages, you simply go to the Add/Remove programme, click on what you want, and Linux downloads and installs it for you. There are a lot of advantages to this method: it automatically installs any other software you need to run this program, everything is automatically updated, and if you ever want to install the program, Linux does it for you rather than relying on a dubious uninstallation package that came with the program. Although most software installed this way is free, it has been used for paid apps too.

So, in theory, it is welcome that this practice has been adopted on smartphones. In practice, however, things are more complicated. There are two big changes between Linux and smartphones. Firstly, it's opened this approach up from a mainly tech-savy small group to the masses of smartphone owners. Secondly, this method of installing software has suddenly become a lucrative way of earning money. As a result, there are now thousands of app writers all jostling for status in a highly competitive market. And this is where Apple and Google have heavily differed in their answer to this challenge.

Time to wise up to Freemium

The recent case of a £1,700 Zombies vs Ninja bill should be a wake-up call for how ruthlessly children are being used as cash cows.

“That will be £699.99, please.”

For all the criticisms I have of Apple, one of the things they got right was the App store. They weren’t first people to use this model (Linux distros had already used this approach for years), but they did pioneer mainstream adoption. This has brought a lot of benefits: software installed through repositories such as App Stores easily remains up to date, you don’t have to search on the internet to find the program you’re after (and therefore little danger of accidentally installing a spiked program masquerading as the one you’re after), and it’s easy to remove anything you don’t like (as opposed to hoping the program came with a working uninstall mechanism). It’s also opened up the market on paid apps beyond the big players, and pushed down prices; no more will we be forking out £29.99 for very basic games. On the whole this has been a major step forwards.

Not everything about it has been welcomed. There are quite a few iffy questions about Apple and Windows 8’s over-zealous vetting policies, which I’ve discussed before. But lately I’ve seen a new breed of programs coming to App stores which I think needs questioning. These are known as “Freemium”, and these apps, usually games, are free to download. But if you want to advance in the game, you have to pay real money to receive in-game power-ups. Let’s make this clear: it is nothing like the old model of a free demo version or a paid full-version – they make their money from customers who pay for upgrades again, and again, and again. Freemium advocates might argue that if you want to be a football champion, you have to spend money on a decent kit and training, but I don’t agree. This is cyber-land, where “training” and “kit” is merely changing a few ones and zeros in your favour, and unlike real training and kit this costs nothing to make. I would rather liken this to an owner of a cricket pitch charging you extra for bowling overarm.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs

The first thing discussed at work today was, of course, the death of Steve Jobs, aged only 56. The news was not entirely unexpected - his retirement from apple earlier this year made many people suspect this day was coming - but few people expected this to happen so soon.

When you're a advocate of Microsoft/Apple/Linux, it's tempting to do nothing but pick faults with the two competitors. I have had a go at Apple for their patent lawsuits against Android smartphones. But that should not distract us from what Apple has achieved under his leadership. Technology is not just about creating something new - anyone, for instance, could have created a miniaturised computer capable of playing MP3 files - it's also about recognising what people want. There is no shortage of inventions out there that failed to take off simply because people saw no point in switching from what they were using before. But Steve Jobs had an extraordinary talent for identifying what will grab people's interest, how to sell these ideas to the public.

The great patent fight

Software patents are a menace to IT development. Instead of protecting innovation, they are being used to stifle it.

Names: Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier

Invention: First manned hot air balloon

Patent infringed: Taking a wig to an altitude over 2,000 ft

Okay, I have relented: in spite of my disdain for updating your Facebook status every five minutes, I’m going to get a smartphone. I’ve therefore been looking for a suitable handset and my current preference is for a Samsung. I don’t have any strong preferences between brands – to me, a handset is a handset – but I do want to show my support for Samsung in their patent battle with Apple.

Since most of you won’t know what I’m talking about, it works as follows: Samsung has been banned from selling its Android tablet in Germany following legal action from Apple over patents it holds. Similar action in Holland has stopped the sales of three Samsung Android phones. However, in turn Apple is being sued by HTC for infringing patents that the latter company brought from Google. Meanwhile, Microsoft claims that Android phone violate its patents and consequently HTC pays royalties to Microsoft, whilst non-compliant Motorola is being sued in the US courts. But Microsoft have been successfully sued by Canadian firm i4i who claimed Word violates their patents. I could go on, but you get the idea.