Apple to launch official iPhone Web applications directory
Apple as early as Wednesday is expected to launch as part of its website a directory of official Web 2.0-based iPhone applications, AppleInsider has been told. — One developer familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous …
Context & Ripple Effects
Since the iPhone launched in June 2007, Apple's only sanctioned path for third-party software has been Safari-based Web apps — a stance that drew public criticism, including a columnist's accusation that Apple was abandoning its founding ethos of creativity by shutting out native developers. Developers built for the browser anyway: Digg shipped an iPhone-optimized version of its site within weeks of launch, part of a wave of Web 2.0 tools designed for the device's screen.
Now AppleInsider reports, via an anonymous developer, that Apple plans to host an official directory of those Web 2.0 iPhone applications on its own website as early as Wednesday — with 9 to 5 Mac separately spotting iPhone webapps surfacing on Apple's Downloads feed. The move takes Apple from merely tolerating third-party web apps to curating them, while still offering no native development path.
First-order effects
- iPhone web app developers gain an official Apple-run discovery channel on apple.com, replacing reliance on scattered third-party lists for visibility.
- Unofficial iPhone app directories and link farms lose their main traffic source the moment Apple's curated list goes live.
Second-order effects
- By legitimizing third-party software through an official catalog while still blocking native access, Apple sharpens the open-versus-closed debate around the iPhone — raising pressure on the company to clarify its developer roadmap.
- Web frameworks and toolmakers serving iPhone-targeted sites get a demand signal, as inclusion in Apple's directory becomes a distribution goal worth engineering for.
Third-order effects
- The directory establishes curation-as-gatekeeping on the iPhone: whoever hosts the list controls which software users find, a structural role that points toward Apple-managed software distribution as the platform matures.
- If the pattern holds, carrier and OS vendors beyond Apple face the same choice between open web distribution and vendor-controlled catalogs for mobile software discovery.
The trend: Mobile platforms are shifting from open, browser-based software distribution toward vendor-curated application catalogs, with Apple's iPhone setting the template.