Some developers are up to the iPhone challenge but others? Not so much

There is a tendency for the Apple-istas to praise any new application made expressly for the iPhone. There is the excellent Plusmo widget portal, the very usable Digg for iPhone, and the truly exceptional new Facebook for iPhone. The iPhone and gadget blogosphere are deservedly abuzz over this one. Mashable called it "stunning," while TechCrunch called it the best iPhone app ever. I think the Facebook app is wonderful, but it does lack the ability to upload new material easily.

Meanwhile there really are some mediocre attempts at riding the iPhone wave. Texterity, the digital magazine supplier has an interesting demo that puts full versions of magazines onto the iPhone screen, although I am still wondering why. I think the technology is impressive. I imagine there might be some use for it in digital cataloging, but it still looks like something that was done for the sake of doing it. Speaking of which, there is the Harper Collins and their preview site for new books. The iPhone version does so little to format the pages properly for the phone, one wonders why they bothered except to appear cutting edge.

One of the great things about the iPhone is low barrier to entry for deveopment. One of the bad things about the iPhone may also be this low barrier to entry. The best apps are following Apple’s lead in identifying the things that people most want to do while mobile and focusing solely on those elements. The less impressive ones leave you wondering "what for?"

Posted under Michael's Blog