A new blog post at Mobile Evolution called We Can Always Go Back to the Old Way of Distributing Software explores the history of mobile ESDs and also looks at how the iTunes app store has changed the game for developers. It is not without its faults, but the advantages are clear.
“Yes, the AppStore review system is archaic and out of our control. Yes, the discoverability is frustrating and when the store breaks, we’re out of luck. But would you really want to go back to the ‘old way’ of distributing mobile software? Let’s look at what the AppStore fixed in terms of mobile software distribution.
Developers have been writing and distributing mobile software since the early days when the Newton came out. Then came the Palm Pilot came on the scene, and things accelerated. Back in 1999, when we first released Date Wheel, we released it as freeware. Why? Because there was no good online method for payment. You included in your software, “If you like this, please send me some money via snail mail,” and included your address in the software.
Electronic Software Distributors (ESD’s) cropped up, most famously for Palm Software: Palm Gear HQ. Customers learned this was the central archive to download software for their Palm Pilot. As this took off, others followed. Then credit card payment options appeared on the ESD. Developers were able to sell software on their own sites with PayPal. Mobile shareware started to become more popular. Hobbyists and micro Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) were listed side by side…”
