Apple to remove third-party development tool restrictions from app store
Apple’s announcement that it is to ease a number of restrictions on App store app development, Adobe is possibly set to resume work on a tool for the iPhone.
The lifting of restrictions on third-party developer guidelines could see Adobe now develop its Packager tool for the iPhone which will allow developers to export their Flash projects onto the platform.
The feature is used by developers in authoring tool Flash Professional CS5 although Adobe would not work on the project due to the restriction by Apple in its useage in creating applications to submit to the Apple Store, which has final approval of all apps it makes available for download.
Meanwhile, Mark Mason, managing director of app development agency Mubaloo has praised the move by Apple to publish the guidelines which it uses to determine which apps may be featured within its App store.
“It is a logical step for Apple, who now offer over 250,000 of apps within the App Store, to share its rules and in doing so, streamline their approvals process,“ said Mason.
“For cautious apps entrants, this provides a safe grounding for them to enter the field. For game shapers, the boundaries are of course still there to be challenged, as Mubaloo has seen in the past! In the previous whirlpool of approvals, some of Mubaloo's clients have made the decision to challenge convention, submitting apps that break a mould and risk rejection. The worst-case scenario leads to tweaks and
re-submission, whilst we've also seen clients release sector shaping solutions,” he continued.
As for the lifting of restrictions on third-party development tools, the agency’s CTO, Ben Trewhella, said that it was unfortunately not possible to build engaging, secure mobile devices without understanding the software involved in programming it.
“Professional development teams learn to use their tools at the native level, or make use of prototyping tools before optimising at the native level,” said Trewhella.
“Unity, Torque and Flash may all have a role to play in simplifying the route to prototype development, allowing the user experience to be approved ahead of traditional coding and integration. Given how long it took Apple to create its ubiquitous Software Development Kit, Xcode, We are interested to see how long it will take for Adobe to truly catch up with an equivalent solution. And will this ever be able to offer the faith we experience when applying Apple code? No client wants the risk of stalling a project upon a new Apple release, in order to wait for Adobe to update their tools,” he added.