The saga about the AppStore continues, this time with the Apple blog suggesting that Apple should allow 3rd parties to deploy their own app stores.
While I’m sure Apple has already looked at this suggestion (after all, they would love to outsource the headaches they currently get from the AppStore), it would be a big mistake. Why? Because of consumer trust, not necessarily in Apple approving the right apps, but in Apple doing enough testing to keep viruses or other malware from making it on the iPhone. Given the popularity and market share of the iPhone, I would be salivating as a bad guy over the prospect of getting my app on the iPhone. I’d probably disguise it as the usual lurid pictures app and include a botnet that can be used to launch a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on AT&T (just for fun) or keylog all of your precious passwords.
I would not be surprised if AT&T (and the other service providers) had a clause in their contracts that mandates Apple not allowing 3rd party app stores. Their biggest fear, apart from the DDOS attacks, are bandwidth hogging apps, such as P2P download services or Slingbox video-streaming over their 3G networks. But then, we’ll never know.
I hope that Apple keeps a cool head through this and keeps the AppStore closed! That does not mean they should not fix the structural problems they have with the AppStore. They have to. But the benefits of a closed AppStore by far outweigh the benefits of an open platform.
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