14 DAY TRIAL // It is well known that Apple will be releasing a software development kit soon, for programmers to use in creating nifty apps for its devices. More than that, the Cupertino-based company has also filed to protect its trademark in relation to games. As a result, people started talking and Daniel Jalkut, who develops the blogging tool MarsEdit and other Mac applications, had a few interesting statements to make regarding the future of iTunes.
Leaving aside all the minor details, it pretty much looks like iTunes is going to be turned into a software store, if all the video game rumors take shape. According to wired.com, Apple will most likely use iTunes as their primary distribution vehicle, making it a massive community of iPhone software developers.
Daniel Jalkut reckons that "a lot of developers simultaneously see this as the best thing and the worst thing in the world. [...] The feeling is: 'Oh no, Apple is going to set up this stronghold where [developers] can't set their own prices or have control,'" Jalkut added. "But personally, I think a lot of them trust Apple enough that they'd be willing to make that trade-off."
John Chuang, an expert in economics and distributed systems and an associate professor at the University of California, at Berkeley School of Information, has a good prognosis for Apple too. Chuang expresses his thoughts on the future of iTunes from a customer perspective, noting that "the experience of looking for and purchasing software for their devices will come from this one unified and familiar platform, and that adds a lot of value."
Then again, when lots of money is involved, someone is bound to get upset whenever things don't turn their way 100%. Developers could very well be that someone who will probably see competition inhibited by the abundance of names and brands that can become available with one click of the mouse. As wired.com notes, Apple themselves would have total control over both the hardware and the service.