[Web4lib] library-related apps for the iPhone?

Maurice York maurice_york at ncsu.edu
Tue Jul 15 11:38:58 EDT 2008


As far as I understand the App Store, anyone can apply to the
developer program, pay the fee, and post applications. I would be
surprised if Apple had a restriction on how big of an audience the app
had to reach, but I don't know what their criteria are for allowing
things to post on the app store...I would imagine that the main
criteria would be whether the app is functional (i.e., useful and not
fantastically buggy) and non-malicious. I say this mostly because,
browsing through the app store, there's some things there that are
pretty basic (almost to the point of being useless) and others that
would seem to have fairly limited appeal, as well as quite a number of
very good applications. Despite comments from skeptics and the
open-open fan club that criticize Apple for creating a closed
development loop where applications are vetted by them, I very much
doubt that Apple is really trying to throttle application distribution
at that level (although I have read that the one type of application
specifically disallowed is anything that gives real-time directions
based on the GPS system).

But perhaps someone who has read through the developer license can
comment further....

-Maurice



************************************
Maurice York
Interim Head, Information Technology
NCSU Libraries
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695

maurice_york at ncsu.edu
Phone: 919-515-3518


On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 9:47 AM, Paul R. Pival <ppival at ucalgary.ca> wrote:
> Hi all, Peter Brantley has an interesting blog post
> [http://blogs.lib.berkeley.edu/shimenawa.php/2008/07/14/the_show_room_library]
> in which he laments the lack of ebook or library-related apps for the
> iPhone, citing this past weekend's 3G launch as a missed opportunity.  Is
> anyone working on such an application?  If it's for a small audience
> (patrons of one community or institution) will Apple even allow it in the
> store, or does it have to be an application from someone like OCLC that can
> scale to collections worldwide?
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> --
> Paul R. Pival
> Public Services Systems Librarian
> 401D MLT
> University of Calgary
> Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
>
> Phone: (403) 220-5650
> Fax: (403) 282-1218
>
>
>
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