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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/898
MacDirectory 59
INTERVIEW
AW > Yes, they did temporarily. It didn't
take us long to figure out what they did to
do that. What we do is we don't put any
codes on the iPhone. We don't jail break it
or do any fancy hacking stuff. We just
upload the actual sound clip in the same
way that iTunes does. We just had to do a
little massaging to get it going. It took us
about a week to get it up and running. It
wasn't that big of a deal.
MD > Do you think that Apple is going
to start doing anything more with third-
party developers?
AW > I think, clearly they are, to an extent.
They indicated that they are going to be
releasing a development kit in February. It
still remains to be seen what that
development kit is going to let developers
do but I think Apple realizes it would be
really beneficial to them to allow third-
party developers to do stuff on the iPhone
and I think it could be a really interesting
platform. We are interested in doing
something more with the iPhone. We are
just waiting to see what this development
kit is going to look like.
MD > You said in an earlier interview that
Apple wanted total control. Do you still
feel that way?
AW > I think that's the case and I still think
what has happened is there are certain
market realities that may have changed
their mind. I think (Steve) Jobs, and some
of the people there, have a very strong
inclination they would like to control every
element of everything that you run on
your computer. But I think they also
realize that as the device gets more and
more general purpose it's not possible to
do that because there are plenty of
opportunities for developers to make
things Apple will never make and I think
you are seeing that with the iPod.
That was a very closed system but the
iPod only does so much. It plays music, it
plays videos and that's pretty much all it
does, I think, initially, Apple's vision for
the iPhone was similar. They are going to
make this great closed platform and they
are going to fulfill everyone's fondest
desire for a phone. But I think they found
out that people wanted to do a whole lot
more than Apple was willing or able to
do themselves. I think there's been a
certain amount of criticism from
developers and users about opening up
the iPhone, and I think Apple has
listened. I really think their first inclination
was to not open it up and I think they
changed their mind.
MD > You have been outspoken in your
interviews regarding Apple, the iPhone
and their restricting access by third-party
vendors. Did you feel like Apple was
stepping on your toes?
AW > Not really. Honestly, for Apple it's all
business and for us it's all business. I don't
get upset. It just seems like some of the
decisions they were making were a little
counter-productive not just for us but for
users of the iPhone. The functionality we
provide in iToner really is something Apple
should be providing themselves and it's
fine by us that they are not because it
gives us a niche to write the application
for. It is a little frustrating when you see
Apple taking a very successful model that
they had with the iTunes Music Store and
then iTunes.
Let's say you have an iPod. You can take
music from anywhere and you can put it
on your iPod. You can take your CDs and
rip them. Let's say you have some LPs
laying around, you can record those and
put them on your iPod or you can buy
them from their online store. One of the
things Apple did, they said, 'We know you
can get your music from any number of
places so we are going to make the
buying experience buying from our store
so fantastic that you are going to want to
buy from us.' They really did. They did a
really nice job with that and it worked out.
The shame is with the ring tones they are
kind of taking the opposite approach in
not saying we are going to win by
providing better contents - they basically
said this is the only way that you are going
to get a ring tone and you have to buy
something from us. I just think that is
ultimately a less successful strategy
because it just frustrates people who want
to use their devices.
MD > What do you and Ambrosia see for
a new product?
AW > We've got a video capture product
called SnapZProX. We have been working
on a major upgrade to it. Wiretap Studio
is a result of several years work on an
upgrade of an existing product called
Wiretap Pro and we are kind of using the
same development model for the upgrade
to our video capture product where we
are really expanding the capabilities of it
letting you do some editing and some
really neat stuff with that.
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