WHEN it comes to Apple approving cutting-edge and much-wanted apps for its iPhone, the buck stops with the company — and that’s just the problem, according to group of developers.
The group claims Apple is short-changing them by not paying them what they are due for helping the tech giant reach the one-billion-apps-sold milestone recently.
In an increasingly vocal manner, the cash-strapped developers are taking to Internet chat rooms and trading stories about extremely late payments and unresponsive Apple representatives.
One app publisher, who spoke exclusively to The Post, said Apple owes “over $10,000” dating back to February. The developer would speak only on the condition of anonymity out of fear Apple would cut him off.
An Apple rep confirms that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company tells “developers [it] will pay them within 45 days” and offered to talk with the developers in question — but dozens of app creators, many of them small, scrappy startups, say that’s just a lot of talk.
The issue of late payments appears to have started early this year, about the time Steve Jobs took a medical leave of absence. At that point, iPhone development message boards began lighting up. In April, the blog TechCrunch did a scathing report on Apple, citing developers who’d been waiting for checks since November.
Fast-forward three months and there still have been no known actions or responses from Apple — even after being pressed by The Post.
One app writer said “We had an overall [top ten app earlier this year] and had significant sales. When we didn’t receive the February payment for overseas sales but had already received the domestic payment for April, we started to get concerned.”
According to developers, the only way they can contact Apple’s finance department is via a single e-mail address. “We sent several e-mails to Apple’s payment e-mail — there is no phone number to call and were told it would be resolved by the next payment cycle,” the developer said. “However, it’s now July and I’m waiting on many international payments dating back to sales made in February.”
Selling a million iPhone 3GS units in the first three days, and over 21 million iPhone units in the past two years, Apple is obviously aware it is the only game in town — despite pressure from the geeky Google Android and the underwhelming Palm Pre. What are the developers going to do, Apple must be thinking.
In fact, despite talk of potential lawsuits, the developers all but admit they are powerless. When asked if the payment issue would make them hang up on the iPhone, the developers we spoke with said no.
Damon Brown
News Flash
Speaking of Apple, there is yet another potential iPhone killer coming down the ‘pike — Google’s new HTC Hero.
The phone, due out later this summer, will be the first Android smart phone fully compatible with Adobe’s Flash, an Internet-video staple that is on more than one million phones — but not a single iPhone, thanks to a spat between Apple co- founder Steve Jobs and Adobe.
“Part of the promise of these devices is you can get the ‘Net everywhere, and the absence of Flash on the iPhone means that’s not true,” says Forrester Principal Analyst Charles Golvin.
It was over a year ago that Jobs publicly dissed Adobe at a shareholders’ meeting, saying its Flash Lite wasn’t up to snuff for the iPhone. Now millions of users of Windows Mobile, Symbian, and other smart-phone platforms can download Adobe Flash Lite, consumers of the new Palm Pre are expected to have it soon and, with the HTC Hero, new Google Android customers will have it out of the box.
Apple hasn’t announced Flash plans at all — despite it having the most buzzworthy mobile platform and a relationship with Adobe from its extensive Mac software. And according to Adobe, more than 80 percent of the Web uses Flash — which would make those sites or parts of those sites unreadable on the iPhone.
Ironically, Apple had to work with Google itself to create a special, non-Flash version of YouTube for the iPhone.
Still, when it comes to the HTC Hero, analysts doubt Flash alone will draw many iPhoners to Google’s third phone attempt. “The [Flash issue] is pretty far down the list for the average consumer,” Golvin says. “If this difference had been on [Google’s first phone] the G1, it would have been more meaningful to those buyers since they were a much geekier, tech-savvy audience.”
“I think there is a class of iPhone user who does care about [Flash], frustrated with not being able to access some of the sites they like,” Golvin says, adding “It’s a minority.” Damon Brown
business@nypost.com