Alan Quayle on the tide around developers (February 15, 2009)

Application developers care about a clear path to the customer and cash. However, this analogy to Apple misses one critical difference, for operators its not one platform. But developers do not need to create to all platforms, rather focus on a few that give the best ‘bang for the buck.’ Here operators can help […].

It is not only about having a direct path to the profit, but also having a cool device in their hands. Apple surely is a leg ahead of anyone because of the ultimate attractiveness of their device (hence the big addressable market for developers).

Operators have the advantage to other platform owners (think Nokia, and Palm in the nearest future with Pre) of having access to the client’s account, just like Apple have with iTunes Store and App Store, and they have to expose it to the highest available degree to get developers’ attention.