Developers learn to play by the rules of Apple’s OS

The introduction of Apple’s Application Store for the iPhone was seen as game-changing in the mobile world, yet lately it has been getting mixed reviews in the developer community. While the software giant welcomed many third-party app developers to step up and provide functionality the handset lacks, it has also closed its doors on at least one developer with a competitive edge.

Two new mobile apps, Flutter and Podcaster, had very different experiences maneuvering Apple’s operating system (OS). The brainchild of mobile social networking company JuiceCaster, Flutter was introduced to iPhone users this week, bringing an experience like MMS to the iPhone. The company couldn’t be happier with the software giant, according to Amir Hosseinpour, vice president of product management at Juice Wireless, makers of JuiceCaster, which has already proven popular as a social networking app on carrier’s decks including those of AT&T and Alltel. He said that Apple’s software development kit (SDK) allowed Flutter to get on the handset quickly and without the typical set of steps other OSs require.

“On the iPhone, Apple will do a cursory review to make sure it doesn’t breach any content violations or anything overt, but they very much rely on your own quality insurance, which means you cut down on the cycle from several months to several weeks, which is great for fast-paced start-ups because you’re coming up with ideas and just want to get them out to market,” Hosseinpour said.

The free download lets users send picture messages to their contacts on any network or handset with optional geo-tagging for location data. With today’s iteration of the app, rather than receiving the picture itself, the recipient gets a link to follow for a thumbnail version of the image. Flutter also doesn’t accept MMS messages in return, a standard feature of MMS on most other handsets. Hosseinpour said that JuiceCaster is considering adding both of these abilities after overwhelming feedback from users who want a true MMS experience.

“Ultimately, we’ll never be able to truly replicate MMS as AT&T and Apple could on the iPhone, because they control the network and the firmware,” Hosseinpour said. “What we can do is build a layer on top of it that essentially emulates the sending of MMS and receiving of MMS.”