On the Ball

I came across this [obsolete link removed] today via Daring Fireball. I’ve dealt with Brian Ball [obsolete link removed] before when I had InstantGallery on macZOT last year and I’ve had a number of IM conversations with him since, my lasting impression is that he’s not someone I’d want to work with again. These revelations by the xPad developer (and other things I’ve heard privately from other developers) don’t paint a very pretty picture. He puts forward the notion that indie developers can’t possibly survive by themselves and need his marketing genius to save themselves from going out of business.

The following quote is from a comment attributed to him on Will Shipley’s blog that I think sums everything up:

Apple, with 150+ retail stores is moving too fast for the individual developer to be a coder, designer, marketer. But, help is on the way. It just might look at first, like highway robbery.

Or it could just be highway robbery.