[SailfishDevel] When does Jolla give us an API?

[Putze Sven]

Hi there,

during Fosdem I spoke to some people about this, even to Carsten Munk from Jolla itself (not in the depth and detail of this mail, I must admit) and he suggested to write this in the mailing list, so those of Jolla who should be concerned have a chance to answer this question and I really would like to hear some official statements here.

Let's just assume the business model of Jolla is selling phones and/or operating systems (that is not meant as a joke neither as rant, I simply don't know their business model and they don't need to tell me, to make that clear  - referring to http://stezz.blogspot.de/2013/10/jolla-community-and-innovation.html here). But for the sake of convenience I further presume they want to sell phones. Doesn't seem too absurd to me.

Jolla must sell phones to pay their bills in the end. More sales = easier life (I am simplifying here).

What brings more sales?
A phone that is somehow attractive to the user. So far Jolla lived from the geek factor and there is nothing wrong about that but geeks alone are IMHO not enough to pay future bills.

What may be attractive to Mr. and Mrs. Average?
A phone that has a somehow *sexy* image? Maybe.
A phone that comes together with an attractive eco system (and I chose the words eco system here with thought)?
Yes!
What makes an eco system attractive?
Many quality  *native* apps. *Native* is the keyword here, because many and sometimes quality apps can be found on any other platform ou there. Only *native* apps come with the user interface that distinguish a Jolla phone from other phones (from the user perspective).

What does a developer need to write quality apps?
An API and a documentation of such.

So far there is a quite limited API available and therefore we don't see too many apps out there. How will you write a sophisticated app, if the API is not available or it is not allowed to use or is only known to those with Maemo/Meego history?

Maybe there are not so many developers interested in SailfishOS?
Fosdem clearly showed a lot of interest!

What will draw the attention of a developer to this eco system if not a way to make money and/or easy development?
Making money out of the harbour store is not possible (yet), so it could only be the latter (ignoring the geek factor here).

So please, please, give us APIs and documentation. Does the API change? So what? Life is change and a changing API is a zillion times better to have than none at all.

Yes, there is some level of frustration in these words here, but I hope they don't come across as a rant. They are meant as constructive criticism and maybe as a a broad hint 8)

BR.
Sven
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