More on TechnologyTell: Gadget News | Apple News
The perils of selling e-books as iPhone apps: A 148-app limit?
December 1, 2008 | 8:58 am
|
By David Rothman
Apparently you can’t install more than 148 apps on an iPhone. Yet one more argument for not turning individual e-books into apps? I found this little tidbit wile writing up 148Apps.com, which, yes, got its name from the limit.The big questions here are (1) is the info correct, and (2) will Apple raise the limit?
If Apple won’t, then publishers could be asking for trouble if they rely too heavily on individual e-books as apps. Just consider the inherent restriction on how many books their customers can buy and use regularly on the iPhone without bothering with transfers from desktops.
Another trap: The device tie
The other problem with e-books as apps is the tie with a specific device. Far, far better for publishers to focus on ePub books for the iPhone. Market a few books as apps if you want, but keep in mind that long term, you’re better off with a standard nonproprietary format—without DRM to muck things up. I’d welcome thoughts from publishers using apps for individual books.
What 148Apps writes: “148 is the maximum number of applications you can install at once on the iPhone OS device. (9 pages x 16 = 144 + 4 in the static bar at the bottom = 148) But 148 includes the default applications. As of 2.1 that is 19 apps leaving you with 129 installable apps. We know because we tried it! What happens if you try to install more? Nothing, iTunes lets you do it, but they just don’t show up on the menu.”
Technorati Tags: 148Apps
|
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
Okay… an iPhone/iPod Touch is a portable multimedia device/phone. It hasn’t quite advanced to the stage of being a desktop replacement. Close, but not quite yet. At this point it is an extension of your digital life, not a replacement for all other digital devices.
And why would you want/need 129 separate applications on the thing in the first place – unless you are just out to test limits?
Pick your 10 preferred types of applications that you would use all the time and leave the remaining space for experimenting with new apps if you can’t resist them. And delete them when you are done playing around.
This is like the complaints of people who think a PMP (Personal Media Player) that doesn’t have room for their entire 200GB music collection isn’t good enough.
These are people on the fringes of the real world. Normal/regular users don’t max out these devices like this.
I think the end of my previous comment is relevant here:
http://www.teleread.com/blog/2008/11/28/e-book-popularity-surge-as-shown-by-amazons-11-to-13-week-back-orders-oprah-effect/#comment-973912
I doubt that if e-books become popular that Apple will allow things to continue as they are.
Moving ebooks into iTunes itself would benefit the end user by making library management much easier. Expect yet another form of DRM to be introduced, too.
Boy, I’d be in trouble. I have 342 non-DRM, open format ePub books on my iPod Touch…
(and a few hundred more waiting to be copied over…)
I didn’t know about this 148-app limit til now (despite tripping across the 148Apps site a few days ago).
I doubt Apple will let it continue for long. OK — for TOO long. It would cost them money, for one. And surely *someone* — OK, some *bot* — is crunching numbers of the average number of apps (including “appbooks”) being dl’ed/installed. There has to be an algorithm that would sound an alarm.
Seems that everyone is missing the point here. The point is that Apple had to put the information about this limit forth from very beginning, the same as it puts it about HDD limit, like 16GB or 8GB, and it didn’t. Now, it still being quiet about this issue. Apple should publicly make a statement about it. Obviously, this limit is very inconvinient.
I am bumping up on the 129 apps limit(can’t remove Apple’s apps). For example, I have 2 calculators, 1 does some things well, while the other does some stuff better. Plus Apple’s resident calc which i can’t remove = 3. Two weather apps, same reason.
I like games. Arcade, some physics games, strategy, board games, copule of chess games, several golf games(different depending on my mood), ditto reasons for racing games like golf, plus some card & puzzle games for my girlfriend when travelling.
About 10 news apps, Digg, AP, NYTimes, etc.
I am a systems analyst by profession, so i have a couple of apps for accessing computers & servers remotely.
About 10+ radio/music apps.
About 10+ instrument playing apps, couple guitar, ocarina, couple keyboards, Japanese strings, thumbpiano, some composing apps..
I use the iphone more than my home computer now. Amazing!!
It all adds up.
As someone said, invariably in the past, every time these limits are set, they are soon met.
640K ram? NO one will ever need more than that! a quote attributed to Bill Gates.
Yes…I have same issues like Slick with the Iphone 3G…I have already used up all the 148apps space..
Apple has made it tricky, so we can purchase the apps, but it won’t show up on the screen…
That’s not fair…Let me know if you guys have any solution for this…This is getting annoying…