David Heinemeier Hansson commenting on the Nokia N9 and the apps he needs to make a phone useful:
>But the established wisdom now is that you cannot win without hundreds of thousands of apps.
I have to disagree, DHH is arguing that if you get the core apps right (for him those are: Safari, Camera, iPod, Clock, Weather, Photos, Messages, Mail, and Maps) then you have a rock solid device. That is a hard argument to argue with because he is right, 3rd party apps don’t make a device good.
Third party apps make a good device, great — and that is where I disagree with him.
With DHH’s argument you would also have to wonder why someone just doesn’t own a dozen or so items of clothes, after all if you have one really good shirt, why do you need two from two companies? It’s really about choice and whether those choices are good or bad it doesn’t matter, it’s what the current market is demanding — to ignore the current market, well ask RIM how that works out.
This late in the game it is downright foolish to think that you can compete with iOS jsut offering the “core” apps.