The App Store presents an appealing opportunity to developers. It cuts out much of the traditional cruft of running a software business, such as managing payments and download servers, and Apple’s development tools generally seem to be a hit. Unfortunately, these conveniences weren’t enough for the high school developers behind Syncode, makers of Syncopy, Synotes, and iTweetReply, so they have decided to sell.
In a post on Syncode’s blog, developer Matthew Lesh announced that the company is putting itself up for sale. Syncode has been run by three Australian developers who are all in high school, so you can probably guess where this is going: homework, other jobs, and the socializing demands of the average 2010 high schooler’s life have understandably bumped Syncode from the top of their to-do lists.
This certainly isn’t the first time that App Store developers have had to call it quits. Some, like Justin Williams of Second Gear Software, have left because of philosophical differences with Apple (though even he is jumping back in thanks to changes Apple has made in the past year), while others simply needed a long-overdue vacation.
As for the fate of Syncode and its products, the developers hope to sell either the whole company or its apps individually to other developers who will pick up the torch. There is no mention of supporting the apps with updates in the interim, so let’s hope that an interested party steps up soon so that current users do not get stranded by an iOS update.