As a product manager, I look at each feature addition very carefully. Recently (in froyo release of android) google added a feature where users can install the application on external media like SD card. The first reaction to this feature would be : Wow!. Google 1 up over apple as iphone memory is fixed and I cannot increase that but within a month challenged have started to show up.
Users can now take this application on the stored media and use it in another device without buying the application. To prevent this piracy google announced a new feature today: cloud based licensing service. Again the first reaction: Cool idea. The service lets the developers control and lockout the user in case the app cannot ping cloud periodically. Think about the impact of such a feature. Now if a developer chooses to add this feature then what happens when network is not available like while I am in flight or bad connection. I understand that the developer can control the behavior and also the frequency etc… but still this is way too complex. More decision points for developer and clearly developers are going to get hurt either which way they go.
This is a great example of feature bloat in products where customers get negative value for a feature added over long run.
