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Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

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Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#371

Post by PhasmaFelis »

tomc1985 wrote: post #320
Barrin92 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And virtually unavoidable in the smartphone app space because of the gatekeeping function of the stores. I don't know exactly how we got here given that nobody would have accepted this sort of curation on a desktop, but we somehow just walked into it on our phones.

We got here rather simply... Apple introduced the iPhone with no apps at all, then gave a half-assed open solution (bookmarks on your home screen, essentially), then they introduced the App Store, with their rules. Since there was no other way to get apps on the phone (short of jailbreaking), App Store won and Play Store was built in this model. Other smartphones in this space at the time (Windows Mobile and Blackber…

Unless they've changed it recently, you can install anything you want on an Android phone. You just have to change a setting to allow apps from unknown sources. It takes a few seconds.

I believe this is still the only way to get the Humble Bundle app/game installer on your phone. https://www.humblebundle.com/app

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#372

Post by StudentStuff »

vkou wrote: post #360
gesman wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building business that solely relies on constant mercy of someone else's platform is an extremely risky endeavor to begin with.

Any business solely relies on the constant mercy of their power and water utilities. For some reason, though, we don't tolerate Seattle City Light choosing to arbitrarily not supply electricity to another company, or Cupertino's water utility charging extortive rates to Apple, just because the latter has deep pockets.

Funny you mention Seattle City Light, have you seen their new (vulnerable) smart meters? They're fun to tango with, broadcasting with FSK modulation on 900Mhz and 2.4Ghz :3

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#373

Post by ceejayoz »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #323
BeefySwain wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would reject the update that attempted to roll out that system.

Except that bunches of apps with that model are being accepted now.

Live-updating apps are fine.

One that attempts to use that functionality to get around the App Store's guidelines, especially one as prominent as Spotify's, will be noticed and yanked from the store.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#374

Post by sametmax »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #313
madrox wrote: post #214

I worked on an app that is in the same category as Netflix. A week before launch, Apple chose to reject us in spite of months of meetings and reviews with their app teams and assurances we were in-bounds since we were working with them for launch featuring. It came down to the fact we required an email address and password for IAP so you could bring your subscription to the web or other platforms. While everyone else…

> They're already trying to control the UX with the TV app and are offering companies better rev share rates to do the integration work. To be fair, that’s not the only reason the TV app was created. Most notably: – Users want a single place to keep track of all the shows they’re following across all services. Streaming services weren’t coming up with a cooperative solution for this, so Apple did it instead. – Plainl…

On the other hand, Apple controlling the UI means, as usual, they kill other services ability to innovate.

But most apple users don't care to have very limited capabilities as long as the core value is here and it's streamlined in the apple experience. Hell, they used a phone without copy/paste for a long time and it didn't bother them.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#375

Post by skc »

Barrin92 wrote: post #295
gesman wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building business that solely relies on constant mercy of someone else's platform is an extremely risky endeavor to begin with.

And virtually unavoidable in the smartphone app space because of the gatekeeping function of the stores. I don't know exactly how we got here given that nobody would have accepted this sort of curation on a desktop, but we somehow just walked into it on our phones.

This is why I was always bemused at the glee with which people reacted to the deaths of all the other smartphone endeavors.

And the tech press played a huge role in this with their blatant bias as well in my opinion.

A healthy platforms war would have ensured that Apple/Google would have had to think twice about some of these practices.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#377

Post by close04 »

masonic wrote: post #364
tommymachine wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And arguably far more necessary. We have our phones turned on and with us almost 100% of the time we are alive. They can track our locations and hear everything we say. It's more important to control what apps can have access to with smartphones than it was on any prior platform.

control what apps can have access to with smartphones But the Play store doesn't do that. It just documents what permissions are sought by the app, not whether this privileges are appropriate... hence flashlight apps seeking Contacts and Location.

Play Store is at the other end of the spectrum where you can literally upload massive amounts of malware and no one bats an eye.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#378

Post by sametmax »

Barrin92 wrote: post #295
gesman wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building business that solely relies on constant mercy of someone else's platform is an extremely risky endeavor to begin with.

And virtually unavoidable in the smartphone app space because of the gatekeeping function of the stores. I don't know exactly how we got here given that nobody would have accepted this sort of curation on a desktop, but we somehow just walked into it on our phones.

Mass market is how we got here.

The phone made the flow of non tech savvy users the main source of income.

Before, you had to please geeks, and they thought about products, compared, communicated, criticized and decided where to spend their money.

Now, you have to please people that chose products based on ads, design and trends, but don't have any basic understanding of their device yet makes a lot of noise when they get them self in trouble.

That's the same story anywhere you start with a group of passionate people on something that proves successful: amateurs arrive, then money, then policy.

Any job, hobby, venue, city, sport, product, etc. is susceptible to this problem.

It's why the mt Everest is now an expensive highway full of frozen shit, why battle net turned into an insult party, why Adventure park now have those unusable security systems that take the fun out of it, why websites abuse "target=_blank", why you have weird safety messages on microwaves and why you need to provide medical certificates for so many stupid things now a day.

But.

It's also why you can have a device in your pocket that act as your camera, tv, music player, news provider, landline, game console, pager, gps, phonebook for a 10th of the price of a gigantic calculator from 40 years ago.

In the hilarious canadian comedy, "The Decline of the American Empire", the main character makes a point, stating there are 3 things that makes a winner in history: 1, number. 2, number. 3, number.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#379

Post by sametmax »

tommymachine wrote: post #319
Barrin92 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And virtually unavoidable in the smartphone app space because of the gatekeeping function of the stores. I don't know exactly how we got here given that nobody would have accepted this sort of curation on a desktop, but we somehow just walked into it on our phones.

And arguably far more necessary. We have our phones turned on and with us almost 100% of the time we are alive. They can track our locations and hear everything we say. It's more important to control what apps can have access to with smartphones than it was on any prior platform.

Since PRISM, we know the players you really don't want to be able to track your location have a backdoor in those systems anyway, and the manufacturers are forbidden by law to talk about it.

It's annoying that candy crush get a piece of your private life.

But it's nowhere close to the problem of big entities that already have a huge control on your life to be able to know everything about you while you can't know anything about them.

The app store is just a symptom of it though, and a small one.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#380

Post by happywage »

I have a startup which builds a web-based enterprise product. A year ago we launched a companion app that provides a fraction of the functionality of the desktop application, just enough to help our customers extract the key information they need when they're on the road.

All of a sudden a few days Apple decides we have to implement in-app payments. I explained them that this is an enterprise product for an arcane industry and that our customers require quotations/invoices raised to their procurement department and would not pay several hundred to several thousand dollars through the app. They insist we have to implement in-app payments despite not helping our customers nor our business. We don't have automated billing at all, not even on our desktop product. The requested change means months of development for no value (at this point).

No way to appeal. We can currently not update our app and if we don't implement in-app payments in an unspecified time our current version will be pulled too.

Thanks, Apple.

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