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

marketwatch.com

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

#441

Post by padmanabhan01 »

amelius wrote: post #432
Karunamon wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not something you can solve. People want single apps because having to switch across multiple services and multiple accounts (and pay multiple $$$) and remembering what shows are on what services is a piss poor user experience.

Yes, that's why the "platform economy" might need government intervention. A "single place" or "platform", is too detrimental to the economy to ignore as a construct. One reason is that the company behind the platform will now start regulating the market, which is arguably worse than the government regulating it. For some more insights and viewpoints, see: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/docum.…

Isn't government the quintessential "single place" or "platform" problem?

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

#442

Post by scarface74 »

close04 wrote: post #435
scarface74 wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to do something proactive to stop apps that don't conform to your policies (whichever they may be - maybe you don't allow collection of data, or using a specific interface, definitely not malware, etc.) instead of just reacting, and even that too late. I’m saying that with millions of apps in the store and seeing that all app testing is black box testing, the reviewers are not going to catch most things.…

Then to what would you attribute the fact that the AppStore is much better curated than the Play Store? Fewer application submissions? More honest coders? It's a two part answer probably: Apple's store policies are discouraging some of the unwanted behavior, and the actual enforcement of those policies is stricter. Not just a second though.

Most of the “honesty” comes from iOS and it’s just a better thought out model than Android when they introduce new features.

Ad Blockers - the framework is built in a way that third party ad blockers can be installed but they don’t have access to your browsing history. They basically just submit a JSON file that is integrated into Safari and some types of web views

Third party keyboards - because of the opportunity of keyloggers, you have to explicitly go into settings to install one, then you have to give it permission to access the network as a separate step after a huge warning, and even then when you enter a password, iOS switches back to the default keyboard.

SafariViewController - with traditional embedded webviews, the hosting app has complete access to everything you are doing. The SafariViewController runs as a separate process.

The only way that an app on Android can (could?) know if it should stop playing sound was to ask for full permissions to access your phone state.

Why does any app need full access to my storage like Android allows? With iOS, an app has full access to its own file store in iCloud, you can grant it access to your photo library or music library (read only) but it’s very explicit. Any other document outside of those, the user explicitly tells it what file to open.

Why would I ever give a third party app access to my SMS messages? Why is that even an option on Android?

I download stuff without regard on my iPhone because I know that it can’t do anything crazy.

Even if SpyPhone didn’t go through any review process, it’s a track surface is limited on non jailbroken iOS devices.

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

#443

Post by scarface74 »

CaptSpify wrote: post #436
scarface74 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has crapware in the store, but the crapware can’t do the things that SpyPhone can on Android.

> I agree that Android is worse, but that doesn't make Apple's store "Good".

The apps on the store can be good or bad, I don’t care if Apple makes that judgement. I want iOS to limit what any app can do - which it does based on a much better security model.

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

#444

Post by moduspwnens14 »

djsumdog wrote: post #207
andyfleming wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IF applied consistently. This is Netflix though. I'll be interested to see how this plays out.

The big players can dictate a lot of the rules of the game.

Sometimes. Apple certainly pushed back against Uber when they were skirting the rules a few years ago.

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

#445

Post by asdkhadsj »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #235
asdkhadsj wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable. If only we could prove this. Ie, is Apple honestly selling $1,200 phones for a loss such that they need to recoup money from the App Store to turn a profit? If they didn't take the %30 cut, would they still be profitable? I'm not proving a point, simply asking questions I'm curious about. Would be neat if we knew these answers.

Neither one of those questions is relevant, though.

How so? The comment I was replying to was calling 30% unnecessary/unreasonable. However, that's quite the relative statement, no? If (with an obviously fake example) 30% allowed them to break even, who would call that unreasonable?

I feel like the idea of what is reasonable or not is entirely dependent on how much profit they're making. For ease of discussion, I think it would be very reasonable if customer costs reflected operational costs. Ie, sell the phone for just a bit over phone costs (including R&D/etc), sell iCloud for a bit over operating costs, sell App Store usage for a bit over operating costs, etc.

All of that would be very reasonable, no? So what is reasonable and what is not reasonable seems entirely to do with how much profit they're turning. Which of course, as my question asks, is nearly impossible to understand from the outside.

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

#446

Post by tk75x »

orf wrote: post #2

> Epic Games will be launching its hit game Fortnite for Android on its own website, and fans will only be able to download the game there, not on Google Play ... while the setting that blocks third-party installations can be disabled on Android phones. If they are talking about disabling it system wide vs disabling it for a single application, is this not pretty irresponsible? Lots of kids play Fortnite, saying "hey…

IIRC, the setting only needs to be disabled temporarily to allow the installation of a third party app. If you re-enable the blocking setting after you install the game, I don't see any reason things can't work and be secure.

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

#447

Post by mrep »

sjy wrote: post #353
ripdog wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only because Microsoft was in a monopoly position in it's market. Apple isn't, and thus is not subject to the same oversight. Not that the current administration is going to be performing any anti-trust litigation anyway.

Whether Apple is in a monopoly position (with respect to the market for iOS apps) is an open question, really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._v._Pepper

Interesting, the supreme court is hearing that case currently which makes these articles very convenient timing wise: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-18/apple-get...

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

#448

Post by close04 »

scarface74 wrote: post #442
close04 wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then to what would you attribute the fact that the AppStore is much better curated than the Play Store? Fewer application submissions? More honest coders? It's a two part answer probably: Apple's store policies are discouraging some of the unwanted behavior, and the actual enforcement of those policies is stricter. Not just a second though.

Most of the “honesty” comes from iOS and it’s just a better thought out model than Android when they introduce new features. Ad Blockers - the framework is built in a way that third party ad blockers can be installed but they don’t have access to your browsing history. They basically just submit a JSON file that is integrated into Safari and some types of web views Third party keyboards - because of the opportunity o…

> Most of the “honesty” comes from iOS and it’s just a better thought out model than Android

That's essentially what I had to say. Apple enforces these policies - and sometimes will go overboard. I still very much prefer it to what Google does where as a user I feel they are completely neglecting to "take my side". I am not their valued customer, I am just a source of personal data.

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

#449

Post by scarface74 »

Larrikin wrote: post #415
scarface74 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's on the App Store.

A Firefox and Chrome themed wrapper around safari are available on the app store. The meaningful components of those browsers are not.

Well for Google, the "meaningful parts" is to collect data. For users, it's to be able to sync bookmarks, passwords, etc.

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

#450

Post by vkou »

StudentStuff wrote: post #372
vkou wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So, they are technically incompetent, and your business depends on them? Sounds like your business is unsustainable!
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