So what's the play here for Apple?
A friend of mine suggested this might have been something they were saving for a PR boost, for example offsetting the FaceTime passive surveillance bug they had this week.
Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
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Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple should not have the right to enforce those conditions to begin with. Same as they should not be allowed to kick out apps from their whole platform on a whim. Inacceptable. Such a company should not be allowed to do business in EU. Much worse than what happened with Microsoft in the 90ties.
>> Apple should not have the right to enforce those conditions to begin with Apple is not a state-owned company. They can do whatever they like, and you can choose to support them by purchasing their stock and/or their products. You can choose not to support them by purchasing neither their stock or their products. There are several federal and state laws that define what they "can not do", and this isn't one of them…
Laws can be changed. I argued that they should be changed in order to limit Apples power. I mentioned Microsoft b/c of their importance then, Android/Apple is the same (but duopoly) now.
We limit what business owners can do for 'greater good' in quite some areas. I think it is necessary here too. Apple: enforce access, Android: limit data snooping.
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/193060 The terms are very clear. Apple wants to control distribution of apps, the enterprise program is only supposed to be for employees or for end users using under the direct personal supervision of an employee as part of an in office test. The conditions are clearly defined.
If those users were getting paid to use the internal app, can’t Google or Facebook claim that they were contractors and part of the organization?
They could, but that would be even dumber than the stupid crap they've already pulled. "Oh, you're a contractor, but we don't have a 1099 on you, oh and you're too young to work in your state"
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#204I shocked and surprised that Apple went this route. At least they’re enforcing the rules consistently. My company uses enterprise certs for internal beta/QA builds and I’d hate to see Apple change this program to make things harder for those who have been following the rules.
> My company uses enterprise certs for internal beta/QA builds
That's exactly how they're supposed to be used, so barring rule changes you should be fine.
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you think they're "very clearly laid out", can you quote the relevant sections, and definitions, from the terms that make it so? I've been searching, and asking, and not seen them yet.
On the Apple Developer Enterprise Program webpage [1], the first big feature (of four) is "Deploy In-house Apps" -- "within your organization", "to your employees' devices". I'm not sure how it could be much clearer that this is not intended to be used to distribute apps to customers. [1]: https://developer.apple.com/programs/enterprise/
But the people using these research apps are not, in their role as app-users, "customers". They're contractors, being paid for a service rendered. And other provisos of the agreement specifically define "Permitted Users" to include "contractors".
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Android has 85% of the worldwide smartphone market I think a mistake to make here is thinking that Apple gives a toss.
In fact, one could reasonably say Apple actively tries not to obtain too large of a market percentage to avoid laws affecting monopolies.
More likely it’s about margins and business model.
Apple’s business model is selling high margin products. More share requires lower costs, which increases operational risk and reduces profitability. That’s why Apple stock is cheap compared to other big tech companies... a problem with execution today has a bigger impact than a company like Google that has a stream of revenue from ads on every platform.
You’re going to see changes in the model as they are hitting a growth ceiling, but they’ll probably take a different services path than Google.
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
They weren’t. See the terms at https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/193060 “solely for internal use by Your Employees or Permitted Users, or as otherwise expressly permitted in Section 2.1(f).” https://github.com/nicwise/apple-agreements/blob/master/appl... 2.1(f) Allow Your Customers to use Your Internal Use Applications on Deployment Devices, but only (i) on Your physical premises and/or on Your Permitted Entity’s phy…
Thank you for a link to a readable version of the agreement! It looks to me like "Permitted Users" includes "contractors" like those in a compensated research panel, and thus the Facebook/Google uses are plausibly enabled under the program.
Can you call a 9 year old getting $20 gift cards a contractor?
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#208So what's the play here for Apple?
Partly a PR move in light of the recent FaceTime bug
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#209Applocalypse!
Re: Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
#210Let’s say you’re using a Google API like Maps, and you violate terms by snapshotting sections of their maps and storing them on your severs so you can serve static maps without making API calls. They’d shut down your API access immediately Google and Facebook both knew the terms. They both knew that the Enterprise Distribution Program was for internal use only. They still put ads out in the wild to recruit regular co…
I've worked on enterprise iOS apps that were also shared to some of our customers. I've always felt super paranoid about it and thought Apple would shut us down...
Seeing what's going on with Facebook and Google I guess Apple didn't pay much attention to this.