Apple has locked me out of my developer account • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#351

Post by ninju » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #312

mortenjorck wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. This is indeed the core of the problem. If Apple provided a clear citation, e.g. “the following protected information was shared under your name at this URL on this date, which violates section xyz of your developer agreement,” it would still be unfortunate, but it would be miles ahead of Apple’s maddening “for more informatio…

How do we know Apple didn't provide that ? If the author is being disingenuous and misrepresenting why likely was banned then I am sure other facts are being left out as well.

> If the author is being disingenuous and misrepresenting why likely was banned then I am sure other facts are being left out as well.

And how do you know the author is being disingenuous ?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#352

Post by bsder » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #301

fjabre wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please enlighten me. I would love to hear what your explanation of a monopoly is.

A monopoly is not a platform that has less than 50% market share.....

That is not strictly true even in the law.

However, if we define the "market" as "places that you can legally purchase and install iOS device apps from", the App Store is close to 95%+ of the market share.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#353

Post by IOT_Apprentice » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:46 PM UTC

FussyZeus wrote: post #142

chipsa wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can manually kill a Dev account, they can include a message why it was killed. Even if it's generic form letter, it can be one that at least says what rule was broken.

They can. But why should they? What's the benefit?

How about not being sociopaths and providing goodwill to their developers who fill their App Store with products customers use? I mean they aren't Google. :)

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#354

Post by 205guy » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:48 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #316

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. That wasn’t what I basically support at all. Thanks for the strawman. You should absolutely be able to critique anything at all. Are you saying leaking preproduction software against your contract to not do that is a first amendment issue? I do believe no one has tried to silence his speech, as proven by this post about it. He broke a contract and now isn’t allowed to use their tools.

> I do believe no one has tried to silence his speech, as proven by this post about it. He broke a contract and now isn’t allowed to use their tools. Are you really claiming that being cut off from financials due to criticism is not an attempt to punish criticism? > No. That wasn’t what I basically support at all. Thanks for the strawman. It's not a strawman if you don't understand why being financially punished for…

The problem is that the OP seems to have used his dev account to get access to information and divulge it against the TOS. He used his financial source to profit in other ways against the interests of his financial source.

If my company had a meeting where I learned about quarterly results ahead of any public disclosure, and then I published them somehow, I wouldn't have grounds to complain when they find out and terminate me.

If the OP had a totally clean use of his dev account, and he published articles critical of Apple without inside info, and then had his dev account terminated, then I'd be worried about Apple's overreach and dangerous power. But that's NOT what appears to have happened here.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#355

Post by xvector » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:54 PM UTC

fjabre wrote: post #309

pdonis wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Government needs to get involved. I don't see how this would improve the situation, and it would most likely make it worse. > Devs have absolutely no recourse against this monopoly. Devs have no right to demand that Apple let them into their ecosystem. It belongs to Apple. The ultimate dev recourse is not to go complaining to the government but to build their own ecosystem that out-competes Apple's. Good luck.

Out compete Apple? You cant be serious. Unless you have a phone that uses quantum entanglement to communicate at FTL no one is out competing Apple anytime soon.

Google out-competed Apple long ago with Android in terms of marketshare.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#356

Post by xvector » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:59 PM UTC

ouid wrote: post #219

pcroh wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't even have 50% of market share in any country, how are they in "complete control" of anything?

They are in complete control of the programs that you can install on your iphone, and take 30% of all transactions that occur through that marketplace. Are you a lawyer for apple?

> They are in complete control of the programs that you can install on your iphone,

This isn't a monopoly. With your logic I could scope down to arbitrary levels and call everything a monopoly.

* Oh, Safari is a monopoly because you can only set the search engines Safari lets you!

* Verizon is a monopoly because they look the bootloader on a phone bought from Verizon!

* Target is a monopoly because you can only buy the products Target sells when you're in Target!

Monopolies are considered in the scheme of the wider industry. And in the wider industry, Apple is far from a monopoly. Both users and businesses can move to other platforms that in fact have more consumers.

Just like you could go to another supermarket down the street, you can switch from iOS to Android.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#357

Post by Razengan » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:59 PM UTC

garyb2 wrote: post #330

dkonofalski wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with that statement but I don't think they're stringing him along. We only have his side of the story and, based on previous instances of similar behavior, that story is likely incredibly biased, flawed, and not reflective of what's actually happening. In this case, there may even be a lawsuit involved so it's not as simple as a customer service rep telling them "you've been banned".

Perhaps. My experience with Apple is that they do what they want and getting anything out of them occurs on their timeline. If you don't like it, get stuffed, they won't budge.

There was a past story right here on HN where a suspended developer riled up a mob, only to have it turn out that he wasn't being fully honest. I'm trying to find those posts.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#358

Post by xvector » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 10:00 PM UTC

fjabre wrote: post #267

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only are they not a monopoly, Apple doesn't even have the highest market share in the mobile space. (It's Samsung.)

I see. So Apple watches, iPads, and iPhones & other devices owning at least half the US market isn't a monopoly whatsoever? When does one qualify to become a monopoly? Must they own 90% of the market to be considered one? I wonder what would happen if they kicked Uber of the platform.

You're pretty mistaken about ownership numbers. Apple isn't a monopoly here. Android has a bigger marketshare in the US and worldwide.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#359

Post by CtrlAltT5wpm » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 10:01 PM UTC

non-entity wrote: post #103

CtrlAltT5wpm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you happen to have a link? I'm going through the same thing, and support is no help.

I believe this was the most recent I read. https://medium.com/@tokata/how-google-play-terminated-a-deve...

The situation in the linked article is way different than what's happening to me. In any case, I appreciate the response and link.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#360

Post by a1369209993 » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 10:12 PM UTC

saganus wrote: post #276

ouid wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are in complete control of the programs that you can install on your iphone, and take 30% of all transactions that occur through that marketplace. Are you a lawyer for apple?

I think the point is that there are other app stores in other platforms, so monopoly rules don't apply. Their app store is their monopoly, sure, but if you don't want to use Apple products you are not barred from using other cellphones and app stores. This is different than, e.g. saying that there is a monopoly with the electricity provider. If you don't want to use company A for that, you have absolutely no access t…

> the electricity provider

I think the point is that there are other electricity providers in other areas, so monopoly rules don't apply.

Their electric service is their monopoly, sure, but if you don't want to use company A electricity you are not barred from buying a house somewhere else, with a different electric service.

This is different than, e.g. saying that there is a monopoly with the app store. If you don't want to use Apple for that, you have absolutely no access to iPhone software at all.