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A top-grossing scam on the App Store

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Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#2
There has to be another step here that we're missing - such as malware that buys apps for you or subscribes to apps without your knowledge, or uses the App Store to launder money.

I can't see a scam app being a top grosser without something like that.

Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#3
post #2

There has to be another step here that we're missing - such as malware that buys apps for you or subscribes to apps without your knowledge, or uses the App Store to launder money. I can't see a scam app being a top grosser without something like that.

Scams are deceptive, if it’s completely automatic then that’s just theft. It’s the difference between cashing a fake check at a bank and just pulling a gun and robbing the place.

Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#6
post #2

There has to be another step here that we're missing - such as malware that buys apps for you or subscribes to apps without your knowledge, or uses the App Store to launder money. I can't see a scam app being a top grosser without something like that.

Users don't read and just click on things.

Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#8

Apple and Google are poor stewards of the mobile app distribution market. It's time that their 13+ year stranglehold on app distribution is disrupted.

You know, I was thinking last night about the parallels between this and the anti-trust investigation into Microsoft back in the 90s. Back then Microsoft was in a heap of trouble over the fact that they bundled IE and didn't allow vendors to bundle other alternative browsers. Users could still install other browsers, but the fact that the OS came bundled with IE was seen as an abuse of Microsoft's market position.

Yet here we are, in 2021, and Apple won't even allow you to install software on the device you own without their say-so. There are admittedly other browsers on the app store, but they all must use Safari's rendering engine.

Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#9
The assertion in that title is patently false click-bait.

Apple definitely cares about its customers being driven away from them.

That doesn't mean they've caught all scams, or more importantly in this case have managed to automate detection of them all, definitely not as fast as folks online identify them.

Also note that there are entire classes of scams that never get click baity titles because Apple DOES detect them and shut them down before they're widespread.

(I worked at Apple in engineering, left after many years for compelling genomics, and that's the basis for my assertion.)

Re: A top-grossing scam on the App Store

#10

Apple and Google are poor stewards of the mobile app distribution market. It's time that their 13+ year stranglehold on app distribution is disrupted.

You know, I was thinking last night about the parallels between this and the anti-trust investigation into Microsoft back in the 90s. Back then Microsoft was in a heap of trouble over the fact that they bundled IE and didn't allow vendors to bundle other alternative browsers. Users could still install other browsers, but the fact that the OS came bundled with IE was seen as an abuse of Microsoft's market position. Ye…

You said it yourself:

> an abuse of Microsoft's market position

Apple has no such market position to abuse.

It's perfectly legal to put restrictions on your product. It's perfectly legal to be a monopoly. It's only a problem when you abuse your monopoly position to restrict competitors.

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