Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we restrict Apple's incentives to be purely monetary, then we have to wonder if the reputational damage is less than their cut of users being scammed. I would argue that the reputational damage is worth more, strictly monetarily. Apple is an incredibly valuable brand, estimated in the hundereds of billions of dollars[0], and they are understandably protective of it. If [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/26487…
The reputational damage is worth more only if there is reputational damage to begin with. There may have been some smaller isolated stories in the past, but the truth about App Store scams is really only now coming to light - and so Apple’s calculus might be changing.
Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
81–90 of 261 posts
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple asks us to relinquish some of our most essential freedoms in exchange for the promise of safety. If they’re not providing that safety it’s a rotten bargain.
I'd argue that if they can't prove the safety, you're getting ripped off. Apple can point their finger at every third party under the sun, but at the end of the day PRISM and the CCP has it's respective index fingers on their iCloud servers, quietly (and happily) siphoning information from a "completely secure" (unaudited) system.
Interesting claim. Source?
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#83The worst thing is, people have this belief that Apple is somehow protecting them, so they offload the critical thinking to Apple and lower their own guards. For example, a person thought he was getting a legitimate Bitcoin wallet app, but turns out it was a fake and he lost his life savings [1]. edit: to be clear, I'm not blaming Apple for not stopping these scams, at their scale, it's just practically impossible to…
> A person thought he was getting a legitimate Bitcoin wallet app, but turns out it was a fake and he lost his life savings
I guess I'm victim-shaming here, but using mobile apps for large financial arrangements, no matter how trustworthy the app claims to be is a bad move. For this type of stuff you would use a clean computer with no known malware present, and use a privacy-aware browser like Firefox or Brave preferably with `HTTPS Everywhere` addon installed with the EASE feature turned on to avoid plaintext leaks / traffic going over HTTP.
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Excuse me, they used the words "every one of" and "every app" to describe the purview of their security checks. Is that somehow not absolute enough for you?
To be clear, you read "we review every app" and from that your interpretation is that every app is "completely secure". To be polite, ROFL. Either you're posing a disingenuous argument to win a pathetic internet argument (which is hilariously dumb, but here we are), or you're stupid. Which is it?
Is the idea that a nontechnical person might trust Apple really that outlandish to you? Do you have, like, family members or nontechnical friends?
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#85> Simon Willison, a software engineer and a former iOS developer [...] owns a Samsung television and went to the App Store on his phone to install the accompanying Samsung remote control app called “SmartThings.” An app called “Smart Things” popped up, claiming to be a remote for Samsung televisions. Willison paid $19 for the app. It turns out the app was pretending to the be the genuine Samsung product. His mistake,…
Huh? He's clearly blaming Apple for violating his trust. He never trusted Samsung.
Clearly he did, because he spent several hundred dollars buying their smart TV.
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#86FWIW, Apple made $8.3 million with an M off those 18 apps (28.2% commission on average). They will make something like $350 billion with a B this year
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reputational damage is worth more only if there is reputational damage to begin with. There may have been some smaller isolated stories in the past, but the truth about App Store scams is really only now coming to light - and so Apple’s calculus might be changing.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14526156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16034764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14274655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6033822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18316572 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2296693 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3617730
Those are all valid, but do you have a non-recent example that got mainstream attention?
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#88The worst thing is, people have this belief that Apple is somehow protecting them, so they offload the critical thinking to Apple and lower their own guards. For example, a person thought he was getting a legitimate Bitcoin wallet app, but turns out it was a fake and he lost his life savings [1]. edit: to be clear, I'm not blaming Apple for not stopping these scams, at their scale, it's just practically impossible to…
> A person thought he was getting a legitimate Bitcoin wallet app, but turns out it was a fake and he lost his life savings I guess I'm victim-shaming here, but using mobile apps for large financial arrangements, no matter how trustworthy the app claims to be is a bad move. For this type of stuff you would use a clean computer with no known malware present, and use a privacy-aware browser like Firefox or Brave prefer…
People use their bank's apps, their investment institutions apps (Robinhood, Fidelity, etc) and a lot of other financial apps all the time.
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14526156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16034764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14274655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6033822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18316572 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2296693 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3617730
Those are all valid, but do you have a non-recent example that got mainstream attention?
Do you consider the New York Times mainstream? This article is from 2012:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/technology/pressure-on-ap...
Re: Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
All I said was to take the 'Apple Monopoly' discussion to the 'Apple Monopoly' threads, of which there are plenty. This discussion can be about the shitty App Store approval process and the shitty App Store developers without getting into the financials.
This discussion is definitely about Apple's monopoly on Ios app distribution. If Apple were to let others distribute apps on the platform, people wouldn't complain as much about their broken store. They'd just use the store that they liked better.
Soooooo by opening up the store the scammers would disappear. Makes sense to me.