Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
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Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#2These are exactly the kinds of issues antitrust legislation needs to be updated to handle.
I have no issue with a company running a store and selling its own products within, but it has to provide a level playing field.
It's good they fixed it -- that the VP in question didn't know it had been done and then nixed it -- but this shouldn't even be legal in the first place.
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#3> “We are removing the manual boost and the search results should be more relevant now,” wrote Apple app search lead Debankur Naskar, after the company was confronted by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney over Apple’s Files app showing up first when searching for Dropbox. “Dropbox wasn’t even visible on the first page [of search results],” Sweeney wrote.
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#4These are exactly the kinds of issues antitrust legislation needs to be updated to handle. I have no issue with a company running a store and selling its own products within, but it has to provide a level playing field. It's good they fixed it -- that the VP in question didn't know it had been done and then nixed it -- but this shouldn't even be legal in the first place.
Would that extend to grocery stores, where would you force walmart to put their own brands?
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#5Developers of ios (and soon macOS) platform have no one to blame but themselves for situations like this.
Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple suddenly asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store", and treated it as something normal. And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app.
It is like everyone chose to forget that it is we developers who bring additional value to any platform we support, and we readily allowed ourselves to be treated like fools by Apple (and others). (I guess this is what hapens when we forget our history in this industry - the Windows mobile platform died because it didn't find acceptance among developers. Mobile platforms like Sailfish OS / Tizen OS / webOS today all struggle because they can't attract developers to their platform. And yet, we now allow the dominating platforms to exploit and treat us with disdain - aren't we truly idiots?)
We should never have condoned this totally unnecessary and greedy "Apple Tax" practice as it harms both us developers and consumers - our customers are forced to pay more, and we lose money too in the process!
I urge all macOS / ios developers to see the warning signs. It is still not too late - please boycott and remove all your apps from the app store and stop paying Apple any money.
We played a huge role in the success of Windows, Android and ios - and now, in their arrogance if they want to change the rules to screw us, all of us really need to organise and fight back. I fear we are at that defining moment now where if we do not do anything, this is going to become an accepted norm and standard practice.
And this is going to be hugely detrimental to us, in the long run, as both developers and consumers.
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#6Developers of ios (and soon macOS) platform have no one to blame but themselves for situations like this. Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple suddenly asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store", and treated it as something normal. And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app. It i…
Who do you think could organize a guild of the app developers?
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#7> > the Files app had a Dropbox integration, so Apple put “Dropbox” into the app’s metadata, and it was automatically ranked higher for “Dropbox” searches as a result.
I can smell the bullshit from here and I don't live in the US. Lol.
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#8These are exactly the kinds of issues antitrust legislation needs to be updated to handle. I have no issue with a company running a store and selling its own products within, but it has to provide a level playing field. It's good they fixed it -- that the VP in question didn't know it had been done and then nixed it -- but this shouldn't even be legal in the first place.
Would that extend to grocery stores, where would you force walmart to put their own brands?
You mean the grocery stores that have many competitors who also sell groceries? How would you extend that analogy to the iOS App Store, which has no competitors whatsoever who sell iOS apps?
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#9Developers of ios (and soon macOS) platform have no one to blame but themselves for situations like this. Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple suddenly asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store", and treated it as something normal. And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app. It i…
> Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store". And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app.
I'm 100% against the way the app store works right now, but I don't have a problem with the idea of those two things if they were implemented in a better way.
If you compare $99 to the cost of a code signing certificate it's a good deal. The problem is that BOTH are bad value for developers. The value in signing is identity verification and none of the systems we have are doing a good job of that right now.
IMHO, Apple, Microsoft, and Google are purposely keeping code signing / trust systems awful because it benefits them. Imagine an ecosystem where apps were signed with domain validated certificates, which would be free (or very cheap), instant, and better than what we currently have, and it definitely feels like entrenched interests are working to keep things from improving.
Apple taking a 30% cut would be perfectly fine if there were competing app stores. If they're providing services worth a 30% cut, developers will be willing to pay that.
I thought the app store would fail. My exact sentiment at the time was "there's no way developers are going to be dumb enough to give up control of distribution." Wow, was I ever wrong :-(
Re: Apple admits it ranked its Files app ahead of competitor Dropbox
#10Developers of ios (and soon macOS) platform have no one to blame but themselves for situations like this. Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple suddenly asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store", and treated it as something normal. And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app. It i…
> Alarm bells should have been raised among us developers when Apple asked everyone to shell out $99 for the "privilege" of making an app available on the "App Store". And later, more so, when Apple demanded a percentage cut too on every sale you make from your app. I'm 100% against the way the app store works right now, but I don't have a problem with the idea of those two things if they were implemented in a better…
Apple markets to non developers, by advertising to the masses, it forces us to join to partake with the masses.
I've been lucky enough to avoid the walled prison but a fortune 500 company cannot.
We can only educate the masses that better products exist or the psychology tricks Apple uses in their marketing.