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Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

inputmag.com

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Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#51

Post by baktubi »

jpcrs wrote: post #12
anshumankmr wrote: post #3

Wouldn’t it have been easier to have just acquired the keyboard app?

> In one blatant example, Eleftheriou said he was approached by Apple’s head of mobile keyboard technology, Randy Marsden. The latter (who created the Swype keyboard) wanted to buy FlickType to add a native QWERTY for the Apple Watch and improve typing on the device. When Eleftheriou rejected Apple, it refused to remove copycat and scam apps from the App Store. I think he lost his chance. https://hitechglitz.com/the-…

It’s pretty astounding if this isn’t flagged as monopolistic behavior.

I’m not opposed to Apple introducing a system keyboard as a clone but the independent developer should not be strong-armed off their platform.

Honestly it just shows weakness of character for the entire Apple company. This is no different than voter suppression when candidates can’t garner votes from the public legitimately.

Oh wait, I guess half the government is fine with voter suppression and whining like 4 yr olds about voter fraud.

That’s the new Apple for you…

Then again, they have the power and capability to make this move. Whose to blame them? A keyboard is something that should be locked down from a security standpoint and a fundamental piece of the system.

That being said you won’t catch me ten feet near an Apple Watch as a dev. Or as a citizen—that is a huge privacy concern. Not to mention the battery life is shit. I tried one for a week and couldn’t bear to have 3 charging cables by my bed at night. I would need at least a week but 2 weeks charge would be ideal…

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#52

Post by sofixa »

germandiago wrote: post #36

I am against regulations but I still find these practices anticompetitive. Not sure what the conclusion should be here. On one side this runs on Apple platform:"it is my platform, I rule it". On the other hand, they have a de-facto position to abuse by just kicking out companies at will to enlarge their businesses and monoplolize them... I wish there was choice beyond Apple and Android. I am myself starting to look f…

> I am against regulations but I still find these practices anticompetitive

I really don't know how anyone can see this sort of crap and say they're against regulations. The market obviously isn't fixing itself, do you have any other solution?

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#54

Post by Hamuko »

bengale wrote: post #28
jtbayly wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sherlock was never blocked. Just cloned. Edit: Watson was name. See child comment.

Alfred seems live fine alongside spotlight too.

Alfred has a lot more features. For example I constantly use the clipboard manager in Alfred and as far as I know, Spotlight has no such functionality.

Of course, Alfred was always designed to work alongside Spotlight since all the actual indexing relies on Spotlight.

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#55

Post by commoner »

sodality2 wrote: post #34
jb1991 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple wanted to buy FlickType but they didn't agree on the price or Eleftheriou didn't want to sell (I doubt it) Man, these Apple threads are always so full of open speculation. Edit: I find it very interesting that after multiple downvotes, suddenly I'm getting downvotes on lots of older comments of mine also. Are folks just going into comment histories to go on a downvote rampage?

> In one blatant example, Eleftheriou said he was approached by Apple’s head of mobile keyboard technology, Randy Marsden. The latter (who created the Swype keyboard) wanted to buy FlickType to add a native QWERTY for the Apple Watch and improve typing on the device. When Eleftheriou rejected Apple, it refused to remove copycat and scam apps from the App Store. https://hitechglitz.com/the-creator-of-the-previous-high…

hitechglitz.com is one of those spam blogs that copies articles from other sites and changes a couple of the words around. The original article from PhoneArena also contains the lawsuit filing:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/flicktype-developer-files-su...

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#57

Post by kevingadd »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #43

> Apple had begun rejecting updates for the app because it required full system access, a fact that Eleftheriou disputed, saying that it still worked without the permissions. Then why did it even ask for full system access? Did it? IMHO developers of the apps which ask for any permissions besides those technically necessary for performing the actual function the user installs the app for should be warned once and the…

Ever heard of optional features?

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#58

Post by Loic »

caslon wrote: post #23
Loic wrote: post #10

iBooks was also a rip-off, let us kill the nice work of a developer.

Ah, yes, reading documents on a computer. A keyboard. Both of these are things that have never been done outside of the Apple ecosystem before Apple made their copies. I don't like Apple, but come on. Reading documents is what computers have historically proven best at, and a keyboard is a pretty logical extension of any given electronic device. Would sure save everyone a lot of time if these things were built in.

It was the presentation of the books mimicking exactly the work of somebody else. Sorry, I should have explained more. Apple contacted (if I can remember) the original author, had friendly discussions about the way he was doing the stuff, and then simply copied everything into the default app.

This is only from memory, but for me, the pattern is the same.

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#59

Post by Aulig »

gus_massa wrote: post #44
jpcrs wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In one blatant example, Eleftheriou said he was approached by Apple’s head of mobile keyboard technology, Randy Marsden. The latter (who created the Swype keyboard) wanted to buy FlickType to add a native QWERTY for the Apple Watch and improve typing on the device. When Eleftheriou rejected Apple, it refused to remove copycat and scam apps from the App Store. I think he lost his chance. https://hitechglitz.com/the-…

>> When Eleftheriou rejected Apple, it refused to remove copycat and scam apps from the App Store. I agree that scam apps should be removed, but why did he expects copycats to be removed?

If they infringe on his intellectual property rights they must normally be removed, I assume.

Re: Apple blocked the FlickType Watch keyboard then announced a clone of it

#60

Post by tumblewit »

So here is how I see it for these big tech companies(I know it’s terrible but I believe that’s just how it is sadly).

Medical professionals have malpractice insurance / budget where if a doctor was to make a mistake and was sued for it then it is used to settle. Similarly companies like Apple seem to feel like they keep doing what is right for their own personal interests and profits while at the same time set aside money to settle such cases and see it as collateral damage. Even if you were to get a tough judge in a case like this you’d still as Apple at best get a slap on the wrist with a few hundred thousand or a million in fines to some individual developer. The only difference between medical professionals and big tech is that once a medical professionals licence is pulled he can’t practice medicine again. I wonder what similar punishment big tech should get for pulling such stunts.

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