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

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

#141
post #121

I thought the reason why iOS blocked both SMS apps and Keyboard apps is because they wanted to ensure rogue app developers aren't invading your privacy and/or spamming (e.g. key loggers or sending SMS you didn't compose).

Yes. Because it was. And it was, and remains, a good reason. I get why the developer might be ticked, in this case, but I still think it's a stretch to speak of "cloning" a very very basic QWERTY keyboard, and the breathtakingly-original concept of putting a keyboard onto a touchscreen. /s As if that is some kind of grand-scale theft of intellectual property. Please.

Doesn't sound basic to me

"Limited Vision. FlickType is designed to be as accessible as possible, featuring large keys, highly readable visual announcements, high-contrast color themes, and much more.

Type With Your Ears. FlickType can speak back to you when you type or edit, enabling a completely eyes-free writing experience. People who are blind write millions of words every month using it, typing just as fast as everyone else.

Comfortably Smart. Say goodbye to painfully slow editing operations. Delete and change entire words with a single flick of your finger. Control the cursor directly from the keyboard. When typing, don't slow down and try to be accurate. Simply tap-type where it feels right and FlickType's unique algorithm will find the correct word from the pattern of your taps."

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

#142
post #106

Very typical of Apple, using opaque approval procedures. They're acting like bullies because they didn't get what they wanted and because they have the money/power to do so. Apple wanted to buy FlickType but they didn't agree on the price or Eleftheriou didn't want to sell (I doubt it), and so from then onwards started the downhill ride. I fully support Eleftheriou on this just for the principle, but if I were in his…

> just so that we could all be happy right now To be honest, I'm quite happy about big companies revealing their ugly real face. And some people might benefit from such a reality-check.

I wish the plaintiffs luck in court. I remember apples courtroom privateering where they persuaded the justice system they invented rounded corners and got their competitors phones pulled from the market. If only the same standards and rigor of enforcement could actually apply to them.

Once all is said and done I suspect whatever apple has to pay will not meaningfully impact their profitability, and will be seen as a cost of doing business. This is a core reason these companies are so caustic. Penalties need to be harsh enough to make this behavior unprofitable. The board needs to be pissed at their executives.

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

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legally I’m not sure the small developer has a chance. Not because the courts are unjust, it’s just hard to say whether Apple broke any laws here. It’s not to say they didn’t, it just doesn’t seem like there’s any slam dunk legal argument about wrongdoing (despite who this might feel morally).

>it’s just hard to say whether Apple broke any laws here Doesn't stealing someone's idea for an app/innovation and respinning it into your own implementation count as IP theft? IIRC the Winklevoss twins got paid handsomely as a settlement for Zuckerberg stealing their idea for Facebook. Granted, they were very rich and well connected so that helped.

Winklevoss twins won because MZ was actively telling them he was working on the app in order to prevent direct competition from them while he worked on his own version (in the movie at least, who knows what's really real). If he had just told them to f-k off and ripped them off from the start, everything would have been fine legally. There's tons of prior art for social networks and domain restricted logins before FB came around.

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

#144
post #52

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?

Doesn't the market fix it? I don't have such issues on Android, that's why I don't buy Apple.

Most customers just don't care about any of that, so they continue to buy Apple.

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

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ideas are not worth much, and there is no law against executing someone else’s idea. Winklevoss twins (or Connect U rather) got paid to shut up and go away at a time when it was obvious $65M was going to be pocket change for Facebook and their lawsuit was going to cost more in time for people at Facebook than $65M.

Thanks for clarifying, although $65M for Apple is pocket change they can scrape from between the couch cushions in Cupertino so they could get the author to shut up immediately if they wanted to.

A lawsuit about equity while a company is on the road to the biggest IPO in history in 2009 is different circumstances than a guy arguing against an established company in 2021.

Apple could pay this guy off, but apparently their executives have decided he is not a sufficient PR problem or time expense to merit a payoff yet.

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

#146
post #128
post #85

Oh Apple is really starting to head up to the top of my vendor shit list these days. I’ve already dumped their entire ecosystem after the CSAM shit.

In favor of which comparable ecosystem that does a better overall job for you on privacy issues, as a whole?

I’m removing myself from the concept of an ecosystem and choosing software based on individual merit at the moment.

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

#147
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me "The market will fix itself" is just a neoliberal lie, no amount of repeating it will make it true. Sadly many people believe people who speak with conviction. A family member shared similar crap (oh noes, i will have to pay more for gas) in a private group History has shown over and over that left to their own devices people will act in their own self interest. And from a biological point of view it would eve…

it is not my position. Nothing to do with neoliberalism the fact that regulating also has evil incentives. We live in a regulated world where many corporations have de-facto privilege because of overregulation yet people ask for more regulation. It is as if I am a soldier and hit you and you ask for an army to feel safer on the basis that "soldiers should be good in theory, they are here to protect us"and u see it ag…

Sorry if i gave you the impression i accuse you of that. That was not my intention.

Well, even if regulation has loopholes for bad actors, is it better to live in a world without it?

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

#149
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it’s just hard to say whether Apple broke any laws here Doesn't stealing someone's idea for an app/innovation and respinning it into your own implementation count as IP theft? IIRC the Winklevoss twins got paid handsomely as a settlement for Zuckerberg stealing their idea for Facebook. Granted, they were very rich and well connected so that helped.

Winklevoss twins won because MZ was actively telling them he was working on the app in order to prevent direct competition from them while he worked on his own version (in the movie at least, who knows what's really real). If he had just told them to f-k off and ripped them off from the start, everything would have been fine legally. There's tons of prior art for social networks and domain restricted logins before FB…

This is not true as there was no completed court case, simply a “confidential” settlement.

https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/connectus-secret-6...

Connect U obviously did not have proper documents stating Zuckerberg was working for them, or a non compete or anything since they were willing to settle. Hence it seems like a he said she said situation where Connect U got lucky that Facebook was going to be so huge that their agreed upon settlement amount was inconsequential to Facebook.

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