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Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

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51–60 of 91 posts

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#51
post #3

It's a bit misleading to say this is an Anti-iPhone game when it's drawing attention to how most electrical items are made. Also, I'd imagine Apple would've been slammed for rejecting an app which claims to be donating proceeds to charity so it'd be less controversial to let it through.

> Also, I'd imagine Apple would've been slammed for rejecting an app which claims to be donating proceeds to charity so it'd be less controversial to let it through.

You have a front-row seat to that now, the app has been pulled.

I'm sure they'll use the 'donating proceeds to charity' as the reason why they pulled it.

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#53
post #15

One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones…

[deleted]

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#54
post #18

I'm not surprised that this got through as it is more likely to offend Apple than a user. Apple's control of the App Store is not without good reason. It seeks to protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and offence (and protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling such things to its users). While an overzealous employee might take it onto themselves to try to protect Apple from cr…

> It seeks to protect users (and their children) from malware, pornography and offence (and protect Apple from bad publicity and legal action by selling such things to its users). Do people really still buy this line? If they're trying to protect users and their children from "malware, pornography and offence," shouldn't they be blocking those things in the iPhone web browser as well? And what about on the Mac? All t…

Apple doesn't sell Web sites through Safari. It does sell apps through the App Store.

There's quite a bit of difference in responsibility when money changes hands.

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#55
post #47
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not sad, that's simply the reality of how fast mobile technology is currently changing. We're doing more and more with our "phones" each day and thus are demanding more power from them. Even if you only play games and such the old phones don't have gyroscopes, compasses, and all the other goodies that newer phones have. Anecdotally I have a Nexus One and it feels just as dated as an iPhone 3GS (which I previousl…

Not being able to run certain apps is not the same as your mobile phone manufacturer no longer supporting the hardware you bought with updates.

At a certain point, supporting the old install base detracts from your ability to build newer and better product. Everything you design is forced to conform to the lowest-common-denominator standards of the oldest hardware models. Alternatively, you are forced to maintain staffing and resources to continue supporting old devices. This can be a serious roadblock to innovation.

Mobile hardware technology is moving so rapidly that it's almost inevitable to see shorter refresh cycles than you would in a more mature space, i.e., in laptops or desktops.

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#56
post #36
post #15

One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones…

It's pretty sad if 3 years is the longest stretch that apple is willing to support their hardware with updates. Of course the turnover in the mobile phone world is a lot higher than with 'general purpose computers' but imagine if the whole electronics industry had a three year time to replacement. Pretty sad. Especially since the biggest component of a smartphone is the software. The argument that newer phones have f…

Well they do know that the unchangeable battery will be dead to useless in 3 years. At least they use incremental innovation in every rev to get you something new. Also, if they didn't use this strategy, they'd be more vulnerable to competition.

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#57
post #15

One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones…

It's also worth pointing out that Apple does have a program for recycling their equipment, and they'll even reinburse you with a gift card for certain things: http://www.apple.com/recycling/

They're not unique in this respect, too. WEEE and RoHS compliance is basically mandatory for Europe, so that requires manufacturers to have a safe disposal system in place for their electronics.

Samsung has a program with several local partners(http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/citizenship/usactivit...). Motorola(http://responsibility.motorola.com/index.php/environment/pro...) and Nokia(http://www.nokia.com/environment/recycling/where-and-how-to-...) also have programs to recycle your old electronics.

HTC does not seem to have a consumer recycling program in place, at least with the quick Google searches I've done.

EDIT: I have been corrected, as my Google-fu is weak. HTC does have several programs in place. Thanks!

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#58
post #15

One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones…

From your own examples: - original iPhone supported for less than 3 years - 3GS supported for ~2 years As much as one likes Apple, this is not something that I would call "long term support".

> original iPhone supported for less than 3 years

The original iPhone got all updates released for 3 years from its release date.

> 3GS supported for ~2 years

So far, as far as I know iOS 5 runs on 3GS. The 3G is the only one which got a slightly reduced support life so far (no iOS 4.3, for pretty obvious — to 3G owners — hardware-related reasons)

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#59
post #57
post #15

One big point - Apple supports it's products longer than the rest of the industry, thus they don't end up in landfills as quickly. For example: - The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010. - The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year. How many Android phones…

It's also worth pointing out that Apple does have a program for recycling their equipment, and they'll even reinburse you with a gift card for certain things: http://www.apple.com/recycling/ They're not unique in this respect, too. WEEE and RoHS compliance is basically mandatory for Europe, so that requires manufacturers to have a safe disposal system in place for their electronics. Samsung has a program with several…

HTC has a whole pile of recycling programs in different locations here are a few examples:

http://www.htcinc.net/news.cfm?id=56

http://htcpedia.com/news/htc-goes-green-and-lets-you-trade-u...

They will even give you a rebate on HTC phones in some locations if you turn in any old phone. That's not a proper recycling program because it requires the phone to boot, but it does take a lot of old phones out of circulation.

HTC should probably add a recycling section to their main website, the international nature of their website probably makes that problematic because they chose to have all these little local programs rather than one big universal one.

Re: Anti-iPhone iPhone game makes it past Apple's review process

#60
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but this game isn't just about random workplace suicides. It's about workplace suicides in the context of manufacturing phones. It's about the specific plant that manufactures these phones. That context is important to understanding the game, and taken outside of that context, yes it would be absurd.

Didn’t someone run the numbers and find that the number of suicides / head at Foxconn was significantly lower than the number of suicides / head for the general population in that region?

IIRC, it was something like 20 suicides in the last year, with Foxconn employing 300,000-400,000 people at the facility.

According to wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_ra...), the average total number of suicides per 100,000 in China is around 6.6.

So you get, depending on the actual number of workers, either the national average for China, or slightly below it.

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