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Developer account removed by Apple

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Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#191

Post by lapcat »

woadwarrior01 wrote: post #164
lapcat wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link is very very far from the end of the Dash story, which includes the developer recording a phone call with Apple. See extensive coverage by Michael Tsai: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/10/10/apple-and-kapeli-respond/ https://mjtsai.com/blog/2017/05/30/dash-for-ios-returns-to-t... Dash for macOS continues to this day, though not in the App Store.

That very much was the end of the developer's sales of the Dash app on the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store. Apple decided to respond publicly only after he published the recording of the phone call with the Apple rep. John Gruber had a well-balanced coverage[1] of the whole story. He continues to sell it directly[2] and on Setapp[3], and has lately pivoted to the subscription-ware revenue model. [1]: https://dari…

> That very much was the end of the developer's sales of the Dash app on the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store.

Incorrect. I already gave a link showing that Dash returned to the iOS App Store: https://mjtsai.com/blog/2017/05/30/dash-for-ios-returns-to-t...

Technically, it was the end of "sales" in the iOS App Store, because the developer had already open-sourced Dash for iOS and made it free:

https://github.com/Kapeli/Dash-iOS

Nonetheless, it's indisputable that Apple approved Dash to be in the iOS App Store in 2017.

> Apple decided to respond publicly only after he published the recording of the phone call with the Apple rep.

Also incorrect. Compare the timestamps of these tweets:

https://twitter.com/theloop/status/785600832335073280 5:00 PM · Oct 10, 2016

https://twitter.com/kapeli/status/785621704081022976 6:23 PM · Oct 10, 2016

It's also worth noting that selling directly outside the Mac App Store still requires an Apple developer account in order to sign with a Developer ID certificate and notarize the app. It's not surprising, though, that the developer chooses to no longer use the Mac App Store.

Again, Michael Tsai's blog post has extensive coverage, including a link to the Daring Fireball post that you linked.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#193

Post by moralestapia »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #185
moralestapia wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money laundering is not "making money through illicit means" as many people confuse it with. Money laundering is the act of concealing that money, so that it becomes clean money in the face of any curious observer. They often go hand in hand but they are different things. An example, you have 1M cash but you need it in your bank account, because you want to buy a house or a car or groceries. If you just go to your ba…

> Money laundering is not "making money through illicit means" This is correct. > Money laundering is the act of concealing that money, so that it becomes clean money in the face of any curious observer This is the middle step, layering. Before that is placement, introducing the funds into the financial system; after, integration, withdrawing clean money. Here, stealing the credit cards is the original crime. That pe…

>it almost always involves putting cash into a bank account

Yeah, I edited my comment shortly after but you were already writing this probably.

Only an observation, it almost always starts as money flowing into a bank account, though.

>If the developer's dirty sources need to layer their funds, they can subscribe to the app and have it laundered for a meagre 30% haircut.

No, because you cannot pay for apps with cash. If you already have cash into a bank account somewhere in the world then ... you most likely don't have the need to conceal it anymore. Buy shitcoin, send it to a tax haven, whatever, why would you make it dirty again by sending it to (of all damn options) Apple. Lol.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#194

Post by practice9 »

mm263 wrote: post #152
mlyle wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, attempting to prevent money from flowing into a country which is actively waging war against neighbors is not racism.

He is in Chile. The company linked was liquidated in 2021 (including other companies called Sarafan that he created in the past). How did you deduce that money goes to Russia?

[flagged]

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#195

Post by viktorcode »

Manuel_D wrote: post #8

If the fake reviews are indeed the reason why the apps were taken off the store, that does strike me as an inappropriate action. Take down the reviews, yes. But closing the developer account creates a big opportunity to eliminate competition by buying fake reviews for your competitors. There's also nothing developers can do to prevent this since they can't curate or reject reviews from what I know. That said, other c…

Most likely it is the reason. There were cases of accounts shutdown due to the developers writing reviews from other accounts for their apps on App Store.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#196

Post by wavemode »

judge2020 wrote: post #162
wavemode wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't want third-party stores because it would cut into their profits. That they were able to convince the public that it is about personal privacy is just great marketing on their part. If you bought an iPhone because you wanted protection from the purported dangers of third-party apps, then ... just don't install any...?

Third party app stores don’t play into the legal liability of developing for iOS without a license. Chances are Apple still has every right to charge a percentage of revenue as the licensing fee for usage of iOS APIs.

Any regulation that requires allowing third-party stores, would be an anti-monopolistic move. So it would almost certainly include a requirement that those third-party stores be allowed to process payments themselves without paying royalties.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#197

Post by usrbinbash »

echelon wrote: post #80
judge2020 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was talked about by Phillip Shoemaker (head of App Store Review 2009-2016) in this talk[0], where some developers figured out that if they hired marketing firms to commit review fraud on a competitor’s app, their competitor would get terminated because there’s no clear way to actually attribute the fraud to the developer. I guess the App Store fraud prevention team hasn’t necessarily found a good solution yet. 0…

> I guess the App Store fraud prevention team hasn’t necessarily found a good solution yet. The most essential device of the century is owned by two companies. The ability for them to completely control software and business activities on top of something that is almost as essential as public transportation is appalling. The DOJ needs to remove the "app store" racket for essential computing devices. Software needs to…

> The most essential device of the century is owned by two companies.

As long as people play along, yes it is indeed.

If more people were installing a free mobile OS, and thus take back ownership of their hardware and digital lives, the story would be much different.

It's the same story with PCs. If you actually want to control the hardware you own, install Linux. It's not as if the alternatives to corporate control didn't exist.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#198

Post by munk-a »

judge2020 wrote: post #40
Manuel_D wrote: post #8

If the fake reviews are indeed the reason why the apps were taken off the store, that does strike me as an inappropriate action. Take down the reviews, yes. But closing the developer account creates a big opportunity to eliminate competition by buying fake reviews for your competitors. There's also nothing developers can do to prevent this since they can't curate or reject reviews from what I know. That said, other c…

This was talked about by Phillip Shoemaker (head of App Store Review 2009-2016) in this talk[0], where some developers figured out that if they hired marketing firms to commit review fraud on a competitor’s app, their competitor would get terminated because there’s no clear way to actually attribute the fraud to the developer. I guess the App Store fraud prevention team hasn’t necessarily found a good solution yet. 0…

If Apple isn't able to police this then maybe it's unhealthy for the market to be completely controlled by them. They make billions off the AppStore and their refusal to reinvest in proper moderation (especially for an app worth hundreds of thousands in revenue) is quite telling.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#199

Post by madeofpalk »

dakial1 wrote: post #169

I don't know Chile, but this move by Apple is illegal in many countries and the developer might get a good money in damages. It doesn't matter what the platform T&Cs say, know your country's laws and you'll avoid unnecessary headaches. Now thinking about it, it might make sense for some developers to publish their apps in specific countries to mitigate this kind of risk...

What's the illegal part? Which country would this be illegal in?

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#200

Post by scarface_74 »

From even the authors description, it doesn’t seem like the review process was “automated”. Someone at Apple actually found suspected fraudulent activity and the reasons weren’t just a template.

I don’t have an opinion on whether they were targeted by a third party.

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