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Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

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Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#31

Post by rogerchucker »

ihodes wrote: post #2

Flagged for the linkbait title (which is in fact the title of the forum post), but I'd love it if the title we just edited to actually reflect what was going on. Edit: To answer some comments; it's misleading because Apple is rejecting some applications which use Dropbox. Or, rather, a single one that we know of. For a reason other than "Dropbox is used by the application", to boot. A better title would explain what…

I hope you are consistently this much anal about the "linkbaitiness" of every HN article - or else I'll just have to regard you as an Apple employee or an Apple apologist.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#32

Post by tptacek »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #23
taligent wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Research antitrust. It doesn't mean what you think it means. 2) Apple has done nothing different than has been done before. It is an existing in app purchasing rule.

"Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies."[1] One could argue that rejecting apps that make use of (or in this case encourage signup to) Dropbox is anti-competitive conduct since Dropbox is a competitor of iCloud (isn't it?) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law

It is hard to name any proprietary product platform, from cars to KitchenAid mixers, which would not run afoul of this common nerdly definition of "antitrust".

In reality, the presence of very viable substitutes in the market for the iPhone (to wit: Android) probably moots the argument here.

To go further with this argument, you will need to venture beyond Wikipedia summaries.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#33

Post by chc »

devindotcom wrote: post #10
mattmillr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As best I can tell, the title here is better than the title of the forum post ("The Horror." has been removed.) I think "Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox." reflects what's going on pretty well. Why do you disagree?

I don't think that's accurate. It would be like saying "Apple rejecting applications that use buttons" because the apps being rejected have buttons. I'm not saying Apple is doing a good thing here, but the blog post states that it also happens for Google accounts and presumably any other web service where you'd sign up via a browser. Sending people to the site for that purpose if the service is potentially a pay one…

That isn't particularly similar. The reason "Apple rejecting applications that use buttons" is a poor description is that using buttons is very, very weakly correlated to Apple rejecting your app. That isn't true here: If you use the Dropbox SDK, your app gets rejected. In fact, it's a causal relationship.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#34

Post by jahmed »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #23
taligent wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Research antitrust. It doesn't mean what you think it means. 2) Apple has done nothing different than has been done before. It is an existing in app purchasing rule.

"Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies."[1] One could argue that rejecting apps that make use of (or in this case encourage signup to) Dropbox is anti-competitive conduct since Dropbox is a competitor of iCloud (isn't it?) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law

You could argue that but you would lose. Generally there needs to be overwhelming market power by the company engaging in anti-competitive behavior. Even when restricted to the mobile phone market Apple doesn't exert nearly enough power to make a case.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#35

Post by tptacek »

collision wrote: post #26
[deleted] wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Significant market share is enough for antitrust to be a concern. You don't need a monopoly, and indeed most companies engaging in anti-competitive behavior don't.

An example of an antitrust case for someone with market share similar to Apple's in phones would be helpful. To head you off at one unproductive pass: it is unlawful to collude with other companies to fix prices even if you have a minority market share.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#36

Post by rogerchucker »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #28
kennywinker wrote: post #18

This has gone way too far. The other day I downloaded the Google Play Books app. I started it up, signed in.. and nothing. No prompt to go buy books online, no hint at what the app does... just a blank screen. It's completely scummy. You can buy Apple's iCloud storage upgrade from within the OS, and now you can't even LINK to a place where you could link to a place where if you click the right link you could buy Drop…

[I have a zillion snarky type replies that itch to be free, but we'll keep that monster in the box today.] "Way to far" is an interesting characterization. Apple has rules about their playground, they like their rules, they make Apple very profitable. So the question becomes can Google leverage this liability to increase the penetration or market share of Android tablets? Once these tactics hurt Apple in the market t…

I don't think people characterizing this as "too far" are ignorant of that fact that Apple is within its rights to enforce whatever they want to. I think the thread is more about "is Apple being a dick here?"...

Unfortunately, Google is probably not capable of exploiting these mini-resentments and I don't think anybody else is either.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#37

Post by ianloic »

Apple has been doing this with other APIs for a while. If your app links to a way of signing up for an account that could be used to pay for something you'll be rejected. If you mention the existence of such an account you'll probably be rejected.

Personally I don't like being treated like this - as a user or a developer. So I take my time and money elsewhere.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#38

Post by trieu »

This is linkbait because it suggests that Apple is rejecting any app that uses Dropbox. That's patently untrue. For example:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drafts/id502385074

It looks like Apple is rejecting apps that use the Dropbox SDK in a way that violates the TOS. But then the headline may as well read, "Apple rejecting applications which use code."

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#39

Post by stbullard »

Looking at the link, it seems that only those apps using the latest version of Dropbox's SDK (1.2) are being rejected, for violating Apple's long-standing platform policies.

Dropbox has since released a version of their SDK without the offending links.

Is that a fair assessment?

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#40

Post by tejaswiy »

rogerchucker wrote: post #25
taligent wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Research antitrust. It doesn't mean what you think it means. 2) Apple has done nothing different than has been done before. It is an existing in app purchasing rule.

I thought Apple was all about giving consumers the best UX and that revenue would automatically follow... how does a move like this help UX? How come Apple's reviewers are so freaking vigilant about in-app purchases while letting a fart app or a tethering app (or even, until one point, those uploading address books without any alert) slip through so often?

They make up very generic rules and selectively enforce them whenever they view some app / service as directly competing with Apple's own offering.

See: The initial Apple - Google spat with google voice, Kindle - Apple, Dropbox - Apple.

The UX mantra is just BS like Google's "Don't be evil".

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