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Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

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Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#151

Post by hej »

toomanysecrets wrote: post #145
hej wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlikely. We already have one example where Apple is enforcing the “no malware” rule and that’s the App Store. On the App Store, Apple reserves itself the right to not only remove apps from the store (which Apple has done often and we know a lot about) but also to actually remotely pull apps from users’ devices. Apple claims they will only actually remotely pull apps if said apps are malware. That’s the exact same ru…

> but also to actually remotely pull apps from users’ devices [Citation Needed]

Really? This is common knowledge. Steve Jobs said it during one of his keynotes. I won't search this for you, you can do this on your own.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#152

Post by mladenkovacevic »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #56
rogerchucker wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unfortunately, Google is probably not capable of exploiting these mini-resentments and I don't think anybody else is either. I'd love to hear more about that. This is my reasoning on why I think there is an opportunity there: Lets say (patent issues not withstanding), you created an exact clone of the iPad and iOS and sold it at the same price but without the 30% 'apple tax' on purchases. It seems reasonable to assum…

If your idea of waking up, fixing it and getting it right is to lock down Android as tight as Amazon and iOS did with their platforms for the sake of competing with the iPad then I'd rather Google just give up and leave it broke.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#153

Post by peterkelly »

Wow, this really freaked me out when I saw this. I've just spent several months working on an app, which I hope to release soon, of which Dropbox support is a major feature. If they didn't allow my app on the app store because of this I'd have to seriously cripple the functionality of my app to get it accepted.

Sure, there's iCloud, but it's only about 50% there - all the support is there on iOS but there's no generic way to get at your iCloud documents from a PC or Mac in the same way you can with Dropbox and similar services. I'd be happy to support iCloud if it did this but it's simply not there yet.

Dropbox is a hugely important thing for iOS apps, since the iPad provides no generic user-accessible file system. Dropbox is by far the most convenient way I've seen for syncing data between the iPad and your computer, and I think Apple would be foolish to prevent people from doing this because it would make using an iPad for content creation-type work very inconvenient.

Fortunately from reading about this it sounds like the issue can be resolved by changing the way the account authorisation step works. Dropbox have already released an updated SDK and I've just downloaded this to try it out.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#154

Post by twidlit »

nkassis wrote: post #86
fufulabs wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in this case, the town is not 90% of the geography. Last i heard Google's town is bigger and there is also RIM Town (mass exodus happening there), a new WP7 town (lots of airport signs) and a few others around.

I don't think you need a certain percentage of a market for this to start becoming a antitrust issue. And it could be argued that they have a strong monopoly on Tablets at this time. If this doesn't feel like anticompetitive behaviour, I don't know what does. They are using their rather large position in the smartphone/tablet market to enter another market (in this case storage) and snuff out the competition. And the…

Its not anti trust because developers can switch to android or wp7. There are no unmoveable market forces that will deem switching as market suicide, in other words there is no monopoly.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#155

Post by jacobolus »

burgerbrain wrote: post #149
jacobolus wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re missing the point of tptacek’s criticism. He’s not trying to mock nerds, but rather to point out that their mental model of how the law works is woefully mismatched to how the law actually works, with a great deal of resulting whining and handwringing that could be avoided if they bothered to learn and think a bit about it. That I’ve seen, there’s been very little anger or ranting coming from his direction, an…

Speaking as somebody who enjoys intentionally mocking others (go ahead, check my comment history. Fuck, I picked this username just to make the then-popular diet discussions on HN more interesting), if he's honestly not trying it (and I have a hard time believing that, he is as far as I can tell a reasonably intelligent person and should be able to analysis himself objectively) then he is damn good at doing it by acc…

I should clarify: he surely is trying to mock them sometimes, but (a) it’s a pretty friendly ribbing, and (b) the mockery isn’t the purpose, it’s just a rhetorical device. By my italicized “mock”, I meant something closer to: “he’s not trying to shame them into submission, as some kind of ‘authoritarian’ bully power play”.

Edit: maybe it’s better to say that he isn’t trolling them (i.e. intentionally riling people up just for the sake of being a jerk), but is trying to be genuinely helpful and advance the conversation, even though sometimes that takes a teasing sort of tone. Notice all the smiley faces.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#156

Post by snarkinatree »

jlarocco wrote: post #137
snarkinatree wrote: post #57

What's remarkable is that Apple is suppopsedly desintined to be the most profitable company in US history and they still feel the need to do this kind of thing. It says a lot about the character of the company. Pretty sad spectacle, no matter how much money they make.:wq

There are reasons they're the most profitable company in US history, and doing stuff like this is one of those reasons.

Is that really true, or just an assumption?

How can we be sure that doing stuff like this was a contributing cause, let alone a necessary cause?

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#157

Post by snarkinatree »

taligent wrote: post #134
snarkinatree wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did I link to? I'm well aware of the Apple "rules" as well as the rationale behind them. If you have superiror knowledge about Apple that puts them in a better light, then please share details.

Your title claims that Apple is rejecting apps which use Dropbox. Which is completely and utterly wrong.

My "title"?

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#158

Post by tptacek »

zaroth wrote: post #140
tptacek wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. If you wanted to take this further, a source linked from DOJ's website: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/466/2/ Jefferson Parish Hosp. Dist. v. Hyde (b) No tying arrangement can exist here unless there is a sufficient demand for the purchase of anesthesiological services separate from hospital services to identify a distinct product market in which it is efficient to offer anesthesiological services s…

Here, let me help you with that ;-) No tying arrangement can exist here unless there is a sufficient demand for the purchase of cloud storage separate from a smartphone OS to identify a distinct product market in which it is efficient to offer cloud storage separately from the smartphone OS. The fact that the exclusive contract requires purchase of two services that would otherwise be purchased separately does not ma…

Right, but they're not forced to purchase Apple's services; just like the patients at the hospital who have no choice of anasthesiologists, Apple customers can simply select a different vendor.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#159

Post by vegas »

Microsoft eventually overcame Apple's superior market position and better product because the market is going to act to increase choice on the part of intelligent consumers of information technology(i.e. competitive organizations).

Apple was able to superscede Microsoft's platform advantage because everything became a web application(thanks Netscape!)

At the moment a bunch of guys with drool on their spreadsheets are trying to turn the world of web applications back into a platform one so that they can collect rent. It seems like this particular escape from freedom isn't going to occur because:

1) A major appeal of mobile devices is the idea that you can give people who are disinclined to serious computer literacy a tool that is easier to secure, and requires less support staff to show them how to use.

* However, it seems unlikely that large profit seeking organizations will thrive by handing their nervous systems over to other large profit seeking organizations.

Ultimately companies are going to want their locked down devices for their less computer literate employees to be completely within their control. Either there will be some sort of arcology/vertical integration type deal where there are all these companies that are in effect subsidiaries of their chosen mobile technology provider, or, the more likely answer:

IBM will make a metric crap ton of money supporting in-house Tizen[0] projects for serious people who don't want their IP floating around their mobile providers network 'secured' solely on good faith and contractual assurances.(ultimately this probably goes for cloud applications as well)

2) The second big appeal of mobile devices is the idea that you can program Angry Birds in your spare time, sell it 'directly'[1] to consumers and quit your day job. It seems to my rather cursory investigation that this isn't happening as much as it could be due to people duking it out nastily to try and secure maximal app store rent, and not doing enough to support developers.

[0] Thank god they stopped calling it MeeGo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizen

[1] Honestly, 30% is reasonable marketplace rent. Documentation needs to be less opaque, and support for marketing analysis needs to be better for it to really be fair rent, but it's the standard marketing upsell in a lot of other industries, so it seems reasonable for apps as well.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#160

Post by tptacek »

burgerbrain wrote: post #147
olalonde wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument would be more effective without the unnecessary ad hominem. i.e.: > In reality, the presence of very viable substitutes in the market for the iPhone (to wit: Android) probably moots the argument here.

I swear, it's like a few months ago somebody somewhere introduced tptacek to the concept of using "nerdy" as an insult (and to the debating tactic of attaching an insult to a position with the goal of forcing people to distance themselves from that position).

What part of "I'm a nerd, the term is a shorthand, not an insult" are people having so much trouble with?

I've been a systems programmer since 1994. I do not believe that you honestly believe that I think "nerd" is an insult. It beggars belief. Please find a better way to be irritated with me; this is such a stupid one.

Why not just go the extra mile and call me a "self-hating nerd"? At least that would make sense.

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