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Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

forums.dropbox.com

341–350 of 361 posts

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#341
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Are you talking gross or net profit? I would be surprised to find many software products where the gross profit margin would be less than 50%.

Dropbox isn't a software product; it's a service. What's more, it's a service that needs to be priced to compete with Apple's own iCloud.

And it being charged 10 or 13 dollars a month doesn't make much difference, if it offers a compelling service.

Software and service prices seem mostly arbitrary to me anyway.

How else Aperture went from $300 to $100, Lightroom the same, BBEdit shed 70% of it's price in one day, etc etc... Same, why was iWork a $99 package and now it's 3 components are $10 each on the Mac App Store?

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#342
Apple seems to be pretty clueless with regard to companies using the enterprise developer program to sell outside of the wall. I know of several companies doing this already. I have notified Apple and they seem to not care about it. Maybe that's what they should do, give away the apps using the enterprise developer program and forgo the wall and app approval process.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#344
post #262
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. They don't. It is impossible to have a monopoly in a market segment and under the law, it is perfectly acceptable for a business to control a small portion of the marketplace.

If consumers face substantial barriers in switching to a rival then there might be an antitrust case. From the point of view of competition policy, the idea of "market for this" vs. "market for that" can be misleading

What barriers are they facing? As an owner of an Apple device, can they not sign up for Dropbox at all? Not being able to signup for a competing service that can involve a financial transaction is not anticompetitive if the consumer has other means, whit they do. Indeed if the consumer goes to the Dropbox website using Safari browser of their own volition, the can sign up immediately.

The issue here is one of sensationalism. As a community, we a far too quick to jump to the "$corp is evil!" conclusion without looking for a reason, however ridiculous it may seem. We, as a community, are too cynical for own good.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#345
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. They don't. It is impossible to have a monopoly in a market segment and under the law, it is perfectly acceptable for a business to control a small portion of the marketplace.

Why do you say this? A market segment just is a market according to the dictionary definitions. And legally, a lot of EU competition law concerns exactly how one individuates such markets/market segments. Can you draw out what you're claiming more?

Not really as its very simple assertion. Apple do not have a monopoly. They control a segment of a rather large, and competitive marketplace. To say that they have a monopoly over their products is not a cogent statement as every manufacturer has such a 'monopoly'. The EU laws that you are referring to concern the abuse of a dominant position in a market, something which Apple as we are all too often reminded do not have.

The fact remains semantically and legally that you a monopoly of the segment or niche of a market is not possible. A company can be abusive (which is what you mean when you say monopoly - something which in and of itself isn't illegal), but unless they control the significant majority of the whole the it is legally not an issue. Morally is different debate.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#346
post #219
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't have a monopoly on a portion of a market. The clue is in the first two syllables.

It depends on how you define the market. When Sirius and XM merged, did it become a monopoly on the 'satellite radio' market or did they just become a larger player in the 'radio' market?

Doesn't matter? Were they abusive? Did the new enterprise fix prices or stop competitors entering the whole market (Apple are not stopping consumers from signing up for Dropbox, just not through the App Store)?

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#347
post #296

I'm surprised it took Apple this long since launching (the relatively overpriced) iCloud before they started acting like they always do: anti-competitive and monopolistic. In the name of UX ofcourse. It couldn't possibly be because unethical market grabs tend to generate money. Remember: Apple doesn't really care about money. They care about you and all that money they make is just accidental.

Apple has been fighting for their 30% since the beginning. Step by step any exceptions to the 30% rule have been removed. Is it more ethical to give Dropbox special treatment? Should Dropbox-enabled apps be given that competitive advantage?

Apple has been fighting for their 30% since the beginning. Step by step any exceptions to the 30% rule have been removed.

The most important question (for both customers, and developer partners) is: should Apple be trying to extract 30% from every transaction on their devices? Should they be trying to expunge any links to the internet in all apps (the logical conclusion of their current path), in order to ensure that no payments for anything digital go through anyone but them? If they get away with this, will they then come after companies like Amazon selling physical products later and try to enforce a 30% cut and equal pricing outside the app for products sold through any other system?

Is that a sustainable model and one which we as consumers and developers want to support? If the answer to that question is no, Apple is pricing themselves out of business with their partners (who made all these wonderful apps which they are making money on), and their customers, who pay all the money for those apps and devices (because they have apps). They rely on those people to make their money, and annoying your customers and partners is never a good strategy in the long-term, as Microsoft found out to their cost when they lost customer loyalty in the late 90s.

In this example the developer wasn't even explicitly selling something - they were just linking to the internet, which then meant that someone could possibly buy some digital service from dropbox without paying Apple a finder's fee. If they push this too far, we'll see more and more companies abandoning the Apple ecosystem and selling things direct over the internet instead - there have already been some high profile defections like the Financial Times who decided that it just wasn't worth dealing with Apple, and abandoned their high-profile iPad app for a web app.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about one that you adjust your prices by whatever so that 70% is the old 100%? If your competitors can offer lower prices and still give away 70%, then you're not competitive enough.

You clearly haven't read about the clauses apple put in about payments. You can't charge more in the app via apple than you charge outside the app via whatever other payment system you use. They've rigged the game.

This is not true: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/09/apple-reverses-course-on...

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh, the point is missed by the ignorant. I was not, in any way, comparing this at all to the holocaust. That you would think that says volumes about what your opinion means, however.

Sorry, my mistake. I see now that when quoting a famous poem about Nazi purges, you were actually talking about raising tulips and not the Holocaust. Of course, I was not in any way comparing you to the sort of naive moron who would draw parallels between the murder of 6 million people, and a hiccup encountered while installing an iPhone app. That you would think so says volumes about your self-opinion, though.

> Sorry, my mistake.

At least you realize it's your mistake. After all, what is written can only mean one thing, and one thing only.

Maybe one day you'll learn about context, and history, and how that poem was not about the Nazi purges, but rather people not speaking up about them until it was too late. That you would equate that poem to the purges implies you miss the meaning, the point.

> and a hiccup encountered while installing an iPhone app.

But it's not. Again, you miss the point. People are saying this crosses some line. But that line was crossed years ago by Apple. People defended their actions then, while others decried it, and this exact point (and poem) was raised at the time. People dismissed the warning. They said things like this would never happen.

Now they are complaining about Apple crossing a line.

Finally, I want to introduce to you a literary concept called hyperbole. It is an exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally. So, while you want the poem I pasted to be about the holocaust, it isn't.

Re: Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

#350
post #346
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on how you define the market. When Sirius and XM merged, did it become a monopoly on the 'satellite radio' market or did they just become a larger player in the 'radio' market?

Doesn't matter? Were they abusive? Did the new enterprise fix prices or stop competitors entering the whole market (Apple are not stopping consumers from signing up for Dropbox, just not through the App Store)?

I find it hilarious that you instantly switched arguments as soon as an example that showed you were incorrect was put forward.

Apple are being abusive, few would deny this. Few have. Why are you?

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