They got kicked out for willingly breaking the rules in the past. Not for criticizing Apple. Actions have consequences.
Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
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Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#12Why are investors seemingly blind to the fact that Apple is fighting tooth and nail to protect their App Store revenue (while looking like jackasses in the court of public opinion and pissing off regulators and their relationship with developers) because if the App Store money in their pocket dries up, all hell breaks loose because all of their hardware products are no longer growing. The stock will crash and the exe…
Pretty sure the savvy investors know this. But why would they kill the golden goose?
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#13Sounds like they violated a non disparagement clause and signaled they will not adhere to policy. All they had to do is keep quiet and launch to minimize their liability. Guess they will need to fight in the EU to see if they can claw back.
Where are you seeing a non disparagement clause?
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#14This seems like a publicity stunt to me. No one would rationally expect Epic to have a developer account with Apple. The terms allow them to remove you for any reason and not disclose it.
> No one would rationally expect Epic to have a developer account with Apple.
Really? I would 100% expect most any large company selling anything into the computing or computing-adjacent space to have an Apple dev account and a Play Store account.
My supermarket chain has an Apple dev account. Target has an Apple dev account. (Both presumably have Play Store accounts as well.) If those brick-and-mortar companies can manage to reach their customers that way, it was more surprising to me that Epic didn't have one previously than the converse.
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#15This seems like a publicity stunt to me. No one would rationally expect Epic to have a developer account with Apple. The terms allow them to remove you for any reason and not disclose it.
Given the DMA, Apple are required to allow people to develop other App Stores. If they can kick off anyone who decides to do that, then the law is entirely pointless (and the EU commission are likely to be upset).
Sure, they are required to allow people to develop other App Stores.
They can also add any number of other policies which you probably run afoul of several times a day. Then terminate you for that. You can still develop your app store, you just can't break all the rules to develop your app store.
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#16They got kicked out for willingly breaking the rules in the past. Not for criticizing Apple. Actions have consequences.
From the article:
> Apple said one of the reasons they terminated our developer account only a few weeks after approving it was because we publicly criticized their proposed DMA compliance plan. Apple cited this X post from this thread written by Tim Sweeney. Apple is retaliating against Epic for speaking out against Apple’s unfair and illegal practices, just as they’ve done to other developers time and time again.
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#17[deleted]
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#18If I had a Customer that spent years relentlessly complaining about my Company, I know I wouldn't want to have them as a Customer.
It does present an interesting question on whether a Company can be forced to have a bad actor as a Customer, I guess this will be decided in the lawsuits to come.
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#19Why are investors seemingly blind to the fact that Apple is fighting tooth and nail to protect their App Store revenue (while looking like jackasses in the court of public opinion and pissing off regulators and their relationship with developers) because if the App Store money in their pocket dries up, all hell breaks loose because all of their hardware products are no longer growing. The stock will crash and the exe…
This is indeed an analysis that we don't see often enough. Apple is viewed as a "tech company" and tech companies are all about innovation and growth. And their stocks are priced accordingly. But, Apple is actually extremely conservative with product rollouts and new markets (c.f. having essentially missed the boat on AI). They make phones and sell phone apps. They do a few other things, but at the end of the day their balance sheet says "Apple sells phones".
And the phone market is saturated now. Everyone's got one. They keep getting better and people keep them longer. And Apple already has a 50% share of units sold, and a much higher proportion of total revenue. This market is tapped out. It's not going to grow.
Really the mess happening in Europe (mostly in Europe anyway) is best seen as a desperate struggle to push the growth reckoning far enough out for them to roll out a new successful product. They're rent seeking just to keep the balance sheet clean, but it won't work forever.
Really this happens to all big tech companies. Eventually the original product set starts to commoditize and there's nothing left to fill the void.
Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS
#20Sounds like they violated a non disparagement clause and signaled they will not adhere to policy. All they had to do is keep quiet and launch to minimize their liability. Guess they will need to fight in the EU to see if they can claw back.
A non-disparagement clause is not valid under the DMA.