Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

blog.zapdrive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 45 posts

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#21

Post by wingfield »

wingfield wrote: post #19

Only offer sign-in in the app (with no option to purchase / become a paying member). Netflix, Dropbox, Spotify, etc all do this, it's basically industry standard. Boom, done. I would have expected this blog post 2 years ago; the fact that you were blindsided by this really doesn't give me a lot of confidence in your company. Anyone who's developed for iOS would have been able to tell you on day one that you're in ser…

"2)you don't know much about iOS development" is a bit harsh - let me rephrase that with "2) you are unfamiliar with the iOS platform"

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#23

Post by bunderbunder »

wingfield wrote: post #19

Only offer sign-in in the app (with no option to purchase / become a paying member). Netflix, Dropbox, Spotify, etc all do this, it's basically industry standard. Boom, done. I would have expected this blog post 2 years ago; the fact that you were blindsided by this really doesn't give me a lot of confidence in your company. Anyone who's developed for iOS would have been able to tell you on day one that you're in ser…

Not Dropbox. Dropbox uses Apple's in-app purchasing system, and offering account upgrades for the same price they charge on their website.

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#24

Post by bryanlarsen »

wingfield wrote: post #19

Only offer sign-in in the app (with no option to purchase / become a paying member). Netflix, Dropbox, Spotify, etc all do this, it's basically industry standard. Boom, done. I would have expected this blog post 2 years ago; the fact that you were blindsided by this really doesn't give me a lot of confidence in your company. Anyone who's developed for iOS would have been able to tell you on day one that you're in ser…

"Only offer sign-in in the app". But that's what they did, and it was still rejected. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4642321

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#25

Post by zapdrive »

wingfield wrote: post #19

Only offer sign-in in the app (with no option to purchase / become a paying member). Netflix, Dropbox, Spotify, etc all do this, it's basically industry standard. Boom, done. I would have expected this blog post 2 years ago; the fact that you were blindsided by this really doesn't give me a lot of confidence in your company. Anyone who's developed for iOS would have been able to tell you on day one that you're in ser…

Well first of all, you are totally wrong. Read my comment below (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4642321) to know how we are not in the same category as Netflix, Spotify etc.

Second, We are not iOS developers. Our iOS app is just another "portal" for our users to access their files. Hell, we didn't even use Apple's SDK, we used PhoneGap to make the App.

Third, just like you, we were also in the illusion that we were not affected by this policy, and by not linking to an external website we were within the guidelines. Turns out, thats not true. (Read my comment linked above)

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#26

Post by zapdrive »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #13
RShiki wrote: post #7

> Its all over the Internet Explorer thing happening again. But with IE at least you could tell your users to download a better browser if they want to use your app. You can not tell your users, "Buy another phone to use our service!" That's what I take from the article. People got up in arms in a way that was much stronger against Microsoft during IE's early years and whining for Netscape (who lost because they just…

Apple can get away with this because they aren't a monopoly. Their market share isn't anywhere close to the 90% that Microsoft enjoys. They temporarily enjoyed a 90% share of tablet sales, but that has since dropped substantially. This is probably a good thing from Apple's perspective, since if it would have stayed at 90% then they probably would have the DOJ on their back for their monopolistic practices.

The problem is, the 33% smartphone market is 100% controlled by Apple. Nobody can enter that market, unless they have Apple's blessing.

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#27

Post by gte910h »

zapdrive wrote: post #8
wtvanhest wrote: post #3

1) Apple has widely publicized their policy on this. 2) Apple’s ecosystem is designed to create lock in and generate monopolistic profits. This actually is the goal of all businesses until their market becomes mature. 3) At the mature stage, businesses seek to compete on price and everyone’s “economic profits” are lowered to zero. I don’t know if storage is at the point where it can be offered at breakeven at $20/yea…

We actually proposed this idea to the person from Apple who was dealing with us, and although he said he can not "pre-approve" anything, but this seems to be ok, and within Apple's guidelines: 1. Users pay $19.99/year for 100 GB for a plan that does NOT have iOS access. This is a PC/OSX/Android only App, that has nothing to do with iOS. 2. Users pay $29.99/year for "100 GB + iOS Access" plan. The iOS app will have an…

Why don't you just do this then?

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#28

Post by zapdrive »

gte910h wrote: post #27
zapdrive wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We actually proposed this idea to the person from Apple who was dealing with us, and although he said he can not "pre-approve" anything, but this seems to be ok, and within Apple's guidelines: 1. Users pay $19.99/year for 100 GB for a plan that does NOT have iOS access. This is a PC/OSX/Android only App, that has nothing to do with iOS. 2. Users pay $29.99/year for "100 GB + iOS Access" plan. The iOS app will have an…

Why don't you just do this then?

Yes, we are working on this. But being a startup, we will be really hurt by this. No iOS customers are going to use our service. However, we would be happy to lead the change. If this becomes a trend, and more and more companies follow our footsteps, we would be living in a better world a few years down the road :)

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#29

Post by zapdrive »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #20

Can you elaborate on your "100% safe and secure" claim? You appear to have a "reset your password" link, which is a big red flag that indicates to me that any data I store on your service is not private. To me "100% safe and secure" means that if you lose your password you lose your data, because it has been encrypted with the lost password.

Well, this is kind of off-topic for this thread. But anyways, the text you quoted actually says: "No downloads or installation required. 100% safe and secure!" That means, you are not vulnerable to any virus or trojans, as you are not downloading and running some software to use our service.

Re: Why every iPhone/iPad owner needs to read this.

#30

Post by loumf »

zapdrive wrote: post #16
bunderbunder wrote: post #15

So why can't this be worked around the way everyone else does? Don't link back to your own website from the iOS app, and don't give end-users any way to upgrade their account from the app. Have the app just ask for a username and password to authenticate with your service, and require end-users to go to your website in order to do any account management.

No, that's what we did. But it did not work. If you are thinking about Netflix or Kindle App, 1.14 of the "App Store Review Guidelines" says: "Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the App, as long as there is no button or external link in the App to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive…

I use apps connected to pay SaaS services (Concur, SalesForce) -- the apps are free with no IAP, but my company pays a lot for them. Yammer has pay services and a free iOS app with no IAP. I think if you look for them, you will see tons of apps like this that are the front-end to a SaaS service (not content) -- why is yours any different?
Post reply on HN