A company like Apple can be lordly and draconian in their practices, but it would still pay a dividend for them to be consistent, fair, and to have a reasonable review and communication process that distinguishes between some kid writing malware and a mature company with a serious investment in iOS and a history of asking questions and getting approval for their product as it develops.
AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
61–70 of 216 posts
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is low quality software and no trials. I can't tell you how many times I've seen an app, paid $2.99 for it and then found out it was garbage.
But it's only $2.99.
Throwing money away after crap apps sucks after awhile, especially when you try a few. My iPad is a graveyard of apps that I don't use anymore.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#63I have zero sympathy for Simon.
AppGratis business model is dirty at its core because basically it's just a way for developers with cash to splash to have a big burst of downloads to help them climb the App Store Rank and get "organic download".
An even dumber thing is to bet everything its iOS app when you saw that a far superior product from one of your competitor was banned from the App Store 4 months ago (App Shopper) . I hope that the App Shoper banned at least made you think about the possibility that could await AppGratis and took preemptive measure. But No, instead you build an iPad app...
Now you come crying to the public in hope that a significant public outburst will make Apple changes his mind and reintegrate AppGratis in the store, I hope Apple stands firm on its decision.
I'm in no way an Apple fanboy or whatever, from a business point of view it make no sense. You knew the rules, you got burned and now you cry.
The only sympathy I have is toward AppGratis' 45 employees.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#64I cannot understand why the developer would be surprised, since guideline 2.25 explicitly warns not to create an app whose purpose is to promote others' apps in a similar fashion to the app store?
Did they not stop to consider this could be a problem for even a second?
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
i am sorry, but this is the largest density of drivel in a while posted here. android, linux, suing samsung, lack of innovation - it's like reading an Engadget comment. apple's business model around the app store is to protect users from CRAP. malware, viruses, etc. it acts like a spam filter of sorts. just like any spam filter there are false positives, some things get through, etc. but this concrete case? good ridd…
apple's business model around the app store is to protect users from CRAP Apple's business model around the App Store involves protecting users from crap, but it also has healthy doses of limiting competition and establishing first-party app dominance.
Apple has always put their priorities in this order aroun iOS: Apple > users > developers. As of now, it's working out quite well.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pay for exposure already exists within the app store. Large companies pay around $10-$20K a day depending on the category on crap ad networks (won't name them) that incentivize the users to download the companies app in order to "get to the next level" or something like that. The downloads are incredibly cheap and you get thousands and thousands of them. The app store ranking is almost entirely based on download velo…
Lets say you need 20k DLs to get top 5 in a notable category. Lets say you get another 20k of real DLs from the app store ranking. Incentivised DLs are $0.35 each, but they are Dls and not real users. So $7k for 20k DLs. You usually want a LTV of 3:1. So your LTV would need to be $2.10 per user. These users are way worse than acquiring them from other channels because they only briefly see your logo and a brief descr…
Plenty of apps do; retail and real estate, just to name a few.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can get OSX up and running in VirtualBox/Vagrant. Not that I'd want to do actual development that way, but we do it for iOS CI.
Which is a violation of the OS X EULA. install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use. http://www.apple.com…
The way that reads it seems valid to create a virtual instance of osx for development.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#68I hate the idea of AppGratis and I'm glad its been removed. Who really benefits? The cheap user who will not normally pay for a high quality app? The app developer who spends $$ to get featured in AppGratis to then artificially climb the app store ranking? Dls are one of the worst vanity metrics out there. Devs should focus on building high quality products, monetize, then acquire quality users in a sustainable manne…
The problem is low quality software and no trials. I can't tell you how many times I've seen an app, paid $2.99 for it and then found out it was garbage.
Dunno why Apple doesn't do as Google does (at least did when I had a Droid, pre-Play store), where you had 24 hours to get a refund, presumably with some sort of fraud trigger if you request too many refunds.
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#69I will save HN the time: "I can't believe that it's 2013 and people are still basing their entire company around the App Store with it's murky rules" "But there's a lot of money to be made there, it's worth it!" "Apple needs to change their procedures" They're all true. Basing a business around an app is both risky and potentially very profitable. Apple should change their practises but have little incentive to. So,…
I've been recommending Android for a while, and here is another concrete reason why. Every time one of these stories appears I write the following: I develop for iPhone and I used to love OS X. The iPhone in entirety and OS X lately are aimed directly at people who don't know how to use computers even if it comes at the expense of those who do. Everyone do yourself a favor and switch to Linux on your computing platfo…
> are aimed directly at people who don't know how to use
> computers
Re: AppGratis pulled from the App Store. Here’s the full story
#70Regardless of if you are in the "It's Apple's store, they can do what they want" camp or the "Apple should not be allowed to have this level of control" camp I think we can all agree that it's not good when one single entity holds this amount of power over arguably one the world's most important computing platforms. Essentially, Apple can block any app they want for any reason they want. Even if you play by their rul…
Go and innovate on Android, what's the problem. Or make your own platform and innovate there. Or use HTML5.
What makes me sad is constant whining about stuff like this.