Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#11

Post by icebraining » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

sesteel wrote: post #4

I am no lawyer, but this sounds like an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple, IMO, should not be allowed to monopolize their platform in this way.

iOS is far from having a monopoly in the market (smartphones and tablets). No, monopoly over their devices doesn't count.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#12

Post by cma » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

sesteel wrote: post #4

I am no lawyer, but this sounds like an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple, IMO, should not be allowed to monopolize their platform in this way.

Do they have a phone monopoly, when they don't even have a plurality?

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#13

Post by sesteel » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

gabeio wrote: post #8

sesteel wrote: post #4

I am no lawyer, but this sounds like an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple, IMO, should not be allowed to monopolize their platform in this way.

They didn't say the support had to be removed just the mentioning of the other platform.

It is still anticompetitive, suppressing information about a competitor's product helps the consumer in 0 ways.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#14

Post by higherpurpose » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

sesteel wrote: post #4

I am no lawyer, but this sounds like an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple, IMO, should not be allowed to monopolize their platform in this way.

And why is Apple still allowed to monopolize the core browser technologies? Imagine if Microsoft said in the late 90's that only IE is accepted on Windows, but you're free to put your on UI on top. Would that have been acceptable?

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#15

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:06 PM UTC

This forum appears to have an invalid certificate:

Domain: forums.getpebble.com

CN = *.vanillaforums.com

If you use HTTPS Everywhere, you'll want to uncheck this specific site, remove the HTTPS part of the URL and reload.

PS - I love HTTPS Everywhere but it always surprises me just how many sites have broken HTTPS implementations.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#16

Post by higherpurpose » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:06 PM UTC

canistr wrote: post #3

IIRC, this has to do with specifying "Pebble" and competitors in the App Store description. Same issue has occurred with apps that specify Samsung, Google, etc. in their descriptions and screenshots. You just have to remove them.

Sounds like a very arbitrary rule, also worthy of an anti-trust investigation. What's next? Censoring "Google" words from the iPhone keyboard and iMessage?

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#17

Post by learnstats2 » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #11

sesteel wrote: post #4

I am no lawyer, but this sounds like an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen. Apple, IMO, should not be allowed to monopolize their platform in this way.

iOS is far from having a monopoly in the market (smartphones and tablets). No, monopoly over their devices doesn't count.

Vendor lock-in does count as monopolistic behaviour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#18

Post by berkay » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC

The title is misleading at best. Apple does not care what support you have. They just don't want you to advertise that in their app store.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#19

Post by minikites » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC

It's just a metadata problem, the author of this sensationalist piece even quotes it as such, maybe they're unclear what "metadata" means.

> Please remove any instances of this information from your app and its marketing materials, including the Application Description, What's New info, Previews and screenshots.

> Since your iTunes Connect Application State is Rejected, a new binary will be required. Make the desired metadata changes when you upload the new binary.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#20

Post by alanscarpa » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:09 PM UTC

Makes sense. Apple doesn't want you using their app store in a way that could be promoting their competition.

For example, maybe I'm browsing the app store for new apps and I come across this app in question. Reading the description I see it says something about the Pebble watch...hmmm..I've never heard of this. Now I look it up, it looks cool, I like it, now I want to buy the Pebble instead of the Apple watch.

Their app store - their rules. Just remove mention it and it'll be approved.