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Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

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201–210 of 414 posts

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#201

It's really amusing that so many of you actually think that Apple is threatened by Pebble in the slightest that they would remove apps that supported it.

Pebble actually has more units moved than any other smart watch at the moment. Samsung is second, followed by various Android Wear companies, and then Apple is last. More than threatened, right now they are completely beaten.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple hate is quite blinding. So is Apple fanboyism. There are laws that prevent Ford from requiring you to only service your vehicle at Ford dealerships. There are also laws that prevent Ford from restricting sales of third-party after market parts in franchised dealerships. Not a good comparison.

Claiming Apple is a monopoly because only they make iDevices, what I was responding to, is just as ignorant as saying Ford is a monopoly because only they make F-150s. Is that hard to understand?

Ford does not control which roads andntasks you could use your truck for

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#203
post #149
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't have control of the smart phone (or phone) market. Having control of the iPhone market is not considered monopolistic.

In antitrust cases, much of the game is in delineating the bounds of the relevant market. Apple would argue for it being really wide, as you have done. One of the other comments here argues for it being "the market for iOS apps", which is far narrower, and seems way too narrow to me. If Apple built the device, and the OS, and the marketplace, of course they're going to have a monopoly there. Just like Walmart has a m…

> Just like Walmart has a monopoly on things sold at Walmart.

No, not just like it. Walmart does not exclusively sell goods that require a Walmart product to use. That distinction makes the comparison not very similar at all.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#204

The Runkeeper app explicitly mentions Pebble Support, and was released on the 20th of April. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/runkeeper-gps-running-walk/i... I'm going to wait a little before passing judgement on this. Could just be a bad review/er. I do feel sorry for these devs though, running to 'the press' is something Apple passive-aggressively warns you not to do. Their future app-approval life could be quite un…

Then the "bad" reviewer would have been the one the approved the RunKeeper app since the guideslines specifically state that "Apps or metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected"[1].

Edit: I do not endorse the app store guidelines.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#met...

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#205
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't have control of the smart phone (or phone) market. Having control of the iPhone market is not considered monopolistic.

Apple does have their own smart watch, though, and seems to be using their influence over the iPhone market to pressure the auxiliary device market. I'm not a lawyer, but isn't that roughly compatible to the Microsoft/Netscape situation?

It's compatible with what they did in the eBook market which drove up prices for eBooks and killed off some eBook businesses.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#206
post #76

It's a bit tricky. I agree with most comments here that Apple is in the right to control what appear in the description and metadata. Not just from a competitive standpoint but in a way to make the it better for the user experience. That being said, in the Pebble case, I think it makes the user experience worst for the user. I.e. if I have a pebble watch and am looking for an iphone app that play well with it, I'd wa…

> I think it's different than saying "Also on Android" because this is a totally different device. I.e. saying it's on another smartphone doesn't add value to the description, but saying it supports some hardware device does.

Cross-platform is the exact value-prop for a great number of apps.

Apple doesn't like this because it exposes one of their own apps' weaknesses.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#207
post #76

It's a bit tricky. I agree with most comments here that Apple is in the right to control what appear in the description and metadata. Not just from a competitive standpoint but in a way to make the it better for the user experience. That being said, in the Pebble case, I think it makes the user experience worst for the user. I.e. if I have a pebble watch and am looking for an iphone app that play well with it, I'd wa…

"It seems like Apple is doing that as a way to kill competition and promote their own watch, which is fair from a business standpoint." It's nowhere near fair. It's extremely anticompetitive. This is the kind of behavior that gets a company in trouble with the FTC.

You're allowed to do things like this; you're also allowed to be a de-facto monopoly. You're not allowed to do things like this AND be a monopoly.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Claiming Apple is a monopoly because only they make iDevices, what I was responding to, is just as ignorant as saying Ford is a monopoly because only they make F-150s. Is that hard to understand?

Ford does not control which roads andntasks you could use your truck for

As others have pointed out, your "Apple has 100% monopoly on iOS platform" is silly which is why you are changing the argument.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#209
This is really really fine for apple to do as they are just creating an option for a highly curated app store. I mean, if they were attempting to criminalize loading 3rd party apps/using alternative app stores then it would be horrible, but doing that would just be crazy.

Re: Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

#210
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Business isn't a no-holds-barred anything goes anarchy. It's not because we have some free trade that there are no rules what so ever. Abusing a stranglehold or monopoly will eventually draw the ire of regulators. Just ask Microsoft or the EU. What is and isn't OK is something that will probably be decided in court. I hope this kind of anti-competitive measures do get some kind of regulation in the app-store…

Apple doesn't need to ask Microsoft. Apple being convicted monopolists, they are no stranger to litigation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._litigation#Antitrus...

I upvoted you as you make a good point. But a quick note: you can't be a convicted monopolist. "Monopolization" is illegal, but that requires both monopoly power and anticompetitive conduct. Monopoly power on its own is not illegal (at least theoretically).
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