I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 8:56 PM UTC

lelandbatey wrote: post #92

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you think that general purpose computing devices, which an iPhone is, should no longer have the capability to run software without third-party auditing and approval? There are barely any devices these days which cannot meet the definition of "general purpose computing device" without drawing some arbitrary line somewhere. Certainly every modern game console qualifies. Are Roku boxes general purpose if it weren't…

While it's true that almost all computers these days use "general purpose computer hardware" (x86/ARM CPU, GPU of some kind, fast RAM, slower disk, networking, etc), that's not the same thing as being a "general purpose device ". A quick search for the term "general purpose device" gives me definitions such as the following: Any computer-based device that accepts different applications. With this definition in mind,…

Post by jldugger » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

cblconfederate wrote: post #100

One thing missing from this discussion is: where is academia? The WWW was created inside academia, and it's because of that that it's still open and competitive. The internet itself was created in the military. Where is the equivalent for mobile apps? It's a problematic category that is wholly dominated by 2 actors, one of which isn't even interested in phones. We need a common set of standards for mobile development…

Post by donor20 » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 9:00 PM UTC

mhafez17 wrote: post #29

Wow. I am the author of this email. I have no idea how it resurfaced after 5 years, I was only made aware of this when a friend emailed me the HN link. The sad thing is it was not just my company which was targeted, but Apple removed this entire product category. We never knew the real reason why, or if it was bigger than just a random app reviewer trying to apply Apple policy, until May 2019. That's when Bloomberg i…

Post by normanmatrix » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

mhafez17 wrote: post #75

LurkersWillLurk wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same file as the original submission. But can you explain how this email got its way to the House Judiciary Committee?

I have no idea. I was not contacted by anyone. This email is an email Tim Cook forwarded to the executive team. So my guess is when doing discovery for this case, they got to look at Tim Cook emails regarding the App Store and this one came up. Again, this is an email that Tim Cook read and forwarded - it did not come from me providing it to anyone

Post by Tarsul » Mon, Aug 17, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

WWLink wrote: post #78

csa wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple executives ordered the elimination of apps that drove downloads to the App Store. He said "Your app drove download volume. Apple doesn’t want any outside sources to drive ratings. So yeah, we got rid of all app recommendation apps." He said he thought it was unfair, but this was something. Seems like an app recommendation app.

I wouldn't mind one of those. Especially if it helped me find games that don't have in-app purchases and don't have in-game advertising. I'd buy those. But it's fucking impossible to find them.