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

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

judiciary.house.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 369 posts

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

#81

Post by saagarjha »

headmelted wrote: post #19

I mean, there’s a point to be made about how much monopoly power Apple holds, and it’s now clear these questions weren’t asked until now because lawmakers were really sweet on the maker of their shiny iPhone - but this letter ain’t it. The author is grovelling to the point of it being honestly pitiful. The amount of derogatory references to the web and Android also make it really hard for me not to question the motiv…

> If anything, the lesson to be learned here is that if your business depends exclusively on another company for its survival then it’s not your business.

Cool, but some of the world's largest companies evidently care enough about the platform to develop for it anyways–or feel the need to do so. When you have a party that controls access to such a large market, then telling people who develop for that platform that it's their fault that they decided to do that is basically victim-blaming.

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

#82

Post by saagarjha »

paulcole wrote: post #23

> When I was really upset I picked up an Android phone and after 5 mins I couldn't handle how they completely missed delighting the user over and over again How many times does this guy expect to be delighted in 5 minutes?

At least a few, presumably?

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

#83

Post by mhafez17 »

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.

Apple Arcade for $5 / month is a good deal. Fun games and no more money to pay ever. If you like the old Zelda games check out Oceanhorn as well.

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

#84

Post by inetknght »

Miraste wrote: post #33
MattGaiser wrote: post #30

How did we get from the attitude that web apps will be everything and native is backward to spending a lot of time concerned with App/Play Store monopolies? I guess my question is, why do native apps suddenly matter so much?

At least on iOS, native apps matter because Apple suffocated web apps by blocking a lot of functionality (APIs, PWA support).

> Apple suffocated web apps by blocking a lot of functionality (APIs, PWA support)

Rightfully so: I, as a user, do not want the web to have anywhere near the functionality that Google grants it; and absolutely not without clear and explicit permission.

The unfortunate flip side is that native apps sidestep that whole paradigm anyway.

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

#85

Post by trenchgun »

Hamuko wrote: post #53
TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like apple didn't want any competition for in-store ads

I still don't understand those. I paid god damn 1200 euro for this phone. Why am I seeing ads for shitty apps?

Because Apple went to trash after Jobs.

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

#86

Post by mhafez17 »

headmelted wrote: post #19

I mean, there’s a point to be made about how much monopoly power Apple holds, and it’s now clear these questions weren’t asked until now because lawmakers were really sweet on the maker of their shiny iPhone - but this letter ain’t it. The author is grovelling to the point of it being honestly pitiful. The amount of derogatory references to the web and Android also make it really hard for me not to question the motiv…

I guess I was groveling. This was my livelihood and I was employing 20+ people. I did not want to give up on this and have to tell the team our work and their jobs were over. I tried to be honest and explain the situation, because I believed if Tim Cook understood what happened, he would make it right.

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

#87

Post by [deleted] »

overeater wrote: post #37
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…

My sympathies. That's a really sad story. I don't know if it's any consolation that it was at least discussed among the executives. I don't know why you originally eschewed the web. I've developed on closed platforms in the past: Facebook (when Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars were crazy hot), Silverlight, OpenSocial, Twitter, and now Google Apps Script. My work is always worthless in 2-3 years, and what…

[deleted]

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

#88

Post by rexpop »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #80
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…

The most alarming part of this is actually the clear evidence that they use arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement of vague rules to actually enforce OTHER secret rules. In this case "no app recommendation engines", or more broadly "nothing that drives downloads". They didn't just say that. They pretended it was some other rule. Which means what people suspected is true -- they lie to you about the reason for your ap…

> they use arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement of vague rules to actually enforce OTHER secret rules.

In the context of criminal law, this is sometimes called "selective enforcement," and refers to the criminalization of normal behavior in order to provide plausible cover for violations of the actual, secret law. It's devastatingly unjust, and unsurprisingly applied in private jurisdictions.

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

#89

Post by dessant »

Ansil849 wrote: post #41
dessant wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument keeps being repeated, and it's basically just "if you don't like it, find a different platform". Do you think that's how our rights should be preserved, by hopping to places and platforms that respect our rights? Where do we leave those who have to live with their devices, or simply lacked the knowledge to make that important distinction at the time, or things have changed and now they need to install a…

> simply lacked the knowledge to make that important distinction at the time What about the users who lacked the important knowledge that the apps they downloaded had deceptive advertising, or malware?

Are you arguing that because of the current possibility to install apps from third-party sources that might turn out to be malware, Windows should only allow installing apps from the Windows Store?

Should we no longer be able to run software that has not received third-party approval?

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

#90

Post by m-p-3 »

askafriend wrote: post #18
dessant wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue is not the app review process, but the missing alternatives to the App Store on iPhones, and I think arguing about more just App Store rules is not the solution, but a distraction to our eroding right to control our own devices.

> the missing alternatives to the App Store on iPhones Get an Android phone and use the Play Store (or any of the 3rd party Android stores). The magic of a smartphone isn't only on iPhone and there's nothing you can do on iPhone that you can't do elsewhere.

Let me know when you find a decent alternative to Hindenburg [1] that work as well and that field reporter might want to actually use on Android.

[1]: https://hindenburg.com/products/hindenburg-field-recorder

Post reply on HN