Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox

If you're going to pull in market size, you've got to play to the relevant market as well.

One of the difficulties of anti-trust law is that it's fundamentally about power, which is not something economists have a particularly good measure for, nor are they particularly equipped to find (or be interested in finding) measurements for.

Even in a monopoly/monopsony or oligopoly/oligopsony cannot dictate both price and quantity (supply/demand curve), though in the traditional economic efficiency argument of the Chicago (free market) School, the concentration of buying/selling power means that (for sell-side concentration) prices are higher and quantities are lower, or (for buy-side concentration) prices are lower and quantities are higher, and more net value accrues to the side with greater concentration. The Chicago School cries tears over lost market efficiency.

But that's a far smaller problem than that monopoly allows the monopolist to choose winners. Maybe not for all time, but it's the same argument that's been used against command economies, bailouts, and even just plain government regulation. Generally wrongly in the last case, and mostly in the second.

Free markets are based on the principle that buyers, sellers, and ideas meet on equal footing. Where an entity or cabal can select winners, what you've got is no longer a free market.

Which is a pity, as free markets are generally powerful forces for good.

Or, perhaps they're rejects apps that allow you to create a Dropbox account. That would cover all versions of the Dropbox SDK.

The specific reasons they gave are:

- "This app contains a link that takes the user to Dropbox via Safari".

- "The concern with this app is that the user is taken to Dropbox's website, if they do not have Dropbox installed on their device, where they have the option to purchase additional storage space."

How would you read that? They seem to suggest that you can't link to any page on dropbox.com.

The problem is that neither Dropbox's login page nor their create-account page provide any links for purchasing anything, nor do they provide links to Dropbox's main site. http://rfc64k.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/dj-xhtrivxl.png

So it seems that merely because the login page is hosted at Dropbox.com, it is forbidden because Dropbox.com can be used for purchasing things. That would rule out all forms of OAUTH.

Their proposed solution was to remove the "Create Account" link, but it's not at all clear whether that was the original problem, or whether it solves anything.

The bottom line is that if your app currently uses any version of the Dropbox SDK or the Dropbox OAUTH API your app may be rejected and you're now in a state of limbo.

No, abuse of oligarchies and cartels are illegal too.

It is generally understood that small numbers of entities can form oligarchies with no explicit coordination, so independence isn't necessarily a defense either.

I've often corrected many of the kind of misapprehensions he seems to see himself as on a crusade against, and it has never been necessary for me to adopt his abysmal attitude in the process.

Edit: To answer your added bit at the end, which has changed several times, I'm interpreting it in light of him. Hence my references to his past history. Some months ago, he went through a particularly nasty period, and when I called him on it, he outright admitted he was intentionally being a jerk.

I don't get the complaints about the HN title, it's reasonably accurate given the space limitations and the forum further clarifies things. Not everything can fit in the title.

Also, I see a distinct lack of suggestions of a better title, just complaints that it's link bait.