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We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

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Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#91
post #17
post #5

This story has been repeated time and again. There is even a term, 'getting Sherlocked'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked...

The damning part to me is not so much that Apple copied it, but that they copied it, then removed their competitor from the app store.

They were breaking the app store guidelines too of not using MDM profiles for consumer apps. Same reason Facebook got their MDM profiles revoked too.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#92
post #3

On the flipside, this app looks like it was kind of a hack to get working. "Tunnel all of your traffic through our VPN to get tracking of social media use." It doesn't surprise me that Apple would want to offer first-party support.

Any reasonably informed iOS developer could have told them that their implementation is seriously at risk of being rejected by Apple.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes - the comment you are replying to is making the point that revenue may be $500,000 (extrapolated) but if server costs are $1,000,000 then the app is losing money, not making money. I see this trend quite frequently, only mentioning revenue but leaving out costs.

Yep. One thing which I have learnt from watching Shark Tank is that many companies would come with crazy valuations because they make millions in revenue. Only once questioned by the sharks would they disclose the much bigger operating costs and were severely bleeding money instead of profits.

To put it succinctly, "Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity".

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#94

This is some super click bait and borderline deceitful blog. Apps on iOS are sandboxed so you can't access data about other app's launch and usage. These apps were using MDM profiles to get that usage data. This also meant that the user's internet data was going through these third parties which is a pretty big privacy issue. Plus having MDM profiles gave these third parties enormous access to the user's device setti…

You'd think that, as reasonably smart people, you might stop and ask questions such as:

- Is this permitted within Apple's T&C's?

- What are the privacy issues? More so if I'm not fully informing my users we're intercepting their data via VPN (I don't know if that's made clear via author's T&C's or during installation)

- Even if all of the above were not concerns, am I able to properly secure user's data (against say state actors)

....even before going ahead and developing an app such as this.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#95

This is some super click bait and borderline deceitful blog. Apps on iOS are sandboxed so you can't access data about other app's launch and usage. These apps were using MDM profiles to get that usage data. This also meant that the user's internet data was going through these third parties which is a pretty big privacy issue. Plus having MDM profiles gave these third parties enormous access to the user's device setti…

It is funny how you assume Apple is first party and it gets to decide who is trustworthy or not. It might be better at privacy when compared to other companies, but a for profit company can never be fair or even correct when making such decisions on privacy.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#96
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you aren't native english speaker. As a french speaker, I got bitten by it in the past. Revenu is the total income, you have probably profit in mind.

There are so many false friends with French and English. I really don't have the heart to tell my colleagues in France that 'Unicity' - which they named a whole big project after - isn't a word...

Huh? Seems like a word, linked below. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/unicity

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also become Instagram, WhatsApp or one of the many other multi billion dollar companies. Or does that not fit your narrative ?

> bought or destroyed Fits the narrative precisely.

Pinterest, Snapchat, Uber, Spotify, Pandora, Candy Crush etc.

We can do this all day. Many of the top tech companies we have today exist because of mobile apps.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#99

This is some super click bait and borderline deceitful blog. Apps on iOS are sandboxed so you can't access data about other app's launch and usage. These apps were using MDM profiles to get that usage data. This also meant that the user's internet data was going through these third parties which is a pretty big privacy issue. Plus having MDM profiles gave these third parties enormous access to the user's device setti…

Bingo. There are several examples from years back where Apple copied an app and then removed it from the app store, but this isn't one of those times.

Re: We launched an app with $500k annual revenue, and then Apple copied it

#100
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really want 3rd party developers to be able to write apps that can introspect all other apps running on a phone?

Yes. "top" and "ps" are pretty useful tools.

Those are developer tools, so of course they need to do things you would never want Slack to do, for example. Also, Apple themselves ported Dtrace to MacOS. If you want the ultimate computing surveillance tool, Dtrace is a good bet.
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