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

Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

981–990 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#981

Post by concinds »

tailspin2019 wrote: post #937

> But Apple told Ars that Epic Games Sweden's access to a developer account was granted through a "click through" agreement that was not evaluated by Apple management. I’ve never heard this type of argument before. Presumably Apple considered their “click through agreement” suitable for developers to “click through” and agree to.

It means Apple would never have approved the Epic Sweden account if management had known, and for the past 3 weeks they were just looking for excuses to backtrack.

Which is supported by the fact that they justified the new ban with "they'd just break our terms again!" If you really believed that, Apple, you'd wait, and ban Epic Games Sweden after they broke your terms, which minimizes legal risk. They don't believe their own FUD.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#982

Post by tatrajim »

brikym wrote: post #845
nojvek wrote: post #800

Meanwhile US FTC is totally asleep at the wheel. What is Lina Khan even doing? Apple is clearly being a bully in daylight.

This is why I sold my APPL stock a few weeks back. The experience on iPhone is shit. The web is broken on Safari. They broke PWAs. The vision pro is not a big hit. The notification system on MacOS is a poor experience as it gets in my way all the time. Apple want to extort devs to build apps. The arm macbook chips are amazing but that's old news now. Too much abuse of their customers and not much innovation. It has s…

> The vision pro is not a big hit.

You have verified sales statistics? Why are users around the world clamoring for vision pros in their countries? Why are Chinese entrepreneurs renting out vision pros by the hour?

My wife and I marvel at the vision pro experience.

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-vision-pro-china-renta....

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#983

Post by tatrajim »

paulddraper wrote: post #931
ectospheno wrote: post #849

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my iphone more than any other tech device I own. Can you elaborate on "The experience on iPhone is shit"? Seems like hyperbole to me.

While I wouldn't describe it as "shit"... Android Camera > iOS Camera Google Photos > iCloud Photos Finger ID > Face ID My gripe with Android is that no one offers the quality and form factor of the iPhone SE. (Though to be fair, even Apple no longer offers the quality and form factor of the iPhone SE...)

Android Camera > iOS Camera

Are spatial videos available on android cameras, out of the box?

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#984

Post by jitl »

randmeerkat wrote: post #956
robertlagrant wrote: post #952

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power users that want to program on their phone? That sounds like Ballmer-level thinking on mobile.

> Power users that want to program on their phone? That sounds like Ballmer-level thinking on mobile. Even if you could plug a monitor, keyboard, and mouse into your phone..? Just like you can with a Steam Deck..

You can plug all that stuff into iPhone and Android phones too, but very few people are excited about it. Samsung even made a laptop shaped accessory for their phones, I can’t find it but this company is making something similar: https://nexdock.com/samsung-dex-laptop/

I don’t think the power rangers transforming phone product is a good product for most people. If you asked me to choose between a regular M3 MacBook Pro and a full DeX phone based docking setup built around a top-line smartphone, I’m going to pick the MacBook’s 4x more RAM, 3x bigger CPU, 6x bigger GPU, and much better thermal dissipation. Why settle for a much less powerful device that is fiddly and annoying to “set up” for real work?

I also have a Steam Deck and the only thing I’ve ever plugged it into is a power adapter. If I was gonna plug it into a monitor, I’d use my vastly more powerful desktop PC instead.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#985

Post by m4rtink »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #646
m4rtink wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is also wrong, especially given how most modern consoles are basically PCs. Just see what all you can do with Steam Deck in comparison to the locked down consoles.

>especially given how most modern consoles are basically PCs. people always obsess over the hardware in these arguments when the value is in the software. You probably can eventually run windows on a PS5, but that's not what people buy a PS5 for. They don't advertise it as being able to install whatever OS you want (they made that mistake on PS3, took it back, and then got fined for taking it back), and the value for…

Still as long as you buy the hardware, you should not be prevented from running whatever you like on it.

A case of this is the Nintendo Switch, which does not even have a Web Browser (possibly due to Nintendo being scared to death of JIT exploits breaking their walled garden). Want to look up a game guide from the Internet, on a device perfectly able of doing so ? Fat chance, need another device for that!

You mentioned consoles supporting some streaming services - why should the manufacturer of the hardware be in business of deciding what streaming services you can use ?

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#986

Post by Findeton »

int_19h wrote: post #851
Findeton wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respectfully disagree because that goes against individual freedom. I understand that historically in the US there's been racism but that's no reason to erode individual freedom.

A corporation is not a person, though. It is a "legal person", which is a really unfortunate term precisely because it confuses the matter of natural rights and freedoms. Now, I would agree with you if we were talking about individuals. In that case, yeah, I think you should be able to refuse service for any reason or no reason at all to whoever you want. But if you go and get a corporate charter from the government…

A corporation is just an abstraction over a bunch of people. So yes, it does restrict individual freedoms.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#987

Post by hwillis »

overstay8930 wrote: post #788
hwillis wrote: post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just the opposite kind of naive. Companies are still for the most part run by CEOs, and many of those CEOs have tremendous egos and most of them have a tremendous ability to direct the actions of those companies. Look at Tesla and Twitter lawsuits- they're clearly in Musks's interests. Companies aren't minds of their own directing their own actions. Tim cook or some other high level executive is deciding these…

Twitter is a private company and Apple has a board of directors very interested in not rocking the boat

A board can only really exert soft pressure. Their options are very limited outside trying to fully replace a CEO unless they have something to use as a stick. Apple in particular prints money unlike any other company on earth and its board is not going to stop Tim Cook from doing pretty much whatever he feels like.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#988

Post by gopher_space »

nottorp wrote: post #881
gopher_space wrote: post #804

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I don't think of cost as a fundamental issue, what differences would I see between either approach? They're both barriers to my intent and I'm not on board with the reasoning behind erecting those barriers.

You missed the "without restrictions" part. You do not need to get the msi approved by Microsoft to distribute it.

It's an extra step in the process I only need to do on Windows, and the rationale behind it solely benefits Microsoft.

I'm not comparing Microsoft to Apple, I'm judging both of them against my intentions. Both companies throw up barriers to interfacing with their systems.

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#989

Post by dilap »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #544
dilap wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They really seem to be making a mockery of the EU regs here. Will the EU respond quickly and forcefully, or (essentially) admit that Apple is too big to regulate?

IMO, little column A, little column B. EU is good about bringing lawsuits, but because of how law works, judgments are delayed, appealed, reduced, etc. Eye-watering fines are watered down and don't end up meaning much. Viewing the Big Tech names as nation-states by virtue of the sheer power they hold cuts through a lot of BS when people wonder why they do any action that might seem mind-boggling. It's because they th…

Turns out it was all column A.

https://twitter.com/ThierryBreton/status/1765793776692326891

So, good on the EU. And what the heck are Apple thinking?

Re: Apple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS

#990

Post by smoldesu »

threeseed wrote: post #967
TillE wrote: post #958

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DMA requires that companies like Apple provide fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory access for competition. The account is really neither here nor there, it's only an issue because Apple has chosen to make it a requirement to distribute an app marketplace. It's pretty clear that they can't legally freeze out Epic as a competitor, but how they solve that is up to them.

[flagged]

Apple is being unfair and unreasonable, and they literally just walked back this decision within 24 hours of you vehemently defending it.

As good a time as any to ask yourself; why do you defend a company you don't understand?

Post reply on HN