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Time for some anti-trust regulations on the app store. In the "mobile apps" market, Apple is an overwhelming monopoly with 66% market share [1]. Some stats: -

Time for some anti-trust regulations on the app store. In the "mobile apps" market, Apple is an overwhelming monopoly with 66% market share [1]. Some stats: - Total app store market revenues for 1st half (1H) of 2018: ~$33B - Apple's app-store revenue for 1H-2018: $22B - Apple's market share: 66% They constantly abuse their power and stifle competition by: 1. Banning apps (this app, steam streaming, ....) 2. Stifling the iOS browser's compliance with W3C spec, to force developers into their app store. The EU and FTC should have ample data to stop this abuse. [1]: https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/16/apples-app-store-revenue-nearly-double-that-of-google-play-in-first-half-of-2018/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/16/apples-app-store-revenue-n...

ancorevard 8y ago
This is not an abuse of power. This is looking out for their users' privacy. I would have thought most people at this time would know that Apple does not take lightly a situation where an app is sending lots of privacy related user behavior to some kind of server somewhere. At a minimum, store this analytics on the phone only. But then again, you may use APIs for reasons other than their intended purpose.
- writepub 8y ago
  They also don't take competition lightly. Just look at how they banned Steam's game streaming app [1], and retroactively modified app-store policies to substantiate their abuse of power. [1]: https://www.cultofmac.com/552995/app-store-rules-steam-link/ https://www.cultofmac.com/552995/app-store-rules-steam-link/
- mthoms 8y ago
  In this case, the location data doesn't leave the phone. That's not the issue.
- cromwellian 8y ago
  Shouldn't I have the choice? If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection? After all, there are permissions dialogs. If an app needs location data, and asks me for it, why can't I decide to grant permission of the app to use it for novel new use cases like screen time management? This not only inhibits innovation, it takes away my own agency and ownership of my, very expensive, device. This kind of nanny state, closed source, locked down stuff used to cause everyone to rebel on HN. We'd have people quoting Richard Stallman, etc. These days, it seems like HN has abandoned a lot of its original culture, and is totally willing to cede control of computing to a proprietary, locked down, centralized control mechanism that permits no exploration or hacking, and certainly no forking. Can't we protect users AND allow them to make informed decisions? What if I want to use a battery draining service? There's lots of games that will nuke your battery very fast. Hell, the Camera app on my iPhone 6 used to drain my battery fast. And hanging over this is the spectre that once again, this is Apple killing off third party apps that compete with iOS 12's own built in screen time management features.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection? What does the price of a phone have to do with anything? If someone buys a $300 iPhone, or a $25 flip phone, do they not deserve the same amount of privacy or choice?
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    > Can't we protect users AND allow them to make informed decisions? Unfortunately, the answer to this question currently seems to be “no”. I have not found a system that both allows people to have “choice” and also prevents the average user from messing up their device.
    - cromwellian 8y ago
      The OpenWeb seems to work pretty well, at least from the standpoint of not getting viruses or malware from it. You could argue about tracking users, but it’s not like the native Facebook iOS doesn’t collect lots of data on you.
      - monocularvision 8y ago
        The app pulled is impossible on the web.
- imgabe 8y ago
  Why wasn't Apple looking out for users' privacy before they released a similar feature in iOS?
scarface74 8y ago
Or you know instead of getting the government involved, you could just get an Android phone like 80% of other smart phone users....
- writepub 8y ago
  How do you protect developers & their businesses from abuse at the hands of a channel (Apple) that controls access to ~70% of revenues, and probably more in profits. The answer is not for users to switch to Android, but for the FTC & EU to step in, as they did for Android, and for MSFT's browser related cases.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    They control 80% of the hardware revenues. What does that have to do with third party developers? So if you don’t like the policies of Sony with regards to the PlayStation do you want the government involved their too?
amelius 8y ago
Time for laws on platform economies.
- writepub 8y ago
  The only reason it is a "platform" is because of lock-down. Imagine if Jobs' original vision of HTML5+JS runtime as the iOS app runtime engine had come true.
  - anoncake 8y ago
    Nobody would use Iphones because all it runs are shitty webapps?

ancorevard 8y ago

This is not an abuse of power. This is looking out for their users' privacy. I would have thought most people at this time would know that Apple does not take lightly a situation where an app is sending lots of privacy related user behavior to some kind of server somewhere. At a minimum, store this analytics on the phone only. But then again, you may use APIs for reasons other than their intended purpose.

writepub 8y ago
They also don't take competition lightly. Just look at how they banned Steam's game streaming app [1], and retroactively modified app-store policies to substantiate their abuse of power. [1]: https://www.cultofmac.com/552995/app-store-rules-steam-link/ https://www.cultofmac.com/552995/app-store-rules-steam-link/
mthoms 8y ago
In this case, the location data doesn't leave the phone. That's not the issue.
cromwellian 8y ago
Shouldn't I have the choice? If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection? After all, there are permissions dialogs. If an app needs location data, and asks me for it, why can't I decide to grant permission of the app to use it for novel new use cases like screen time management? This not only inhibits innovation, it takes away my own agency and ownership of my, very expensive, device. This kind of nanny state, closed source, locked down stuff used to cause everyone to rebel on HN. We'd have people quoting Richard Stallman, etc. These days, it seems like HN has abandoned a lot of its original culture, and is totally willing to cede control of computing to a proprietary, locked down, centralized control mechanism that permits no exploration or hacking, and certainly no forking. Can't we protect users AND allow them to make informed decisions? What if I want to use a battery draining service? There's lots of games that will nuke your battery very fast. Hell, the Camera app on my iPhone 6 used to drain my battery fast. And hanging over this is the spectre that once again, this is Apple killing off third party apps that compete with iOS 12's own built in screen time management features.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  If you paid $1000 for a phone, and were using and enjoying this app, and suddenly, it can no longer be updated, because Apple says they want to 'protect' me, why can't I be given the control to decide whether or not I want this protection? What does the price of a phone have to do with anything? If someone buys a $300 iPhone, or a $25 flip phone, do they not deserve the same amount of privacy or choice?
- saagarjha 8y ago
  > Can't we protect users AND allow them to make informed decisions? Unfortunately, the answer to this question currently seems to be “no”. I have not found a system that both allows people to have “choice” and also prevents the average user from messing up their device.
  - cromwellian 8y ago
    The OpenWeb seems to work pretty well, at least from the standpoint of not getting viruses or malware from it. You could argue about tracking users, but it’s not like the native Facebook iOS doesn’t collect lots of data on you.
    - monocularvision 8y ago
      The app pulled is impossible on the web.
imgabe 8y ago
Why wasn't Apple looking out for users' privacy before they released a similar feature in iOS?

scarface74 8y ago

Or you know instead of getting the government involved, you could just get an Android phone like 80% of other smart phone users....

writepub 8y ago
How do you protect developers & their businesses from abuse at the hands of a channel (Apple) that controls access to ~70% of revenues, and probably more in profits. The answer is not for users to switch to Android, but for the FTC & EU to step in, as they did for Android, and for MSFT's browser related cases.
- scarface74 8y ago
  They control 80% of the hardware revenues. What does that have to do with third party developers? So if you don’t like the policies of Sony with regards to the PlayStation do you want the government involved their too?

amelius 8y ago

Time for laws on platform economies.

writepub 8y ago
The only reason it is a "platform" is because of lock-down. Imagine if Jobs' original vision of HTML5+JS runtime as the iOS app runtime engine had come true.
- anoncake 8y ago
  Nobody would use Iphones because all it runs are shitty webapps?