3 ms·

and Apple Maps. I was very excited to get turn-by-turn directions while bicycling via Apple Watch; Apple Maps frequently sends me down freeways if it thinks I’m

and Apple Maps. I was very excited to get turn-by-turn directions while bicycling via Apple Watch; Apple Maps frequently sends me down freeways if it thinks I’m driving, or the wrong way on 1-way streets if it thinks I'm walking. If the Watch platform was open enough that any Maps app could "snap in," this situation would be just fine. But as long as Apple apps are first-class citizens and everyone else has to deal with limited APIs, I'm not inclined to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on this. This extends to hardware too, incidentally. It's literally impossible for competitors to make earbuds or styluses that can compete with the Airpods or Apple Pencil, because those use private/secret APIs. Not cool.

threeseed 7y ago
And yet there are many Maps, Airpods and Apple Pencil competitors. And in the case of hardware you are basically asking for the iPhone to be made into an open platform that anyone must be able to integrate with. Pretty bizarre and definitely something that would have major implications for the entire industry.
- munk-a 7y ago
  I mean, Apple's advertising is stating that it's an open platform with free competition, so either their idiots or lying - they can't have it both ways.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    I searched the entire article for the word “open”. It appeared 13 times. But: One of those times was “Open the App” One was referring to using Safari to get to the “open internet” The other 11 were invisible labels to open the collapsible divs.
    - munk-a 7y ago
      One blurb was... > Developers also receive free marketing opportunities through our store design, including the new Today editorial feature, personalized recommendations, search tools, top lists, and social marketing. All this helps to support the millions of successful apps on the App Store. And then... > A store that welcomes competition. > We believe competition makes everything better and results in the best apps for our customers. > We also care about quality over quantity, and trust over transactions. That’s why, even though other stores have more users and more app downloads, the App Store earns more money for developers. Our users trust Apple — and that trust is critical to how we operate a fair, competitive store for developer app distribution.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        Was either blurb incorrect?
- Eric_WVGG 7y ago
  > And yet there are many Maps, Airpods and Apple Pencil competitors. Yeah, and they're all garbage because Apple's offerings make use of private APIs that competitors don't have access to. Look, I love Airpods. I love the Apple Pencil. I use Apple Maps because I don't trust Google with my location data. But all of these products dominate their respective markets because they have access to private APIs. It is literally impossible to make a stylus that works as well as the Apple Pencil because Apple. Ditto for Maps and Airpods. This isn't me being anti-Apple, they're seriously the only FAANG company I trust at all. But they have an unfair advantage here. All it would take would be to license the M2 chip for Airpods and open the API, to open the APIs that make Apple Pencil work and let Apple Maps push to the Watch and Airpods. They're not. That's a choice.
nradov 7y ago
The Garmin smart watch platform is more open than Apple, and allows integration with Google Maps via third-party apps.

threeseed 7y ago

And yet there are many Maps, Airpods and Apple Pencil competitors. And in the case of hardware you are basically asking for the iPhone to be made into an open platform that anyone must be able to integrate with. Pretty bizarre and definitely something that would have major implications for the entire industry.

munk-a 7y ago
I mean, Apple's advertising is stating that it's an open platform with free competition, so either their idiots or lying - they can't have it both ways.
- scarface74 7y ago
  I searched the entire article for the word “open”. It appeared 13 times. But: One of those times was “Open the App” One was referring to using Safari to get to the “open internet” The other 11 were invisible labels to open the collapsible divs.
  - munk-a 7y ago
    One blurb was... > Developers also receive free marketing opportunities through our store design, including the new Today editorial feature, personalized recommendations, search tools, top lists, and social marketing. All this helps to support the millions of successful apps on the App Store. And then... > A store that welcomes competition. > We believe competition makes everything better and results in the best apps for our customers. > We also care about quality over quantity, and trust over transactions. That’s why, even though other stores have more users and more app downloads, the App Store earns more money for developers. Our users trust Apple — and that trust is critical to how we operate a fair, competitive store for developer app distribution.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Was either blurb incorrect?
Eric_WVGG 7y ago
> And yet there are many Maps, Airpods and Apple Pencil competitors. Yeah, and they're all garbage because Apple's offerings make use of private APIs that competitors don't have access to. Look, I love Airpods. I love the Apple Pencil. I use Apple Maps because I don't trust Google with my location data. But all of these products dominate their respective markets because they have access to private APIs. It is literally impossible to make a stylus that works as well as the Apple Pencil because Apple. Ditto for Maps and Airpods. This isn't me being anti-Apple, they're seriously the only FAANG company I trust at all. But they have an unfair advantage here. All it would take would be to license the M2 chip for Airpods and open the API, to open the APIs that make Apple Pencil work and let Apple Maps push to the Watch and Airpods. They're not. That's a choice.

nradov 7y ago

The Garmin smart watch platform is more open than Apple, and allows integration with Google Maps via third-party apps.