6 ms·

It's apple punishing you for their own failure to moderate the reviews posted to their store, which they're charging you $100+30% to access.

aaomidi 3y ago
Considering how much data Apple also has on their users, it’s insane that they haven’t yet solved this problem.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  Why would they if they can keep aka escrow $100k?
  - selectodude 3y ago
    $100k is literally meaningless to Apple.
    - nottheengineer 3y ago
      If any amount of money was meaningless to apple, they wouldn't be where they are today.
      - coldtea 3y ago
        That's not how money or business works. Opportunity costs means that many "amounts of money" can be meaningless to the business depending on the activity to get to them, the negatives (from processing hasles like lawsuits to PR and brand image), their overall strategy and focus, and other such concerns. A company at Apple's level absolutely doesn't see "frozing $100K" from random devs (or the amount that would result in aggregate from all those freezings) as a profit center.
        TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
        The irrationality is the problem. $100k is nothing. The loss of developer good will is worth far more than that. But Apple doesn't care, because it relies on shady apps for a significant part of App Store income. So the decision is "Do we make significant money from addictive games and scams and tolerate the occasional false positive that nukes a legitimate developer? Or do we spend significant resources curating an App Store full of quality apps and no noise, with high quality support for devs with problems?" Guess which one of those is going to bring in significantly more money.
        KingOfCoders 3y ago
        "The loss of developer good will is worth far more than that." This has been going on for a long time. Developer good will lost? Then they can just go to the other iOS store to sell there apps, oops.
        KingOfCoders 3y ago
        From the large corps I've worked with - those that made $B in revenue - they do everything to reach rev goals they told investors they would reach, every $100k counts. If you think a large corp is throwing away money, think twice.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - kylebenzle 3y ago
      My experience is that for ever one event we hear about or makes the news there are 10-100x that suffer in silence and never get heard.
  - brookst 3y ago
    The accounting hassles of escrow and eventual escheatment of the $100k will probably cost Apple more than $100k. This is not a profit center.
    - KingOfCoders 3y ago
      I see it more like coupons, you escrow $1M and b/c companies go bankrupt, management change etc. in the end you keep some of the money.
  - ericbarrett 3y ago
    Apple's revenue is $12,000 per second.
    - KingOfCoders 3y ago
      The revenue you make is not important, the growth in revenue is important.
      - ericbarrett 3y ago
        In the time it took you to compose this reply, Apple made more money (in profit, not revenue) than the amount in TFA. Your cynicism borders on conspiracy theory!
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  What are you on about? Apple collects substantially less data about their users than anyone else.
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    They have cryptographic proof of what types of devices you’re on. There’s a lot of metadata that they have access to because of their closed ecosystem.
stickfigure 3y ago
You can moderate reviews of your app in the App Store?? How does that work?
- Manuel_D 3y ago
  you cant, "It's apple punishing you for their own failure..."
  - irrational 3y ago
    That sounds like the modus operandi of so many companies. Google can’t figure out how to make money without ads, so they punish people (blocking ad blockers on chrome and not allowing access to YouTube if using an ad blocker) because of their own failure.
    - rafram 3y ago
      > Google can’t figure out how to make money without ads They can and they have. YouTube Premium exists! You can pay for it! The two business models that are feasible for YouTube are (1) free and you have to see ads and (2) paid and you don’t have to see ads. They offer both. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect to be allowed to pick (1) but opt out of the ad side of the bargain. Their ad-blocking shenanigans are obnoxious, but it’s disingenuous to claim that they “can’t figure out” how to monetize YouTube without ads when they actually do provide that option.
      - chongli 3y ago
        I subscribe to YouTube premium because I think it's worth it. Lots of people have called me a "sucker" or worse, a Google shill, for paying money for a "free service." These same people then turned around and threw a temper tantrum when YouTube started detecting and punishing ad blockers. I think after years of enjoying a free service people have become extremely entitled about it.
        seec 3y ago
tsunamifury 3y ago
If you’ve ever been in the App Store for any length of time you’ll see how lazily retributive Apple is. It’s not a company I’d ever do business with.
- klabb3 3y ago
  Is it even fair to call it “doing business with a company” when you’re basically just probing an opaque automated system? Sure, if you’re a supplier or say large advertiser, perhaps you are “doing business” but this sounds more like fighting for scraps together with a mix of honest and dishonest players hoping that the anti-fraud gods show you mercy and bless you with rev-share.
- api 3y ago
  Is Play Store or Steam any better? All these stores are basically little monopolies with zero incentive to not suck. They also suck from a user point of view. Search is terrible, they’re full of shovelware, etc.
  - djbusby 3y ago
    Play Store is the same level of crap as Apple App store (experience across multiple projects for like 10+ years). No experience on Steam but a few indie-game devs I know think it's OK. I've not heard them complain like App-devs on those phone-stores.
  - nullindividual 3y ago
    Steam will moderate or at least put a notice when a game is being review bombed for things unrelated to the game itself, such as a controversy with the developer. https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-takes-steps-against-steam-review-bombs/ https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-takes-steps-against-steam-revi...
    - Dylan16807 3y ago
      Though sometimes they do that when the reviews are about the game itself.

aaomidi 3y ago

Considering how much data Apple also has on their users, it’s insane that they haven’t yet solved this problem.

KingOfCoders 3y ago
Why would they if they can keep aka escrow $100k?
- selectodude 3y ago
  $100k is literally meaningless to Apple.
  - nottheengineer 3y ago
    If any amount of money was meaningless to apple, they wouldn't be where they are today.
    - coldtea 3y ago
      That's not how money or business works. Opportunity costs means that many "amounts of money" can be meaningless to the business depending on the activity to get to them, the negatives (from processing hasles like lawsuits to PR and brand image), their overall strategy and focus, and other such concerns. A company at Apple's level absolutely doesn't see "frozing $100K" from random devs (or the amount that would result in aggregate from all those freezings) as a profit center.
      - TheOtherHobbes 3y ago
        The irrationality is the problem. $100k is nothing. The loss of developer good will is worth far more than that. But Apple doesn't care, because it relies on shady apps for a significant part of App Store income. So the decision is "Do we make significant money from addictive games and scams and tolerate the occasional false positive that nukes a legitimate developer? Or do we spend significant resources curating an App Store full of quality apps and no noise, with high quality support for devs with problems?" Guess which one of those is going to bring in significantly more money.
        KingOfCoders 3y ago
        "The loss of developer good will is worth far more than that." This has been going on for a long time. Developer good will lost? Then they can just go to the other iOS store to sell there apps, oops.
      - KingOfCoders 3y ago
        From the large corps I've worked with - those that made $B in revenue - they do everything to reach rev goals they told investors they would reach, every $100k counts. If you think a large corp is throwing away money, think twice.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - kylebenzle 3y ago
    My experience is that for ever one event we hear about or makes the news there are 10-100x that suffer in silence and never get heard.
- brookst 3y ago
  The accounting hassles of escrow and eventual escheatment of the $100k will probably cost Apple more than $100k. This is not a profit center.
  - KingOfCoders 3y ago
    I see it more like coupons, you escrow $1M and b/c companies go bankrupt, management change etc. in the end you keep some of the money.
- ericbarrett 3y ago
  Apple's revenue is $12,000 per second.
  - KingOfCoders 3y ago
    The revenue you make is not important, the growth in revenue is important.
    - ericbarrett 3y ago
      In the time it took you to compose this reply, Apple made more money (in profit, not revenue) than the amount in TFA. Your cynicism borders on conspiracy theory!
KennyBlanken 3y ago
What are you on about? Apple collects substantially less data about their users than anyone else.
- aaomidi 3y ago
  They have cryptographic proof of what types of devices you’re on. There’s a lot of metadata that they have access to because of their closed ecosystem.

stickfigure 3y ago

You can moderate reviews of your app in the App Store?? How does that work?

Manuel_D 3y ago
you cant, "It's apple punishing you for their own failure..."
- irrational 3y ago
  That sounds like the modus operandi of so many companies. Google can’t figure out how to make money without ads, so they punish people (blocking ad blockers on chrome and not allowing access to YouTube if using an ad blocker) because of their own failure.
  - rafram 3y ago
    > Google can’t figure out how to make money without ads They can and they have. YouTube Premium exists! You can pay for it! The two business models that are feasible for YouTube are (1) free and you have to see ads and (2) paid and you don’t have to see ads. They offer both. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect to be allowed to pick (1) but opt out of the ad side of the bargain. Their ad-blocking shenanigans are obnoxious, but it’s disingenuous to claim that they “can’t figure out” how to monetize YouTube without ads when they actually do provide that option.
    - chongli 3y ago
      I subscribe to YouTube premium because I think it's worth it. Lots of people have called me a "sucker" or worse, a Google shill, for paying money for a "free service." These same people then turned around and threw a temper tantrum when YouTube started detecting and punishing ad blockers. I think after years of enjoying a free service people have become extremely entitled about it.
      - seec 3y ago

tsunamifury 3y ago

If you’ve ever been in the App Store for any length of time you’ll see how lazily retributive Apple is. It’s not a company I’d ever do business with.

klabb3 3y ago
Is it even fair to call it “doing business with a company” when you’re basically just probing an opaque automated system? Sure, if you’re a supplier or say large advertiser, perhaps you are “doing business” but this sounds more like fighting for scraps together with a mix of honest and dishonest players hoping that the anti-fraud gods show you mercy and bless you with rev-share.
api 3y ago
Is Play Store or Steam any better? All these stores are basically little monopolies with zero incentive to not suck. They also suck from a user point of view. Search is terrible, they’re full of shovelware, etc.
- djbusby 3y ago
  Play Store is the same level of crap as Apple App store (experience across multiple projects for like 10+ years). No experience on Steam but a few indie-game devs I know think it's OK. I've not heard them complain like App-devs on those phone-stores.
- nullindividual 3y ago
  Steam will moderate or at least put a notice when a game is being review bombed for things unrelated to the game itself, such as a controversy with the developer. https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-takes-steps-against-steam-review-bombs/ https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-takes-steps-against-steam-revi...
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    Though sometimes they do that when the reviews are about the game itself.