Notable 5 Informative rated Slashdot statement on the subject:
Quote:
It should be said that so far the only Apps to be pulled are those that actively scan for WiFi hotspots and not those that employ a database paired with the iPhone's GPS capabilities
If true those are good points about the APIs and what not. I don't really understand it all, but if those are Apple's rules then the developers should abide by them.
To the lay person, like myself it seems like Apple has become Big Brother and we're seeing why 2010 is becoming like 1984.
I don't mind the elimination of trivial apps, but I think that better organization of the AppStore would be a better solution.
Apple has never been able to implement any decent search mechanism.
And organization seems beyond them as well - they go for serial access everywhere on the iPhone, starting with serially-accessed pages in Springboard, all the way to serial access via those stupid rotating number wheels in other apps.
"So easy a caveman could do it" is a PITA for the rest of us.
Many of you are missing the point, possibly because the story conflates two issues. It's not what the Wifi Scanners do that is the issue, it's how they are doing it. Apple has some API's that are private and changeable without notice. So if developers use them, their apps could break at any update. But if they do, Apple looks bad--all a user see's is the crash.
According to the story (always kind of risky to trust AI's stories, I admit) but according to the story, ONE of the WIFI apps used the private APE, but manyt were removed.
The story is (at best) vague about whether or not the others used private APIs.
If true those are good points about the APIs and what not. I don't really understand it all, but if those are Apple's rules then the developers should abide by them.
To the lay person, like myself it seems like Apple has become Big Brother and we're seeing why 2010 is becoming like 1984.
Why don't we put it down to the 'excitement at the moment' and 'growing pains'.
The majority of the iPhone Developer community are first-timers or simply anxious programmers attempting to develop and put their apps in the Store as quickly as possible.
Having participated in an iPhone Developer conference, it was obvious that no one was going to attempt to overtly circumvent Apple's 'rules', Apple was there and continues to be so to assist developers virtually through every aspect of the program, everyone (including Apple) recognized that all of us were going to make mistakes, and that we are only just beginning.
As we see it, Apple have a business agenda, a moral agenda and a developer agenda. Not all three will satisfy everybody. But for the most of us, it is working well, and a heck of a lot better than anything else we are witnessing.
It would seem that the lack of developer outcry for all those delisted apps, would suggest that many, for example, used forbidden private APIs. I know that if I did by mistake, misunderstanding or intentionally, it would not be something I would want to brag about. Equally, it would be between myself and Apple. And not anybody else's business.
In many populated areas, you have zoning laws or similar restrictions to contend with, because there's only so much weird stuff you can do to your house and property before you start dragging down the value of your neighbor's house.
That's what I was leaning towards but the OP seemed to be saying there was some sort of law that prevented you from destroying your own personal property.
I doubt very much one would get arrested with a charge of burning down their house.
They could get arrested/fined for other things that resulted from burning down the house (insurance fraud, false reporting, endangering nearby people/properties, not zoned for burning, pollution, etc.).
Do you know that to get a product put on Walmart's shelves, you have to pay Walmart? Apple having some control over whats on it's store is hardly the death of freedom.
Do you know that Mall*Wart is not the only place to sell one's wares, while the iSore has a monopoly on apps?
IMO, Apple is playing a dangerous game with their monopoly on apps. If they provided a great place to buy quality apps, but also allowed apps to be installed which are sold by outside vendors, everyone would be happy. But their exclusive control of what customers are allowed to place on the device has caused PR nightmares from day one.
IMO, their exclusivity causes a host of problems for them.
Let the users be free to make the choices and Apple should instead remove apps that show no sales or downward trend in sales to weed out the crap. Just one man's opinion.
Interesting idea - why carry goods that hardly anyone wants, especially when they clog up the whole store?
The problem is that if they were to delete every app that has sold less than x times in Y months, they would no longer have nearly so many apps to enumerate.
150,000 down to 50,000 overnight? That would be too much reality for even the PR writers to spin.
Certainly not as the Supreme Court or the founding fathers would.
I think that both the SCOTUS and the founding fathers use the same dictionaries that we do.
Look it up. It does not mean ONLY governmental control. You censor yourself every time to talk to a powerful person who has pissed you off, like a jerk behind the counter at the DMV.
While I do see a WiFi Scanner useful, let's be honest, the App Store is littered with crap apps that make it difficult to find the really well written, useful, and innovative ones.
The App Store starts sliding downhill in it's usefulness when iPhone owners are overwhelmed with silly apps. Of course, some nut job in CA will decide this infringes on his/her free speech and sue Apple, but that's another post.
Apple just needs to get out of the way and let the market decide which apps are useful. The walled garden is getting way too sterile, and they are not even doing a good job of weeding it.
Apple OWNS the App Store. They reserve to right to refuse service. Just as McDons does not have to serve you if they wish not to. It is they're right. You have every right to go somewhere else. Are you mad because Porsche has a monopoly on 911 Turbos? Do you get mad because only Nike makes Jordans? Give me a break
Go build your own phone and App distribution and do it however you want. NOBODY is stopping you.
BTW If you want a duck quacking app just go get the See and Say app, IT'S FREE and has mare than just a cluckin duck.
Why have many people here, including the app developer in question, missed this vital piece of the puzzle?:
I don't have access to the developer NDA but doesn't it explicitly state they are NOT to use unpublished APIs?
The developers only have themselves to blame really.
Where does the AI story say that any other app used private APIs? I think you are chasing the red herring rather than following the fox. I'll admit the story was vague, but there are no facts given that would support a conclusion that any more than one of them used a private API.
You do not have the "right" to put on any application you may wish,
Giving up rights is a lousy trade-off for the utility of owning an iDevice. That's a primary reason why I am interested in getting an Andorid phone to replace my iPhone.
if they wanted to, they could. It is their browser.
Once I buy a device with the browser installed, it is MY browser. Do you feel that your TV belongs to Best Buy or Samsung? Do you believe that they have any say in which DVDs you watch on it?
Comments
I sent this story to the Electronic Frontier Foundation www.eff.org
This is ludacris
Not sure what that'll do.
I think, like a lot of people here, you have misread the story.
And it's "ludicrous."
It should be said that so far the only Apps to be pulled are those that actively scan for WiFi hotspots and not those that employ a database paired with the iPhone's GPS capabilities
So the ones left are totally lame.
http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1571940
Great stumbler for the Mac (use Airport passive mode driver in preferences)
http://trac.kismac-ng.org/wiki/Downloads
To the lay person, like myself it seems like Apple has become Big Brother and we're seeing why 2010 is becoming like 1984.
I'm missing my iPhone, but with the stream of bad moves lately, I think I'm going to stick with Android.
Good move. I'm waiting for a great ATT Android phone and a great Android tablet.
I don't mind the elimination of trivial apps, but I think that better organization of the AppStore would be a better solution.
Apple has never been able to implement any decent search mechanism.
And organization seems beyond them as well - they go for serial access everywhere on the iPhone, starting with serially-accessed pages in Springboard, all the way to serial access via those stupid rotating number wheels in other apps.
"So easy a caveman could do it" is a PITA for the rest of us.
Many of you are missing the point, possibly because the story conflates two issues. It's not what the Wifi Scanners do that is the issue, it's how they are doing it. Apple has some API's that are private and changeable without notice. So if developers use them, their apps could break at any update. But if they do, Apple looks bad--all a user see's is the crash.
According to the story (always kind of risky to trust AI's stories, I admit) but according to the story, ONE of the WIFI apps used the private APE, but manyt were removed.
The story is (at best) vague about whether or not the others used private APIs.
If true those are good points about the APIs and what not. I don't really understand it all, but if those are Apple's rules then the developers should abide by them.
To the lay person, like myself it seems like Apple has become Big Brother and we're seeing why 2010 is becoming like 1984.
Why don't we put it down to the 'excitement at the moment' and 'growing pains'.
The majority of the iPhone Developer community are first-timers or simply anxious programmers attempting to develop and put their apps in the Store as quickly as possible.
Having participated in an iPhone Developer conference, it was obvious that no one was going to attempt to overtly circumvent Apple's 'rules', Apple was there and continues to be so to assist developers virtually through every aspect of the program, everyone (including Apple) recognized that all of us were going to make mistakes, and that we are only just beginning.
As we see it, Apple have a business agenda, a moral agenda and a developer agenda. Not all three will satisfy everybody. But for the most of us, it is working well, and a heck of a lot better than anything else we are witnessing.
It would seem that the lack of developer outcry for all those delisted apps, would suggest that many, for example, used forbidden private APIs. I know that if I did by mistake, misunderstanding or intentionally, it would not be something I would want to brag about. Equally, it would be between myself and Apple. And not anybody else's business.
In many populated areas, you have zoning laws or similar restrictions to contend with, because there's only so much weird stuff you can do to your house and property before you start dragging down the value of your neighbor's house.
That's what I was leaning towards but the OP seemed to be saying there was some sort of law that prevented you from destroying your own personal property.
I doubt very much one would get arrested with a charge of burning down their house.
They could get arrested/fined for other things that resulted from burning down the house (insurance fraud, false reporting, endangering nearby people/properties, not zoned for burning, pollution, etc.).
Do you know that to get a product put on Walmart's shelves, you have to pay Walmart? Apple having some control over whats on it's store is hardly the death of freedom.
Do you know that Mall*Wart is not the only place to sell one's wares, while the iSore has a monopoly on apps?
IMO, Apple is playing a dangerous game with their monopoly on apps. If they provided a great place to buy quality apps, but also allowed apps to be installed which are sold by outside vendors, everyone would be happy. But their exclusive control of what customers are allowed to place on the device has caused PR nightmares from day one.
IMO, their exclusivity causes a host of problems for them.
Let the users be free to make the choices and Apple should instead remove apps that show no sales or downward trend in sales to weed out the crap. Just one man's opinion.
Interesting idea - why carry goods that hardly anyone wants, especially when they clog up the whole store?
The problem is that if they were to delete every app that has sold less than x times in Y months, they would no longer have nearly so many apps to enumerate.
150,000 down to 50,000 overnight? That would be too much reality for even the PR writers to spin.
How do you define censorship?
Certainly not as the Supreme Court or the founding fathers would.
I think that both the SCOTUS and the founding fathers use the same dictionaries that we do.
Look it up. It does not mean ONLY governmental control. You censor yourself every time to talk to a powerful person who has pissed you off, like a jerk behind the counter at the DMV.
While I do see a WiFi Scanner useful, let's be honest, the App Store is littered with crap apps that make it difficult to find the really well written, useful, and innovative ones.
The App Store starts sliding downhill in it's usefulness when iPhone owners are overwhelmed with silly apps. Of course, some nut job in CA will decide this infringes on his/her free speech and sue Apple, but that's another post.
Apple just needs to get out of the way and let the market decide which apps are useful. The walled garden is getting way too sterile, and they are not even doing a good job of weeding it.
Seriously, is your life any worse for not having a "Quack like a duck" application.
Not mine, but if I had a tired toddler and were waiting in a queue, my answer might be different.
And is your life any worse if other people could access whatever stupidity they like?
This "those grapes are likely sour anyways" type of thinking seems more prevalent among apple fans than anywhere else I've ever seen.
Go build your own phone and App distribution and do it however you want. NOBODY is stopping you.
BTW If you want a duck quacking app just go get the See and Say app, IT'S FREE and has mare than just a cluckin duck.
http://www.uquery.com/apps/324530265...-game-for-kids
Arbitrarily. Apple cannot "censor" anything, since they have no authority to censor.
For god's sake man, use a dictionary.
No authority is needed to censor, but in Apple's case, since they own the app store, they have full authority to censor what is sold there.
This ain't nothin' so complicated, Doc. Words have meanings.
Why have many people here, including the app developer in question, missed this vital piece of the puzzle?:
I don't have access to the developer NDA but doesn't it explicitly state they are NOT to use unpublished APIs?
The developers only have themselves to blame really.
Where does the AI story say that any other app used private APIs? I think you are chasing the red herring rather than following the fox. I'll admit the story was vague, but there are no facts given that would support a conclusion that any more than one of them used a private API.
You do not have the "right" to put on any application you may wish,
Giving up rights is a lousy trade-off for the utility of owning an iDevice. That's a primary reason why I am interested in getting an Andorid phone to replace my iPhone.
not unlike the standard "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs at a restaurant.
Bad analogy. It is instead more akin to a no shoes, no service policy for people who order pizza delivery.
if they wanted to, they could. It is their browser.
Once I buy a device with the browser installed, it is MY browser. Do you feel that your TV belongs to Best Buy or Samsung? Do you believe that they have any say in which DVDs you watch on it?
If no, what is the difference?