kimberly

This is part of the AppStore developer terms of service "If you app no longer functions as intended or your’e no longer actively supporting it, it will be removed from the App Store.”

There is a public transport app in Australia that has been abandoned by the developer .. nothing wrong with that, he had a crack, a good product but couldn't make enough $$$ and the author walked away.

Get this though. The app is still on the AppStore. When it was functional, the free version would not save favourite routes on exit but the premium version ($4.50) would.  The non-functionality is either due to the app's backend servers being unable to download timetables (transport authority requires a subscription?) or the timetable format has changed and that breaks the app.. whatever. The app's Facebook page is full of comments for the past 9 months about the non-functionality of the free & paid version.

Emails to the app's support address bounce and the registered business address has closed. I finally tracked down the developer on Linkedin who has left Australia and is now working for Uber in LA.

There is NO WHERE (I can find) on the Apple AppStore to report a non-functional app that is asking for a paid upgrade to a premium version. I ended up at an Apple store and was simply given an email address. I duly sent all the proof of both the app's non-functionality and no active support to the email address about 4 weeks ago, requesting it be removed from the AppStore, due to violation of the developer terms of service. Easy to verify for AppStore staff, just download the free version and see that no train, bus or ferry timetables are available - send an email to the support address and it will bounce after a few seconds (mailbox closed).

At the time of writing, the app is still on the Apple AppStore and will happily ask for $4.50 to upgrade to the premium version.

AppStore police are quick to jump on other 'popular' apps for ad-hoc violations but seem disinterested in having a smaller app on the platform despite being supplied with easily verifiable evidence of violation of developer terms and conditions. I guess I just see the AppStore as lacking consistency in regard to 3rd parties and more than a few disagreements seem to involve app popularity and $$$. So my point is, when I read any article regarding the Apple AppStore like this one, I don't see it as black and white. 

The two Hermes faces are very stylish and make all the standard Apple-designed faces look the opposite.

wonkothesane said:

I am wondering exactly what the challenge was where Apple decided to pull out. 

Unlike other replies I will supply a reference but likely only Apple will know the exact reason.  AI had an article a while ago 'Apple cancels AirPower wireless charging mat, citing quality issues' Mike Wuerthele Friday, March 29, 2019, 12:21 pm PT (03:21 pm ET) and in that scribe was "The AirPower mat was more than a trio of charging coils, and appeared to utilize a series of cooperative flux generators to charge a device after locating it on the pad in software, which likely led to complications in design and manufacture."

ihatescreennames said:

kimberly said:

JWSC said:

Even for Facebook, that’s gotta hurt.

You are kidding mate .. Facebook's revenue for the first quarter of this year was $US15.1 billion.

What was their profit? That payment isn’t coming from the revenue. 

 Net income was $US2.43 billion. It would have been higher, but Facebook set aside $US3 billion for the FTC penalty.

Soli said:

What's the term for this kind of bigotry? Scapegoating? Don't you all make comments on this forum about Google, Amazon, and other non-Chinese people or owned companies breaking the law without making sweeping claims about nationalities? Should we claim that all Americans are thieves because of them? Should we say that America is inherently skullduggerous because VirnetX won yet another lawsuit against American company Apple? I don't recall anyone making any suggestion remotely of that nature on that thread.

Hey @Soli .. I think it is called stereotyping. Stereotypes are assumptions based on unfounded ideas about groups, not identifying particular characteristics of a group of people. They signify a gap or lack in understanding. We typically stereotype those whom we do not understand or about whom we have no knowledge. Ref# https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2012/05/understanding-generalizations-and-stereotypes.html