stpat

I completely agree with Apple being tight with access. I don't trust any of these third party developers with my info, and especially with my location. They're in it to make a buck and they may tell you they won't sell your data/location, but when the revenue comes up short, they're selling it to the highest bidder. My opinion is to lock it down and make developers stay open with their intent and compliant with good privacy and data practices. It's my data, my location, my device, they can relax with their faux outrage. Most likely their app's gonna suck anyways, there aren't many life changing apps out there.

The alternative for the developer is to not build on the iOS platform. Apple doesn't force them. Build your app as a website, then promote it yourself and ask people to add the URL as an icon on the iPhone's home page. That would mean they get all the money and don't have to deal with apple or the App store at all. They won't do this though because then they take all the risk of marketing, hosting, and updating the platform. It's easier to pay 30% and get the App store and it's benefits.

I'm not sure why this article tip toes around the fact that these are stolen units that companies are using to develop these hacks. Apple clearly wouldn't sell these units, nor authorize this type of use, so they must be stolen. 

This is definitely an issue that Apple is responsible for providing better tools for parents. They've created a powerful pocket size computer with access to the almost limitless resources in the internet and built-in gaming and social media to hook the users. It's much different then when prior generations had access to other physical devices/phones, because they were very simple and easy to control access/content. The current parental control tools do not exist, or provide easy configuration and monitoring without excess cost or time requirements, to allow for meaningful usage and access, yet restrict the content or consumption of the device. Additionally, to Apple's own assertion, these are highly personal devices that tend to make children have a sense of entitlement to the device. The argument of "just take it away" does more damage to the relationship and the sense of trust between the child/parent then it does to solve the actual issue, which is limiting access and consumption. I'm not saying Apple should be helping to monitor this, but at least provide the same tools they have currently for the Mac. 

This is potentially a huge social issue as phone/technology addiction leads to lots of unsocial tendencies and behavioral problems, so for essentially the entire current youth generation to be caught up in this could have huge implications 20-30 years from now. I already see it in the workplace and the inability of lots of young 20 somethings to have face to face conversations without having to pick up their phone as a distraction from actual physical communication. It's sad and scary.

With every release they seem to make the functionality for people who own their music worse and less convienient. In the latest release you can no longer see all the songs from a single artist without navigating in and out of every album, what a pain. Also purchasing songs straight from the app is no longer allowed. They are definitely pushing everyone to a streaming model, which I am not interested in.