Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Bans iFixit Developer Account and Removes App After Apple TV Teardown
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If they don't hold them to the NDA they signed, it will become a Wild West with everyone violating in future. Not petty on Apples's part at all. Petty for ifixit to agree to something and then ignore to get a scoop.
Last edited:
well, i remember when this came out i thought 'seems a bit improper to do a public teardown on a non-commercially available product'... guess it was. not sympathetic to this must say.
Exactly. Their site says, "iOS 9 introduced some major bugs into the system. Fixing them would require a substantial rewrite to a bunch of iOS 4-era code." Gee, guess the "major bugs" are actually your iOS-4 era code. Kinda like saying El Capitan is buggy because it won't run MacPaint. Bunch o' losers.
What a bunch of nonsense. The only thing iFixit cared about was MONEY which is why they posted it and collected ad revenue. As for this "movement," if you don't like Apple's products then build your own company. Don't stand there and give some speech as if you're Jesus Christ risen to save us.
Who benefitted from knowing that Apple uses glue instead of screws? That's basically been all I've seen posted for years from them, aside from complaining that it makes them harder to compete with AppleCare.
which I can agree with. The fact is, they got caught, plain and simple.
Even if it were myself I couldn't be mad at Apple for taking action I'd be mad at myself for getting caught and getting my account banned and app removed.
Um, there was a written rule before the AppleTV's went out that a dev had to sign and agree to.
iFixit called their bluff, Apple wasn't bluffing.
Last edited by a moderator:
You do realize iFixit doesn't have any ads on their site right?
If Apple get any further up themselves they will disappear from view. They become more petty and dictatorial by the day. I find this type of behaviour from large companies a huge turn off when considering making a purchase.
Apple's NDA doesn't state opening or showing off the AppleTV would compromise anything. They just stated, if you want this piece of equipment don't show it off until it's released to the public or your dev account will be banned.
Sucks for sure but if the terms were clear then they don't really have anyone to blame but themselves. I wouldn't call it petty of Apple.
This is nothing new in the world of testing new products, I had a dev account suspended back in the early 2000's. I believe it was Roxio Easy Media Creator that was getting released. I posted a single picture of the menu screen on a forum and within 2 days my account with Roxio was banned and all license I had were revoked. And that was on a new start up tech news website that wasn't even big at the time.
IMO, this is a legal gray zone. While there is a confidentially agreement with the existing Apple TV beta, iFixIt is a journalism site.
There are many court cases where journalists have been off the hook from any liability on breaking confidentially on grounds of First Amendment. In fact, Apple's actions could be viewed as an vengeful act. It was Apple's mistake to send an Apple TV beta to a developer that's a known journalist. Was the Apple TV beta developer list generated from the lottery reviewed by personnel or was it just sent off to a distribution center?
If any attorney starting their career is interested in making a name for themselves, taking on Apple on this issue pro-bono or share of settlement could be a good one.
What bit of a NDA don't you understand? They exist for a reason, but hey, let's just disrespect other people's wishes coz we're entitled too? Remind me never to do business with you.
A more appropriate statement would have been something like this:
"iOS 9 exposed some nasty bugs in our app. So rather than fixing them, we will just redo our website."
"iOS 9 exposed some nasty bugs in our app. So rather than fixing them, we will just redo our website."
Care to point out the ads on their site? Otherwise you are spouting nonsense. I can't see any without an ad blocker and you really need to calm down, you are taking this like you are steve jobs son or something with the personal attacks. Jeez, lay off the coffee or something. Ifixit broke it, they got banned and it's over. You are taking it worse than either of them.
I absolutely love iFixIt--I rely on the site heavily every time I need to repair a Mac, and their teardown and how-to guides are second to none.
But I'm with most other posters here--seriously, guys? You got exactly what you asked for. You signed an NDA, then immediately violated it with the express purpose of driving traffic to your site. You knew perfectly well what the risk was, and got burned.
They could have waited for a public unit. They could have even prepared the entire teardown with their dev unit but waited until the public unit was released so they could confirm it was the same and then immediately post it, to get a leg up on the competition. But if you're so anxious to be first, you're just asking to pay the price.
Also: "Riddled with bugs due to iOS9?" It's fine if you want to pull your app and focus on a mobile site, but that is not how you should be running your business if you're going to have an app at all. If you want to kill it, fine, but after you get NDA'd isn't the time to suddenly announce you didn't actually care about your app or the experience of people who downloaded it.
But I'm with most other posters here--seriously, guys? You got exactly what you asked for. You signed an NDA, then immediately violated it with the express purpose of driving traffic to your site. You knew perfectly well what the risk was, and got burned.
They could have waited for a public unit. They could have even prepared the entire teardown with their dev unit but waited until the public unit was released so they could confirm it was the same and then immediately post it, to get a leg up on the competition. But if you're so anxious to be first, you're just asking to pay the price.
Also: "Riddled with bugs due to iOS9?" It's fine if you want to pull your app and focus on a mobile site, but that is not how you should be running your business if you're going to have an app at all. If you want to kill it, fine, but after you get NDA'd isn't the time to suddenly announce you didn't actually care about your app or the experience of people who downloaded it.
Yes, they're renegotiated constantly. An NDA can be renegotiated too, but certainly it happens a lot less frequently. But you are not allowed to violate the terms of the existing contract until all parties come to agreement on the negotiations and sign the new contract. So in that respect I don't think there is any great difference between an NDA and a contract.
Other than that point, I think we are in violent agreement!