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Durov on Telegram today on what the update was.

https://t.me/durov/191



Seems a little sus to say that it would enrich the whole ecosystem to have vectorized emoji that only work in one app. I suspect that there’s a reason why emoji aren’t defined by vector paths while text characters are, but I’m not privy to it. Maybe a performance or bandwidth issue on lower end devices?
 
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As has been said dozens of times: the competition between phone manufacturers is very irrelevant to the distribution of apps, [...]
Well clearly governments haven't found Apple to be anti-competitive or else they would have hauled them into court and fined them billions of dollars. Having said that the current laws are like a life sentence for jaywalking. However, if one wants complete freedom then android is the ticket. Leave the ios ecosystem alone.
 
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Apple playing both the referee and the player. This can never be good news.
Happens all the time and is only a problem when the referees and the reviewer can throw you in jail. Walmart decides the products that get in Walmart and they review the quality. They even visit factories and gave feedback. Yet the world goes on and Target is next door.
 
What are you even talking about? I have installed dozens and dozens of apps on my Macs over the years, and never a single one from the Apple App Store. I don't understand what developer in their right mind would put it on there just to donate a nice fat percentage straight to Apple, as if Apple are some sort of charity of something.

And don't give me this tripe about paying for developer tools. I'm a developer, and the last tool on earth I'd ever want to use is one made by Apple. Sure, they build the OS, blah blah. But as a Mac user, who just paid a ridiculous fortune for my new 16" MBP, complete with the insane Apple Tax on my RAM/SSD upgrades, I think its the hardware buyers who are well and truly covering the costs of developer tools thank you very much.

And of course, this is exactly the original model of how computers were, and still are, sold. The computer company builds the hardware to sell to people. But they can't sell it if there's no software for the users to run on it. So the company also builds the OS and developer tools to make it easy for software companies to compile their software to run on the computer company's hardware.

This idea of taxing developers 15/30% of their revenue (yes, revenue, not profits, thus creating a situation where the developer can end up making a loss, while Apple makes a nice little earner from the developer who is going broke), is a new one that is only possible with a complete monopoly control of access to a dominant platform. It's corporate greed gone to new evil levels, and for some bizarre reason, is cheered on by the zealots on this site as they bow to their Apple God.
it seems you don’t understand how business works, just because the hardware is too expensive for you doesn’t mean it covers the cost of everything else you want from Apple. lmao
 
A point everyone whining about the “Apple tax” misses; what developers get for their 15/30% cut is a good deal, much better than the old do it all on your own. As you point out, the big developers want to free ride on Apple and changes likely may hurt the smaller developers.

I suspect, if Apple told Epic, OK, distribute it yourself, just pay us for signing but you can’t do that and be on the App Store, Epic would whine about that as being “unfair” because they can’t access Apple’s large customer base for free.
To add on, it's probably no coincidence that the complaints are all coming from larger developers.

The App Store provides incredible value for smaller developers who often lack the resources to market their app or manage payments. The App Store handles all the backend, allowing them to focus on developing and marketing their app. Most of them are also likely paying Apple just 15%, which works out to a little over 10% once you factor in credit card processing fees. A lot more reasonable than the oft-quoted 30% cut.

This is less of a benefit for larger developers, who probably feel that they don't need the promotional features of the App Store. That said, most of the App Store revenue comes from freemium games and somehow, I don't really feel sympathetic over the likes of Blizzard having to pay Apple 30% of all IAPs spent in Diablo Immortal.

Heck, I would probably support Apple charging 50% of all in-game IAPs. ;)
 
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Yup, damn apple keeping us from this revolutionary update)))

Wonder if the “concern” was around pricing and gifting? With Apple pushing in-app subscriptions I can see this being something they look at in detail.

UPDATE: Turns out it was Telegrams version of Emoji. Just adds to the opinion that Apple is overbearing and wants to limit competition to its “personal” functionality.

Think I’ll see what this is like in Android.
 
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Well clearly governments haven't found Apple to be anti-competitive or else they would have hauled them into court and fined them billions of dollars. Having said that the current laws are like a life sentence for jaywalking. However, if one wants complete freedom then android is the ticket. Leave the ios ecosystem alone.
Or the letter of the law hasn't caught up to current tech. How old is our current anti trust law? 1914? Lol. It probably needs some revision. And once the eu takes effect the suing can and will begin!

Also didn't Denmark fine apple millions for anti competitive behavior already?
 
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Wonder if the “concern” was around pricing and gifting? With Apple pushing in-app subscriptions I can see this being something they look at in detail.

UPDATE: Turns out it was Telegrams version of Emoji. Just adds to the opinion that Apple is overbearing and wants to limit competition to its “personal” functionality.

Think I’ll see what this is like in Android.
I like aspects of the walled garden but stuff like this and flip type makes me glad the eu legislation passed. Hopefully more countries stick it to these clowns.

I can't wait to hear about Side loading in ios17 as the next great feature. Hopefully from Tim cooks mouth directly.
 
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Wonder if the “concern” was around pricing and gifting? With Apple pushing in-app subscriptions I can see this being something they look at in detail.

UPDATE: Turns out it was Telegrams version of Emoji. Just adds to the opinion that Apple is overbearing and wants to limit competition to its “personal” functionality.

Think I’ll see what this is like in Android.
Give me emoji or give me death!!!
 
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Or the letter of the law hasn't caught up to current tech. How old is our current anti trust law? 1914? Lol. It probably needs some revision. And once the eu takes effect the suing can and will begin!

Also didn't Denmark fine apple millions for anti competitive behavior already?
The thing is that anti-trust law in the US looks at harm done to consumers, while EU law looks at damage done to businesses, hence the difference in actions taken. That's what makes regulating these tech companies so tricky. They owe their huge market share to providing a great service to consumers. For example, many people use google search because it is that good at what it does. How would you propose regulating Google? Force them to make their search results worse so other options like DDG have a fighting chance?

It's the same thing with Apple. You can argue that their App Store may be a disservice to certain app developers, but at the end of the day, app developers are not Apple's customers. We are, and we buy into the Apple ecosystem precisely because we believe that the walled garden approach is what allows for the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of users.

So it's not that their complaints don't matter, but I will argue that they don't really matter as far as US law is concerned.
 
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Seems a little sus to say that it would enrich the whole ecosystem to have vectorized emoji that only work in one app. I suspect that there’s a reason why emoji aren’t defined by vector paths while text characters are, but I’m not privy to it. Maybe a performance or bandwidth issue on lower end devices?
I bet the issue is more copyright than performance issues. Other chat apps had the screen full of emoji feature for a long time now, and making them animated shouldn't have been a hiccup in the review process. But it looks like Telegram took Apple's version of emojis and created an emoji pack by animating them (and are using it in marketing materials as well). Apple owns the copyright to those emoji and has prevented developers from using it as branding or UI in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's legal team is currently making a decision on how to handle this.
 
I like aspects of the walled garden but stuff like this and flip type makes me glad the eu legislation passed. Hopefully more countries stick it to these clowns.

I can't wait to hear about Side loading in ios17 as the next great feature. Hopefully from Tim cooks mouth directly.

Be careful what you wish for.

Sideloading is likely to have results that leave users worse off. Side loading on Android has enabled pirating to the point where app developers go to a fermium model to try to make money. A premium Android app, according to some statistics can have upwards of a 90% pirating rate. I think that number is high, but even if it is in the 20 - 30% range that’s still a big hit to small developers. As a result, they move to subscription models, with a limited free app, to combat piracy.

Apple currently can revoke certificates if an app becomes problematic, as they did to Facebook when one of its apps was collecting data on children. Sideloading ends that, unless Apple builds in strict sandboxing and requires an Apple issued certificate to install and be allowed access to user data. Even then, once a certificate is issued a bad actor could change the app, as has happened in apps even on the App Store. At least then Apple can take action once they find out.

Then there is malware that mimics a popular app.

The current system is not perfect. There are flaws and problems have occurred. I’m not convinced what people are clamoring for is going to make things better for users or small developers. Big developers such as Epic can afford their own distribution system; although I suspect if some decide to go to an all in app purchase system that captures all the app revenue while letting the app be free to download, Apple will either not host their app or find other ways to generate revenue from the big developers. Which will no doubt result in more whining from the big developers.

Of course, if Epic can bypass Apple’s markup I have no doubt they will lower their prices accordingly, since they are looking out for the consumer in their fight against big bad Apple.
 
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Well clearly governments haven't found Apple to be anti-competitive or else they would have hauled them into court and fined them billions of dollars. Having said that the current laws are like a life sentence for jaywalking. However, if one wants complete freedom then android is the ticket. Leave the ios ecosystem alone.


Are you sure?

Italy - https://www.reuters.com/technology/...n-200-mln-euros-alleged-collusion-2021-11-23/


France - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/apple-fined-1point2-billion-by-french-competition-authorities.html


The Netherlands - https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/21/a...kx0IljHV2VczwNd_1qYkYw3nbPCNvf9srNepGQqfu5DsY



Measures outlined in legislation like the EU's recently approved digital markets act are also clearly aimed at Apple.
 
Or the letter of the law hasn't caught up to current tech. How old is our current anti trust law? 1914? Lol. It probably needs some revision. And once the eu takes effect the suing can and will begin!

Also didn't Denmark fine apple millions for anti competitive behavior already?
How many different countries does apple do business in? (Or even how many multi national companies have been fined in foreign jurisdictions?)The companies that do business in other countries are bound to go up against some regulation at some point (As happened in Brazil with the chargers)

Court cases are expensive are unsure. Forcing behavior through new laws is much easier although when government gets involved at this level it usually doesn’t end well for consumers and companies.
 
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Playing around on Android Telegram.
Not bad but definitely different than Apple Emoji.
Wonder why Apple took exception?

iOS version of Telegram was updated on 12 August and does not look so “revolutionary” to me. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Wonder if the “concern” was around pricing and gifting? With Apple pushing in-app subscriptions I can see this being something they look at in detail.

UPDATE: Turns out it was Telegrams version of Emoji. Just adds to the opinion that Apple is overbearing and wants to limit competition to its “personal” functionality.

Think I’ll see what this is like in Android.
Yeah and telegram also way overhyped this thing. Not revolutionary at all.
 
Yes. 2 are related to item sales and the last is a narrow classification of dating apps, which says more to me about the Netherlands than the underlying premise of the lawsuit.

The companies that do business in other countries are bound to go up against some regulation at some point (As happened in Brazil with the chargers)
 
That's quite the statement from Telegram. They obviously violated Apple's copyright on the emoji's that Apple designed, but they claim that their infringement was in Apple's best interest. And then they include the infringing IP in their ad/statement to promote their product.
 
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