I thought so. When they had their own store that avoided paying Google they didn't lower prices but I am supposed to believe they violated Apple and Google policy to offer discounts?
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Apple Disabling 'Sign in with Apple' for Epic Games on September 11 [Updated]
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I thought so. When they had their own store that avoided paying Google they didn't lower prices but I am supposed to believe they violated Apple and Google policy to offer discounts?
That's only one perspective (Apple's). Let's look at the same facts from a developer's perspective (Epic's). Let's see -
- Sent email requesting fairer business practices for all developers (Apple called this a "sidedeal", but this was a blatant mischaracterization because they omitted part of the email that literally said "all developers". The full email was later released, and news agencies updated their articles to accurately reflect the facts. You can read about it here: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/21/epic-games-sought-app-store-side-deal/)
- Submitted an update containing code that Apple could have inspected and realized allowed for a server-side switch. Apple's interns glossed over this and approved the app anyways (trust me, my own apps have been subject for further review because of this. Apple's App Review Team is anything but consistent)
- E-mailed Apple asking one more time to reconsider their position and carefully outlined their next steps and position, as is typical in all legal disputes.
- Epic posts a digital ad inspired by Apple's own commercial ad to amplify the hypocrisy of Apple's arguments (an ad that even the original creator thought was great content wise (but just "meh" message wise): https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/01/ridley-scott-on-1984-ad-parody/)
- Epic explains to their consumers why their app is no longer available on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Google and Apple could have left it as is, but they chose to remove the offending anyways (meanwhile allowing Amazon to have their own kindle deal, to which top executives just shrug -- again, lack of consistency. To be fair, Apple should boot Amazon as well).
- Files a lawsuit claiming anti-competitive practices, weeks after the US House of Representatives has a hearing on the matter. Oh, and did I mention the possible DOJ investigation? Violating the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890 is not just civil, but also criminal. Epic should be the least of Apple's worries.
- Epic continues to defend itself from mischaracterizing and misleading attacks by Apple (see point #1). It also explains that you can't play fortnite on iOS/iPadOS because Apple won't allow it (see point#5) Epic gains support of other developers, including Microsoft and Spotify.
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Perspective ← that's the word that needs learning.Entering a dev contract with Apple is not as big a deal as some are trying to make it in this thread. In the real world, contracts are voided, renegotiated, or sold on a regular basis; especially in sports. As for real world consequences, what exactly has any of the ISP's, cellular carriers, government contractors, heck I could go on forever, suffered as a result of breaching multiple contracts?
The Epic/Apple contract hinges on a $99 dev fee. Hardly even registers as a matter of importance, no less an earth shattering consequence being portrayed in this thread.
I don't know seems more like millions on the line here not $99...
The problem with that point of view is the dev isn't using SiwA, the customer is using it. If the service doesn't work on the sites a particular customer visits, what's the point? Now, is Epic to blame? Maybe. Doesn't matter. The name of the service isn't Sign in with Epic. Apple's service. Apple disabled use. Apple gets blame. Fair? Probably not, but neither is life.
The USA hasn't created a duopoly. Two companies from the USA have.
If anyone else from any other country can muster the intelligence, creativity, and the guts to create their own operating system to put on hardware that is already out there, they could take hold and succeed.
Apple just needs to make the error message clear. 'SiwA is not available as the developer for this app is no longer registered with Apple.'
Heck, it wasn't just two companies. Palm, Microsoft, Firefox, and others also built a duopoply because they failed to produce a viable alternative.
This.
Perfect for checking out a website/service that requires a signin that you may never use again -and - don’t want an email every day from that site. I’ve been using SiwA more and more.
This unfairly punishes the users. I guess I won't be signing in with Apple for anything, ever. Don't want to risk being locked out of an account because Apple and some other company have a silly spat.
You know what also punishes users? Endless spam from a company just because I wanted to check out what they offer.
The $99 is the yearly dev fee. The contract hinges on that dev fee. The millions you're referencing are another matter altogether.
"Why would I, as a user, care if a particular dev is registered with Apple? SiwA is tied to me and my travels around the interwebs, not the site where Apple disabled it. I'll just go back to using a sign in from another company that I know works everywhere." - typical user response imo.
Apple service, Apple disable, Apple blame. It is what it is. Now, Epic could easily remove the SiwA button from their service, but why would they? In the court of public opinion... Apple service, Apple disable, Apple blame.
So exactly what is your point? My point is to avoid a single point of failure and to break the chains. I‘m using a multi platform keystore, CalDAV, CardDav - so I just don‘t care about what Apple supports or terminates.
I‘m still with Apple - but I could switch in a second and a lot of workflows moved to Linux just because Apple is not a reliable partner.
And Apple is not trustworthy. Remember recently Apple bought an outstanding weather app/weather service and the first thing Apple does is to terminate the Android part. Every modern service company would have turned this deal into A business - best weather app onto Windows/Linux/macOS/iOS/Android ...
“30% is way too much taxes”
www.zdnet.com
Now run a similar report on apps over the App Store, and think for a second if 30% to cover expenses of things like security of your customers isn’t worth it. More so as you are not reselling or repurposing your customers data to make even more cash.
Academics find crypto bugs in 306 popular Android apps, none get patched
Only 18 of 306 app developers replied to the research team, only 8 engaged with the team after the first email.
www.zdnet.com
Now run a similar report on apps over the App Store, and think for a second if 30% to cover expenses of things like security of your customers isn’t worth it. More so as you are not reselling or repurposing your customers data to make even more cash.
You are referring to the multi-platform weather app? That’s not Apple being bad that’s the developer not promising it will always be multi platform. If I buy a Monet painting from a museum that needs money I’m not letting neighbors borrow it so they can see it too.
This is not an "anytime they want" situation. This appears to be an obvious last step for a developer who decided to go rogue and willfully screw Apple. Why should Apple support sign-in with Apple with this developer?
I'm sure there are "digital handshakes" involved to use this feature, that Apple can no longer rely Epic to honor based on their other actions.
It maybe that the Android App was not secure? Remember Apple made iTunes for Windows for years, so it knows how to write code for other platforms. But they want secure code and if it is not, has to be rewritten.
It actually means that if the epic account no longer exists, this feature will stop working. This is to give customers a heads up instead of just flipping the switch without warning, Like Epic did.
They need a certificate to use this service. Epic let it's certificate get invalidated which the court told them the solution was to roll back the app changes.
It's too late. They had their chance and they ignored it. They now have to wait for the court case to be settled.