This is exactly why I think Zoom got access to this API. There was an avalanche of new users on Zoom and Apple wanted to make sure they had the best experience using their iPad. It not about Zoom. It’s about improving the experience for Apple customers.
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Apple Gave Zoom Access to Special API to Use iPad Camera During Split View Multitasking
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Guess what's coming to iPadOS15 in like a month? Stories like these feel like intentionally released to market new features. You guys don't think?
Gotta love the fanboys shouting, "but this or that unique situation makes it ok," and the critics screaming, "ZOMG Apple is terrible choosing winners and losers and not treating everyone 100% equally." The reality of life, the world, and business is there are no hard and fast lines in the sand for how people or companies treat each other, their clients, or their customers. The business world, like life in general, is incredibly nuanced, and it needs to be that way. It's way past time for everyone to stop shouting about rights they make up in their mind for self-serving reasons and start dealing with the real world.
TC did state to the BBC that apple is facing a "Privacy Shortage"
We expect to be privacy supply-gated, not demand-gated," Mr Cook told analysts.
"The privacy shortages primarily affect iPad and Mac.
"We have a good handle on our demand - but what everybody else is doing, I don't know.
"We will do our best, that's what I can tell you."
It would be "very, very difficult" to predict when the privacy shortages would end, he added.
"While manufacturers and business scramble to try and solve the shortage in privacy, the current issues can be traced back to 2018 and the beginning of the US-China trade war," Ben Barringer, privacy research analyst at Quilter Cheviot told the BBC.
We expect to be privacy supply-gated, not demand-gated," Mr Cook told analysts.
"The privacy shortages primarily affect iPad and Mac.
"We have a good handle on our demand - but what everybody else is doing, I don't know.
"We will do our best, that's what I can tell you."
It would be "very, very difficult" to predict when the privacy shortages would end, he added.
"While manufacturers and business scramble to try and solve the shortage in privacy, the current issues can be traced back to 2018 and the beginning of the US-China trade war," Ben Barringer, privacy research analyst at Quilter Cheviot told the BBC.
Yes, Apple planted a story in which they look bad prioritizing a developer while arguing in court that they don’t prioritize developers.
That’s exactly what happened.
No it's not. Lo't of side distractions in this case. In the end this Judge will only consider information directly associated with the original complaint.
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Yup. Theses forums are loaded with Psychology, Home Economics, and Art Majors standing on their Soap Box's proclaiming their ire at Apple's Business conduct. The ignorance on how a business is run in reality has a distortion field the size of the EU in here.
All ethics are situational.
Can you kill some random person on the street because you feel like it? No, that’s murder.
Can you kill someone in your home who is attacking you? Yes, that’s self defense.
Beyond which you clearly have no idea how software development works. It’s absolutely common for trusted, limited partners to be given early access to something, it’s called beta testing.
At the end of the trial if found to be uncompetitive Apple should just go ‘**** you then’ and close down the App Store permanently (for maybe a Fortnight) just to prove a point.
How dare you impugn my qualifications! lol. I been programming since before most of you were even born.
All ethics are situational? Ok. You're wrong.
Apple ~ “no no your honor…we never give preferential treatment….oh sh$t”
Let me help you:
Epic's argument is about money & control. Apple is demonstrating here that it holds a lot of control in the App Store, making decisions that result in an unfair advantage for itself and other companies. Imagine if you have an app that's working quite well and then your competitor ends up with an API you can't access - how is that fair? And then to add insult to injury the gatekeeper claims that everyone is offered a level playing field. It's just BS.
If you are in fact a programmer that makes your ignorance even more astounding.
And yes, my example proves ethics are situational. It is you, logically, who are therefore wrong.
Then you take on the ad hominem, that’s three, you’re out.
Then why weren't Linus Media Group given the same treatment as the dominant video platforms? LMG's "use case demands it," no? Small developers aren't granted the same treatment as huge companies. That makes it harder for smaller players to compete with the bigger players. That is unacceptable. It's a sad day when independent developers such as yourself see no problem with this.
You're comparing apples to oranges by comparing a SaaS company selling tiers of software with Apple limiting certain useful, harmless APIs to only the big players. One is selling different tiers of their service to other businesses, the other is claiming to support a free and open platform where everyone has a fair shot at competing with each other (including competing with Apple, but we all know that's a lie too). This story is just another in a long line of stories that demonstrate Apple's double standards. There are thousands of anecdotes of developers getting their apps pulled from the App Store for minor infractions when big apps get away scot-free.
Not to mention, you can't talk about the 'important rules of any secure system' in reference to being able to use the iPad camera when multitasking... I mean seriously!? You've got to be joking. It's like talking about the importance of keeping the nuclear codes under wrap when I ask for a napkin at the local deli.
Here's an important rule of a secure system: Don't give anyone the ability to record everything on your iPhone https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/05/uber-removing-apple-granted-api/
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So what? It’s not illegal to have a competitive advantage by controlling your own platform. That’s one of the key reasons TO control the platform. It only becomes illegal in specific circumstances, such as a monopoly, which Apple does not have (hi Android!).
Apple spent billions upon billions developing the iPhone and its ecosystem, why should Tile get the same access that Apple does to iOS? The security and privacy implications alone are a good reason for Apple to limit access.
Tile either needs to find someway to compete (price, features, etc) or they are simply facing the result of being dependent on someone else for their products viability. History is littered with examples of why that is a risky proposition. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s business.
What limitations for the LMG that the "big players" don't have to deal with are you talking about?
I assume you're talking about Floatplane and I literally can't think of a single limitation that could be holding them back.
If this is an API developed by Apple, then it is solely up to Apple do decide who gets to use it and who does not. If you believe that everyone is entitled to use the API that would be saying that everyone who has a patent on anything must share that patent with everyone else. That effectively renders the patent null and void thus removing the advantage for the patent holder, in this case sharing the API would remove any advantage for Apple.
Yes, but that's really expected in any business operation; I honestly don't know where the line should fall, but it's expected that a business will provide 80-90% to everyone, and the remainder will be restricted to partners/internal to the company itself.
Maybe this comparison isn't the best, but say you own a restaurant; your competitor does much larger volumes, because of that, they get ingredients at a much lower price from the supplier; how is that fair? Your competitor has the advantage since they sell more?
How come Fortnite makes use of Unreal Engine features before they are public? Why do certain studios get access to Unreal Engine 5 before everyone else? Clearly, they're doing the same thing here; how come I don't get access to Unreal Engine 5 just because I want it right now?
I feel like Apple's line here likely falls on the testability of the API/the wide use case of the API/privacy implications of the API/how documented the API is, etc. By saying that, I mean I feel the API was probably not designed/ready for public use yet, and when the pandemic hit, Zoom reached out to Apple, and Apple decided to help Zoom use it, but maybe I'm completely wrong here. When a special exemption is granted, I don't think that should mean the API is instantly made public.
Thank you. You are a voice of common sense and reason in a world that has lost it’s ability to use critical reasoning and understanding of reality.
Not sure how this is news....or even a problem. The APi's exist. Anyone can request access. Because you want it doesn't mean you get it. This is standard and typical.
A few weeks later, after Linus and Luke revealed the debacle of the whole process to their large audience, Apple approved the app despite no fundamental changes being made to the app from when it had been denied. Smaller developers with nowhere near the same clout as LMG have had it much tougher than that.
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I hope Apple wins against Epic, it will be good for everyone. It does seem Apple does treat devs equally. They can contact Apple and discuss their use case and get a solution.