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Apple Settles 'FlickType' Developer Lawsuit Over App Store Treatment

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Prominent developer Kosta Eleftheriou has settled his 2021 lawsuit against Apple over its App Store review actions that he said hindered his ability to distribute apps on the platform while allowing copycat competitors to flourish, reports TechCrunch.

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In his lawsuit, Eleftheriou complained that Apple repeatedly threw up "roadblock after roadblock" against his FlickType keyboard app for the Apple Watch, only to then allow copycat apps from other developers onto the store. Eleftheriou said that he had been in discussions with Apple about the company acquiring FlickType, and he believes Apple was intentionally targeting his app in the review process to try to force him to sell it at a discount.
Following the filing of the case last year, the two parties participated in court calls with a judge, the court docket shows, including as recently as this spring. A request for dismissal of the lawsuit was subsequently filed on July 21, 2022, after Apple and Kpaw (Eleftheriou’s business) came to an agreement.

Eleftheriou was unable to comment on the terms of the settlement. Apple was not immediately able to comment on the dismissal either.
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Eleftheriou has been one of the higher-profile critics of Apple's App Store policies, repeatedly pointing out App Store scams that have slipped through the review process and even into the store's charts of top-performing apps without Apple taking action.

Apple has taken some steps to improve the ability for users to flag problematic apps, such as by bringing back the "Report a Problem" button on App Store listings, but Eleftheriou says he continues to find scam and copycat apps with only minimal effort.

Article Link: Apple Settles 'FlickType' Developer Lawsuit Over App Store Treatment
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/09/01/apple-settles-flicktype-lawsuit/
I'm disappointed that this ended in a settlement which presumably includes terms that he(?) stop publicly criticizing Apple. I had hoped he was being a bit more altruistic but it seems the money eventually worked.

And I don't say that cynically. The App store has real problems that this person seems to have taken on as a crusade to point out, and opinions were already mixed as to motives. I want to see real improvement to the App Store Apple has been so publicly proud of in court lately, and it's sad to see another voice presumably silenced.

Edit: update 10 months later. This story is the last anyone has heard from this guy publicly about app store problems so it seems I was correct.
 
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CarAnalogy said:
I'm disappointed that this ended in a settlement which presumably includes terms that he(?) stop publicly criticizing Apple. I had hoped he was being a bit more altruistic but it seems the money eventually worked.
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Oh he ain't gonna stop criticizing Apple. The lawsuit was over his app getting Sherlocked to the tiniest of detail.
 
OwlBundy said:
This clown Kosta Eleftheriou proves that someone can make a bad product and other companies come along and does it infinitely better but if the untalented Kosta Eleftheriou whines enough someone will give him money to shut up.
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The allegations are very believable based on decades of documented history of Apple's ruthless business tactics. And whatever the reason (I've never even heard of these apps beyond the news stories) the more visible contribution has been many blog posts since pointing out glaring violations of App Store policy, which in my eyes has been a useful public service.

Please provide references for why this person has been a clown.
 
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CarAnalogy said:
I'm disappointed that this ended in a settlement which presumably includes terms that he(?) stop publicly criticizing Apple. I had hoped he was being a bit more altruistic but it seems the money eventually worked.

And I don't say that cynically. The App store has real problems that this person seems to have taken on as a crusade to point out, and opinions were already mixed as to motives. I want to see real improvement to the App Store Apple has been so publicly proud of in court lately, and it's sad to see another voice presumably silenced.
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I assume that there was likely a life-changing amount of money involved, and I wouldn't begrudge the guy if that costs him his silence. He's done his part to illuminate big issues with the App Store. The walls are closing in on Apple with governments around the world coming after them for anti-trust violations.
 
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Eldaerenth Faexidor said:
Wether you like him or not, it takes a lot of guts to drag a powerful company like Apple into the courtroom. Seems like he kinda won in a way. Probably got lots of dough. And Apple remains Apple.. unscathed.
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read the post above yours. Apple will not reamin unscathed. The wheels are already churing in goverments around the country to drop the hammer on Apple for some of their policies.
 
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RIGHT ON.

Sure there’s always more to the story than what’s reported, but I’m happy the dev got a likely big settlement to drop the case.

FlikType got done dirty. And I’m just happy it’s still available on the AppStore for my Apple Watch 6, where I can use his EXCELLENT app for a keyboard (where lame Apple couldn’t be bothered to release a keyboard on older watches, when FlikType clearly had the know-how).

$8 to have a keyboard on my watch 6 seemed like a good idea to support a dev that got sherlocked… but now I feel a little sherlocked myself for giving $8 now that the dev got paid by Apple to settle 🤣

Oh well 🤣 happy to help in a small way.
 
OwlBundy said:
This clown Kosta Eleftheriou proves that someone can make a bad product and other companies come along and does it infinitely better but if the untalented Kosta Eleftheriou whines enough someone will give him money to shut up.
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Even I, the biggest Apple enjoyer you could find, defend the Kosta guy
 
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nostaws said:
I have no problem with the guy settling. Altruistic? He made an app. Kinda got hosed, and if apple made him whole… then good for both of them.
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Altruistic may not be the right word, but this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Someone makes an outcry that might result in real change, but instead takes a personal benefit from the public outcry and then drops it.

Just one example that comes to mind, the Terraria dev getting hosed by Google and declaring no more Terraria on Stadia because of Google’s awful account management practices. This is something literally thousands of people have complained publicly about and been ignored. But instead of Google making any actual changes, they simply personally fixed this guy’s issue and he was happy to recant.

I can’t blame the individual I guess but it’s an interesting case study in politics.

It’s just frustrating because we see so often that the little guy can’t do jack squat against these companies, and here goes one more voice.
 
OwlBundy said:
This clown Kosta Eleftheriou proves that someone can make a bad product and other companies come along and does it infinitely better but if the untalented Kosta Eleftheriou whines enough someone will give him money to shut up.
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Not even close to accurate. The App Store is PLAGUED with scam & copycat apps that Apple profits from so ofc they don't care and won't do anything about. They also intentionally held up his app (which had always been approved) blatently stole his ip (where have I heard that one before) and like Apple always does with its theft, tried to bury & bully him away and it backfired.

I hope he took Apple for as much as he could.
 
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Naraxus said:
They also intentionally held up his app (which had always been approved) blatently stole his ip (where have I heard that one before) and like Apple always does with its theft, tried to bury & bully him away and it backfired.
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Every corp steals IP. Intel, AMD, NV, ARM, Qualcomm, MS and Google, these all do.

But apple has a monoploy and charges so much so little. At least Intel, AMD and NV and Google have more openness than Apple.

Apple is all marketing and no technical these days.
 
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Nicole1980 said:
read the post above yours. Apple will not reamin unscathed. The wheels are already churing in goverments around the country to drop the hammer on Apple for some of their policies.
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Apple has already become inhumanely big, to actually scathe apple, the entire world (including US) would need to stand against apple in big ways to pressure it. But I will never see this coming. Kudos to that dev to stand up against apple, but money is still the most powerful and to apple, the easiest to use tool to solve problems.

I expect no material change on any part of apple policy afterwards. The force is just not enough this time.
 
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This is anti-trust nonsense that Apple needs to be slapped down for.

Apple wanted to buy the company then refused to let them in the appstore while letting in other similar apps inside their store.

That's illegal.

I really wish the DoJ would hurry up and file that suit against Apple for anti-trust violations.
 
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Why do people assume he won and Apple gave in? Settlements are, by their nature, a compromise between both parties. Meaning Apple probably paid some money, but he didn’t make out as good as he hoped.
 
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I am generally in favor of Apple controlling the Apps that get loaded on IOS. But only if it adds true value and protection to the end user. The copycats and scams apps, unless they clean up this problem area, I think they are gong to lose- the momentum just keep building against their current position. Settlements like this pretty much say they had an issue that can only be resolved now by an app developer taking Apple to court- and winning appaprenty. Not good Apple.
 
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