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French Court Levies Fine Against Apple for Abusive App Store Practices
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The vape example is yet another example of Apple inserting itself into its customers lives in a completely inappropriate way. I hate this about today's Apple. Stick to the tech. Don't tell me how to live my life. I find it offensive.
I think Apple should be allowed to decide what it sells in its App Store. It should not be allowed to decide what gets sold on the iOS platform. Platforms should be open for OBVIOUS reasons. Apple should not be allowed to have it's thumb on the scale. I don't have issues with Apple wanting to make money. My issue, when it comes to the App Store, is strictly about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and freedom of expression. I don't believe that I should have to sacrifice those things in order to be an Apple customer or developer.
A single App Store is a single point of failure. It is also a gift to dictators and un-democratic regimes. They tell Apple to pull an app and Apple dutifully obliges in order to do business there. In a world where Apple isn't Big Brother, that app pops up on another app store or can be downloaded and installed directly from a website somewhere and that regime doesn't win. And Apple isn't put in the position of being their enforcer.
Then vote with your dollars, so to speak. Don't use those apps. If schools require them, refuse to use them and explain why. That's the free market. They are free to make whatever app they want to make and you are free to use them. If someone is forcing you to use an app for some reason, that isn't my problem.
I don't think your scenario justifies Apple being allowed to have its thumb on the scale for over a billion people. Apple should be allowed to set whatever requirements it wants for its store, no argument, but that right should not extend to the platform. Developers should have the right to develop whatever apps they want and have an avenue to sell them. Apple shouldn't be compelled to sell them, but they also shouldn't deny access to the platform.
Again, not my problem. I have old parents too. I know the drill. In a world where Apple doesn't get to be App Store Big Brother, nothing has to change. You know Apple would add a default app store setting, or a security setting to only allow App Store apps (like they offer on macOS). In other words, you can still keep the guardrails up for your parents. Nothing changes on the surface for them. The beauty of technology. This scenario does not justify limiting what kind of software is allowed on the platform in my opinion.
In some cases it is about Big Tech's ability to adversely affect other business, but in others its the ability of Big Tech's ability to allow people confidentiality of their computers/phones/etc., so whilst we like to talk down Big Tech, and quite rightly in some situations. We should also mention that Big Government the world over wants to control everything we hear, say or do.
Loss of control of the App Store is also a gift to seditionists. Can’t have it both ways.
Imo, this is apples App Store and platform an it has every right to control it. Don’t like the rules, android is available.
I'm not trying to have it both ways. Seditionists are a problem for law enforcement to solve, not tech companies. I've supported Apple for 40 years. I'm not going to switch to Android.
This about principle for me. Platforms should not be restricted for obvious reasons. When a billion people depend on your platform, you should not have the power to yank an app out from under them. A single app store, a single platform gatekeeper, is a gift to oppressive regimes.
Beyond that, what right does Apple have to tell its customers or developers what kinds of apps they may develop and buy? Inserting themselves into the private lives of their customers in such a way is offensive. I have no problem with Apple curating its store as it sees fit, but it should not have the right to wholesale limit what apps paying customers use on their devices. And it sure shouldn't have the ability to yank thousands and thousands of apps out from under people when the Chinese government says jump.
Having local regulations control what’s on the phone is a government issue not a tech company issue.
I disagree on this point. I like the control apple has it keeps the platform as clean as possibly can be.
It’s their platform.
It’s apples platform. They are not restricting your websites, they are controlling the App Store.
Yes, they should. If one doesn’t like it, there are other platforms(not specifically you because of earlier comment)
And it shouldn’t lose control so seditionists can freely use the platform. Pick your poison.
Agreed. And by having a single gatekeeper, that gatekeeper essentially becomes a law enforcement agency. That's bad for many obvious reasons.
That's a joke. It's all about $$$. They rake in over $25B/year on services. Their platform isn't clean. Malware makes it through repeatedly. It's full of sex hook up apps. Apple loves to spin the security angle of the App Store, but anyone with a rudimentary understanding of technology knows that's just marketing propaganda. macOS is an open platform and isn't besieged with malware. Apple's security theater around the App Store is all about the money, nothing more.
I disagree. It's the customer's platform. It's Apple's store, sure, and if they don't want to sell certain kinds of apps, that's fine. But they shouldn't have the right to wholesale restrict the platform.
And they should have every right to do that. Their store, their rules. But that's the problem. They've artificially tied the App Store to the platform in a manner that has nothing to do with the customer's best interest and everything to do with creating a revenue stream. There's no reason whatsoever that apps can't be installed from outside the App Store.
It should not be Apple's right to insert themselves and try to control the personal lives of their customers by dictating what apps they are allowed to install. If Apple doesn't want to sell the app, fine, but they shouldn't be allowed to restrict the app from being sold altogether. It's the customer's phone, the customer's money. It's not up to Big Brother Apple to decide what the customer does. It's offensive.
Not the point. This sort of control should not be tolerated for moral reasons. I believe in freedom. When you reach the level of saturation that iOS has reached, when billions of people rely on your product, you should not be allowed to put your thumb on the scale. You should not be allowed to invade their personal space and force your "values" on them. It's a bad precedent for many obvious reasons.
Trust me, the seditionists are already using Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp and all sorts of other apps available today in the App Store. Pretty sure iMessage is quite popular with them too! That argument holds no water whatsoever.
the customer does not own the platform and never has done, its apples property their infrastructure, their software, their invention you chose to buy their hardware knowing full well what you were getting into
Sure, they created it, but that doesn't give them the right to control it anymore than telephone companies should have the right to decide who you're allowed to call or car companies should have the right to decide what parts of town you're allowed to visit.
It is in society's best interest that platforms be open for obvious reasons. I'm all for Apple curating their store, but they shouldn't have the right to insert themselves into their user's private lives and play nanny. What I do on my iPhone, what apps I install, that's none of Apple's business. If they don't want to sell an app, that's fine. But being an iOS user shouldn't require one to give up one's freedom to choose how one uses one's device.
of course it gives them the right to control it its their platform not yours you paid nothing towards it
None of the above changes my opinion, as what your wrote doesn’t change my opinion. So we disagree.
Of course I did. I've paid them hundred of thousands of dollars over the years as a customer. Without customers they don't exist.
I feel that operating systems/platforms should be treated like communications or utilities. There are some private enterprises that we deem to essential to the public good and therefore limit how they can behave. The phone company doesn't get to pass some kind of bizarre moral judgement and decide who I'm allowed to call. Companies that sell general purpose computing platforms shouldn't be allowed to decide what apps their customers install either.
Usually that type of control imo should be limited to air, water, food supplies, finances, living conditions and etc. not regulating app stores.
Of course they're obvious unless you're drunk on the Kool-Aid. Imagine if the phone company got to pass some moral judgement and decide who you're allowed to call. Like communications, utilities, etc, it's in the public's best interest that platforms be open to all.
you paid for goods and services which you recieved and apple paid that to whoever including developers you are trying to "insert yourself" into apples private business, the public isn't paying to support this and it isn't free you know
First of all, I don't want to regulate the App Store. I'm fine with the App Store the way it is. The App Store is not iOS and iOS is not the App Store. You keep conflating the two because it serves your defense of Apple's artificial tying of the two. Users should be allowed to install whatever they want on their devices, just like they can on Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and every other operating system in history. It's not Apple's role to censor and pass moral judgments on what their customers do with their devices.
you are literally trying to insert yourself into something you don't own or maintain.
I'm not trying to insert myself into Apple's private business. They are trying to control how their customers use their devices. That's not their role. I have no problem with them deciding what gets sold in their store. But they should not have the right to limit access to their platform.
you'll probably find have no "right" to have access to their platform either if they don't want you too.
No I'm not. It's Apple who is inserting themselves into their customers' lives in a completely inappropriate way. Would it be ok with you if your phone carrier decided who you were allowed to call? I doubt it. Again, I have no issue with Apple deciding what gets sold in their store. But that should not extend to the platform as a whole.
its their platform, their hardware, their infrastructure, their software not yours you need to accept that.
That may be true, but that doesn't mean it should be true. At some point people no doubt had the same conversations about the telephone and eventually we determined that it is in society's best interest that phone lines be open to all. And we now have laws around that. I think the same applies to general purpose computing platforms. It's in society's best interest that there be no single gatekeeper and it's wholly inappropriate for a corporation to force its "values" on its customers. That's not their role.
No, actually I don't. Given all the legislation happening around the world, it's pretty obvious that the App Store monopoly is about to be broken.