Author Topic: Apple are jerks (Read 10919 times)

scottws · « **on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:27:26 PM »

Not like Apple being jerks is news in and of itself. It's clear as a bell to those who aren't zombified zealots. I digress.

Have you heard that they have begun imposing restrictions on 3rd party e-readers on iOS? Basically, if the app in question (e.g. Amazon Kindle) provides the ability to link to a 3rd party store in order to purchase products, then they have to pay apple 30% of the revenue received from those transactions. The only other alternative is to remove the ability to purchase things through the apps and this is the course that all of the apps so far have chosen.

Apple has every legal right to do something like this if they want, but it seems wrong. E-book margins are nowhere close to 30% for most. It gives iBooks a huge competitive advantage as that app is now the only one that has a bookstore on iOS, but I suppose that is why Apple did it. To me, if they want iBooks to compete they need to release it on Windows and Android. If they don't do that, it will be perceived as too locked in compared to most of the other e-reader apps.

Apple better be careful with stuff like this. They are where they are today because of the significant customer mindshare they have built up. If they start eroding that it will be the end for them.

idolminds · « **Reply #1 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:38:02 PM »

Yeah its a totally shitty/greedy move.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #2 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:46:01 PM »

I have a solution that works 100% of the time: Don't buy Apple products. Wow! I'm so smart. I figured that out all by myself.

shock · « **Reply #3 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:49:08 PM »

Troubling, but not particularly surprising coming from Apple. So far, their restrictive actions towards their consumers and software designers haven't really caught up to them. Hopefully this will change in the future.

beo · « **Reply #4 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:54:35 PM »

apple are evil. their business practices are utterly disgusting and the cult like adoration they endure sickens me.

that said, i sell and promote their products on a daily basis... uurgh.

K-man · « **Reply #5 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:58:08 PM »

It says a lot about Apple's wares that people are willing to put up with shit like this to own them.

scottws · « **Reply #6 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 01:43:31 PM »

Quote from: K-man on Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:58:08 PM

It says a lot about Apple's wares that people are willing to put up with shit like this to own them.

They don't just put up with it, they defend the practices. You should see some of the comments on news stories. Not all, but many people are saying it wasn't fair for Amazon et al. to be able to get a free ride without any benefit to Apple (because the Kindle app is free). It's insane how short-sighted people are. That's exactly like saying Microsoft should take a cut of iTunes purchases on Windows because Apple is getting a free ride.

The worst part is that tech bloggers are caught up in the whole Apple aura too. Just check this ZDNet blog post out. It's a commentary on how Apple's recent moves where they are removing support for optical discs are good. The author actually says "the optical drive deserves to die". As if the optical drive slot on previous Macs was somehow damaging or hurtful or otherwise bad. Yet the guy eats it up because Apple is doing it. It's like a scary cult religion, it really is.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #7 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 02:28:16 PM »

Best comment I saw after a bit of browsing on the article:

Quote

Apple's reason is clear but it is not what you claim in your article. It is not because they hate optical media. They want to control how you use their products.

It's a shame people don't see this more. Being tied to any one thing isn't good. It's convenient until you want to do something slightly different. Heaven forbid you want to watch a DVD on a laptop.

But yeah, the cult/snobbery that comes with a lot of the Apple products is odd. They view things as lesser because it's not supported by Apple or you can't do it on a Apple product. For the optical drive thing, the response is probably something like, "Well, you should be well off enough to stream everything." Apparently these people only travel within the airports of major cities or buy T1 internet connections. If you say you want a little control in case you need to fix your system the response is something like, "Well, you should just pay Apple to do it or buy a new one."

scottws · « **Reply #8 on:** Thursday, July 28, 2011, 09:55:29 PM »

Apple zealots are so... stupid. Check out this article. Read the comments. People are all "absolutely firmware should not be writable!" Hello you idiots, upgradable firmware is a godsend and has been around for a decade or more!

Cools! · « **Reply #9 on:** Friday, July 29, 2011, 09:12:23 AM »

UNLEASH THE APPLE HATE!

Cobra951 · « **Reply #10 on:** Friday, July 29, 2011, 10:24:23 AM »

It's not Apple hate. It's Apple-enabling zealot hate.

Cools! · « **Reply #11 on:** Friday, July 29, 2011, 11:20:13 AM »

scottws · « **Reply #12 on:** Friday, July 29, 2011, 11:26:41 AM »

I like that kind of zealot.

gpw11 · « **Reply #13 on:** Saturday, July 30, 2011, 05:01:29 PM »

Quote from: scottws on Thursday, July 28, 2011, 12:27:26 PM

Apple has every legal right to do something like this if they want, but it seems wrong. E-book margins are nowhere close to 30% for most. It gives iBooks a huge competitive advantage as that app is now the only one that has a bookstore on iOS, but I suppose that is why Apple did it. To me, if they want iBooks to compete they need to release it on Windows and Android. If they don't do that, it will be perceived as too locked in compared to most of the other e-reader apps.

I think most plan on getting around this with some sort of html5 app, like google did with Voice for a while. The thing I wonder about is how many people who buy a lot of ebooks are going to use iBook. The advantage to the Kindle/nook/Kobo apps are they sync your books and bookmarks across all your devices, so you can get a few quick pages in on your phone when waiting for something and then going back to your actual ereader. iBooks obviously doesn't have that option, and bigtime readers, the kind who buy 20 or so books a year are the kind who are going to make the investment in a kindle for the increased readability, longer battery life, etc.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #14 on:** Saturday, July 30, 2011, 05:16:08 PM »

God, we're living in a world where a "bigtime reader" only buys 20 books a year?

gpw11 · « **Reply #15 on:** Saturday, July 30, 2011, 08:41:57 PM »

That might just be in my mind. I'd place the average person around 0-1 though. Libraries.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #16 on:** Saturday, July 30, 2011, 10:22:47 PM »

The average person doesn't read and hasn't been to a library since they were 12.

gpw11 · « **Reply #17 on:** Saturday, July 30, 2011, 11:19:11 PM »

Yeah, you're probably right. Although, I've actually been surprised with how much some people I know read. The sample is probably kind of tainted though, most are at least moderately well educated and don't wear Affliction. Those friends don't read shit.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #18 on:** Sunday, July 31, 2011, 06:22:01 AM »

I tend to be surprised when anyone I know reads anything, especially if it's not crap. I might be biased in the other direction, though.

gpw11 · « **Reply #19 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 12:17:21 AM »

Yet, to be fair, a few of the most intelligent people I know (well, at least on the surface), can not read for entertainment at all. Well, can't read books/fiction. They fucking devour newspapers...which is something that's gotten away from me over the last decade or so.

Xessive · « **Reply #20 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 03:04:00 AM »

I'll admit I have a hard time reading fiction, even though I do thoroughly enjoy many works of fiction. When it comes to sitting down and reading a book it brings up some discomfort, whether it's eye strain or just me being unable to settle in a comfortable position, so I always invest the time to reading factual information while I'm sitting on a desk and save fiction for audio books.

The only fiction I was able to pull through in old fashioned book format were of the Tom Clancy variety, thanks to Pug

Pugnate · « **Reply #21 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 11:28:17 AM »

What the fuck is a library?

Cools! · « **Reply #22 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 11:51:36 AM »

lieberry?

scottws · « **Reply #23 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 03:30:33 PM »

Quote from: Pugnate on Monday, August 01, 2011, 11:28:17 AM

What the fuck is a library?

Haha that reminded me of the SNL Thrilla Killa Clownz video. "What the fuck is a clock?!"

shock · « **Reply #24 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 03:49:25 PM »

I'm still not so sold that free-reading is the pinnacle of intellectualism (whatever that means). I used to used to read a lot of fiction back in the day, but now I get my storytelling from elsewhere (video games, movies, etc). I read all day long at work. And I'm going to law school next year, so that'll be another 3 years of reading, followed by a career of reading. How many books have I read in the past year that are non-academic? Can't think of more than one or two. But I don't think that makes me less intelligent than someone who reads 30 books a year.

/random thoughts

K-man · « **Reply #25 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 04:06:43 PM »

Quote from: scottws on Monday, August 01, 2011, 03:30:33 PM

Haha that reminded me of the SNL Thrilla Killa Clownz video. "What the fuck is a clock?!"

That's actually a parody of a legit video from ICP

http://youtu.be/_-agl0pOQfs

Edit: Which is apparently covered in the link of yours I didn't even bother to click until now.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #26 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 04:12:15 PM »

I certainly don't think reading makes you intelligent. Some of the people I know who read the most are some of the most intellectually defunct people I've ever met. It's more about what you read versus the frequency of the act itself or overall level of consumption. There's always been this misconception, especially with kids, that the more reading they do the better, like it's somehow a vastly superior activity compared to other ways they spend their time. I'd say it has some obvious benefits when they're young and still actively learning language, and good reading will always do something for you, but I sincerely doubt that most young adult fiction or Harry Potter bullshit is any more beneficial to one's mind than a few hours of a decent game.

K-man · « **Reply #27 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 04:28:16 PM »

Aside from expanding vocabulary I'd say Que's spot on.

shock · « **Reply #28 on:** Monday, August 01, 2011, 06:24:06 PM »

Same page, then!

sirean_syan · « **Reply #29 on:** Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 12:20:37 PM »

More Apple=Jerks

Cools! · « **Reply #30 on:** Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 02:10:46 PM »

Poor Samsung, can't make a living selling iPad copies!

Cobra951 · « **Reply #31 on:** Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 02:19:38 PM »

Poor world. Innovation-choking IP bullshit is infecting it further.

scottws · « **Reply #32 on:** Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 05:27:53 PM »

Software patents are mostly bullshit. Maybe it would be okay if they applied for just a year. 10 years is way too long in the tech industry. Patents are supposed to encourage and protect innovation, but software patents are doing the opposite.

That said, I have to give some credit to Apple. The iPhone was a revolutionary device and Android is clearly trying to mimic iOS in several ways. And that is spoken from an Android fan.

Xessive · « **Reply #33 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 12:49:21 AM »

In terms of interface I can't abide Apple's stance that anyone using a grid layout is somehow copying them, I recall using a grid long before touch devices! Remember the good ol' Nokia pre-Symbian days? List View or Grid View were the only options for the menu view. Even in SymbianOS the grid was the standard.

When it comes to the physical build of the iPhone I'll give Apple credit for taking a primary shape and trying really hard to legally own it.

The part that bugs me more than Apple is that all other manufacturers are imitating rather than innovating. Very few are trying to design a unique phone and just going for what the market deems "acceptable" i.e. looks like an iPhone. RIM seems to be the only that has set its own line, which certain others are now mimicking too.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #34 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 09:50:55 AM »

It's not like the shape was something that was unique. Anyone who saw a Palm Pilot almost a decade before saw how the iPhone would eventually look and work. The only real differences are the physical shortcut buttons on the bottom became part of the touch screen, the color, and the wireless/phone connection (which was the next logical step). Hell, anyone who saw Star Trek knew how these devices would eventually look. When you're building a device where the physicality is trying to be as minimal as possible, there's only so much you can do. Screen, a small frame, and maybe a button or two. Nothing is going to change and nothing really should change.

On the whole, Apple was simply the first to say, "Yeah, we can build this on a large scale" and come up with a brilliant touch screen. That deserves credit (and they're getting that with buttloads of cash) but not exclusive rights to the general device category for all of eternity.

scottws · « **Reply #35 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 11:19:20 AM »

I don't think it's the general shape or touchscreen input or even tiled layout that is at issue. It's various things like how Android can interpret text data and analyze it for things like phone numbers, e-mail addresses, addresses, etc. and then have an actionable link assigned to that piece of data (like clicking an address will bring up a map pinpointing the location). Apple has a patent on that process.

Xessive · « **Reply #36 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 01:27:03 PM »

Apple supposedly tried to patent the "slide to unlock" gesture. At first i thought they just wanted to patent the specific iPhone "slide to unlock" visual effect but apparently they meant the actual gesture of touching a screen and moving your finger in any direction to unlock a lock screen. That got shot down, thankfully, and they managed to only get the "slide to the right to unlock" officially. Then I believe they tried to get a patent on the pinch-to-zoom gesture, which Apple successfully got a limited patent for (courtesy of Engadget).

Apple just seems as ridiculous as Donald Trump to me: getting a trademark on a name I can empathize with but a generic word? Get bent.

bear in mind that I may be a little biased since I'm of the persuasion that ideas are meant to be shared and innovation, with due credit to inspiration, is a step in the right direction. Which is pretty much Apple's way, they borrow ideas from everybody else and present them differently.

I kinda miss when the days Apple was the hero of individuality and non-conformity, but I guess it's true: you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

ren · « **Reply #37 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 02:37:01 PM »

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #38 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 03:25:24 PM »

Or be a realist and hate the fucking players in the stupid fucking game.

Cools! · « **Reply #39 on:** Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 03:46:35 PM »

Or not.

News:

Author Topic: Apple are jerks (Read 10919 times)