News - Apple blocks apps using the Dropbox SDK

[crossy]

Once again, MS had and have a near monopoly which is why the EU got involved (although I still disagree with their decision). Apple do not even have a majority so the EU are very unlikely to become involved for the foreseeable future.

So true. Although I'd like to see some developer with deep pockets (cough, cough, EA?) get together some clever lawyers and try and fight it. It's certainly unfair practice and arguably stifling free trade.

That said, it's very unlikely that these practices would affect me since I don't give Apple a lot of business these days.

[Mattus]

Why anyone bothers with such a developer hostile platform I'll never know.

Because the platform may be restrictive, but it has a high number of users who will actually bother paying for apps, which is more than can be said for Android.

[crossy]

Because the platform may be restrictive, but it has a high number of users who will actually bother paying for apps, which is more than can be said for Android.

Technically (from what little I've seen) I would have said that the iOS platform was pretty "free", and as a disinterested party I'll agree that in most cases the vetting process that Apple insist on probably does result in rejection of poor quality apps.

However, there's been case after case where apps have been rejected from this vetting process for purely business reasons - i.e. to be blunt "we ain't getting our cut, so you're not getting in" - and I'll argue that this latest item is probably in that boat.

As to the "Android users won't pay for apps" comment, I think you'll find quite a few developers on the Play store (and Amazon's one when it finally makes it over here!) that'll disagree with that, and mark it as "iPhone fan propaganda". If an app is good, then people will pay for it - heck, I know quite a few 'droid users (myself included) who willingly pony up a couple of quid for ad-free versions of decent apps/games. And it would seem we're not alone, as one piece of evidence I present the following quote (from http://punchypress.com/2012/04/03/hu...raises-680000/)

The latest in a long line of Humble Indie Bundles has closed, selling 106,586 copies and raising a total of $682,357.29, much of which will be going to charity.

This brings the most recent in a long line of DRM-free, cross-platform, pay-what-you-want bundles ahead of the recent Humble Bundle Mojam, but still behind many of the previous offerings. The final statistics are as follows.

- Total Payments: $682,333.05 USD
- 106,583 Purchases
- $6.40 USD Average Purchase Price
- $5.69 Average Windows Price
- $7.07 Average Mac OS X Price
- $9.97 Average Linux Price
- $314.15 Top Contribution

The Humble team have also announced that the Android average is $7.43, placing it slightly above the average OS X price. This is a figure which will surprise some, who believe their reputation for not paying a great deal for apps.

(my underline). Or are you saying that iPhone users would turn down a free or ad-supported app too? Given Apples increasing ad presence I would suggest the latter is patently untrue!