The App Store commendation process has always been mysterious , slightly ridiculous and gently infuriating . But with the summary executing of Google Latitude as well as every Google Voice app , it ’s in conclusion gone too far .
Until this past week , Google ’s been the most inside developer for the iPhone outside of Apple itself . I mean , Google Maps and YouTube come baked into the phone . snake pit , Google even sacrifice the iPhone vocalisation search — a more powerful version , no less — before it return the feature article to its own OS , very obviouslyusing individual APIsthat would ’ve belike resulted in a fleet kick in the ass for any other developer .
Yet here we are , Apple has rule out not one , but two Google apps that would deliver major new features to the iPhone , for intellect that are so obviously tripe it ’s scornful to even our non - exceptional intelligence . A Google Latitude appwould discombobulate us ? Really ? Because it would “ use Google to serve maps tiles ” ? Wait . Is n’t one of iPhone 3.0 ’s major unexampled feature that itcan apply Google Maps inside of other app ? So like every app can use Google to suffice single-valued function roofing tile . I intromit , though , Latitude is a really big word . What does it even mean ? That is jolly confusing . possibly they should call it , like , Google Stalker .
https://gizmodo.com/google-latitude-for-iphone-is-a-lame-web-app-because-ap-5321583
What chance with Google Voice is tough . Google did n’t elaborate on the reason Apple give for rejecting its official Google Voice app six week ago — and presumably , Google had more success wrench it out of Apple than most developer . hour before Google break the intelligence , the developer of GV Mobile — a solid third - party app for Google Voice — say that it was being pulledfrom the App Store for “ duplicating iPhone features . ” Then every other Google Voice app was silently vote down too . Even though , reportedly , Apple ’s Phil Schiller in person apologized when GV Mobile initially race into job getting approved months ago , and it ’d been sitting pretty in the memory board since then . Oh , and there are wads of other apps thatduplicate the functionsof dialing andsending textbook messages .
https://gizmodo.com/gv-mobile-google-voice-iphone-app-getting-booted-from-a-5324003
John Gruber at Daring Fireball says Google Voicewas atomize by AT&T , “ it ’s that childlike . ” It ’s not the first time AT&T ’s put a hit on apps : NetShare , the tethering app was yanked ( though it intelligibly never should ’ve been approved in the first situation ) , and Skype andSlingPlayer streamingwere halting so that they only worked over Wi - Fi . The difference between those situations and this one is that in those sheath , there was , at least nominally , a greater good for user : limit those apps protect people from the possibility of AT&T ’s fragile , already bust - can connection wholly collapsing under the weight unit of millions of phone streaming tons of data . And , you may still actually use Skype and Sling apps , albeit in a slightly constrained manner .
https://gizmodo.com/slingplayer-mobile-for-iphone-review-wi-fi-only-30-5250885
Google Voice , on the other hand , poses no such mortal danger to the internet . It only use a bantam bite of datum at the very beginning of a call to define it up , and text edition message send through the service would be infinitesimally small scraps of data ( not to mention , there are other vastly popular apps that already send text substance as data ) . You still use your AT&T interpreter minutes when you ’re on a call using Google Voice . And , for whatever reason , AT&T ’s fear is about Google Voice on the iPhone , since the app is usable for BlackBerry on their internet .
The situation sort out our worst fright about Apple ’s dictatorial App Store . drug user are n’t being protect from bad thing or from themselves here . Even though it seemed ludicrous to us , when apps with objectionable content were close up or bring up before the ratings organization was in place , it was in the interest of some paradoxically lazy but over - protective parent somewhere out there . But the only affair being guard is some ephemeral long - term pursuit of AT&T against the devaluation of phone numbers and the ability to easily employ any phone at will . ( FWIW , AT&T says “ AT&T is not involved in the approval process , so we ca n’t address to this issue . ” ) Not only is Apple hurting users in the divine service of AT&T by denying them innovative new features , they wo n’t even bother to come up with a skilful excuse . If they ’re going to lie about it , they could at least make the principle believable .
To truly get a sense of the chickenshittniess on Apple ’s part , Just readthis accountof the conversation VoiceCentral ’s developer had with Apple when they were recite their app was going to be pull from the store . It ’d be hilarious if it did n’t think a developer got sleep with .
It ’s obvious Google ’s not glad about it either — and not just because Google execMarissa Mayer ’s blue-pencil tweetpointing toa satire pieceabout Google delete Apple from its search consequence , since it “ duplicate a lot of the functionality of other sites . ” If everything was copesettic Google would n’t tell the world Apple close down their diligence . ( And if the alternative web apps were all that great , Google would n’t make native apps to begin with . ) Whatever the causes , there is now emphatically a falling out between Apple and Google .
It ’s a sobering admonisher of what Apple ’s total control over the iPhone platform really mean . For the first time , it ’s denying people exciting new feature and opening , without even a semblance of benefit or concern for user . Maybe it ’s a catfight with Google . mayhap AT&T finally found a clause in its contract bridge that did n’t make them Apple ’s bitch . Either way , it ’s just uncheerful .
A year after we saidwe still involve the iPhone app black market , nothing ’s changed . To wit , GV Mobile’savailable on Cydia right now . We know the App Store is Apple ’s exclusive domain , and playing in their blank space has its tradeoffs , but the implicit trustfulness is that whatever Apple does that might seem ridiculous or weird , it ’s ultimately adjudicate to create a good experience for user . That ’s just not the case here , taking the App Store commendation process beyond cryptic and infuriating into something that ’s actually toxic for users . Since it ’s crossed that line , our App Disapproval Watch starts now — it finish when Apple finally cuts this crap out . Click to view
https://gizmodo.com/why-we-still-need-the-iphone-app-black-market-5027790
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