Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lwansbrough 2761 days ago
Oh okay, so as long as it's their MO to have a monopoly then it's fine. I'm sure plenty of iPhone users, for example, would like to have a PornHub app on their iPhone, but that's currently impossible because of Apple's guidelines. You could build a very high quality app and be denied for a reason strictly outside of the "UX, security 'or any other very valid reason'" that Apple arbitrarily decides.
3 comments
caf 2761 days ago
Forget PornHub, the Valve's SteamLink app is a much better example. Denied, on Apple's own words, because of a business model conflict.
link
scarface74 2761 days ago
And what would this pornhub app do that you couldn’t do from the website?

Should Nintendo also be forced to sell a PornHub game?

link
AnthonyMouse 2761 days ago
> And what would this pornhub app do that you couldn’t do from the website?

Store files for offline use or untracked use, have better privacy because user settings can be stored locally rather than on the server, provide source code that can be audited rather than relying on javascript that can change at any time, etc. In general, anything an app can do that a website can't -- otherwise why do native apps even exist?

> Should Nintendo also be forced to sell a PornHub game?

They shouldn't be allowed to prevent someone else from distributing one.

link
scarface74 2761 days ago
So let’s see, you downloaded the files from their server, now they have a unique id for each user and they can track you more.

Most commercial apps aren’t going to give you access to the source control.

link
AnthonyMouse 2761 days ago
> So let’s see, you downloaded the files from their server, now they have a unique id for each user and they can track you more.

Which you can verify they aren't doing if they provide the source code. Or the non-Apple app distributor could verify that they aren't or otherwise sandbox the apps they distribute to prevent that from happening -- another advantage to competition.

> Most commercial apps aren’t going to give you access to the source control.

For something like that, why wouldn't they? Especially when there is a specific reason to, because it's something people are unusually privacy-sensitive about.

And it's not as if a community-developed Pornhub app that did would be accepted into the App Store either.

link
scarface74 2761 days ago
Which you can verify they aren't doing if they provide the source code. Or the non-Apple app distributor could verify that they aren't or otherwise sandbox the apps they distribute to prevent that from happening -- another advantage to competition

So what sandbox is available for apps that don’t allow a native app to ascertain individually identifiable device information?

You also now have to trust the non Apple App Store to check the source code. The entire open source community let the HeartBleed bug stay in open source software for a year and a half...

link
AnthonyMouse 2761 days ago
> So what sandbox is available for apps that don’t allow a native app to ascertain individually identifiable device information?

That's the point. Currently nobody can build that because Apple doesn't allow it.

> You also now have to trust the non Apple App Store to check the source code. The entire open source community let the HeartBleed bug stay in open source software for a year and a half...

"Many eyes" results in fewer bugs over time, not zero bugs instantaneously. It doesn't have to be perfect to be better.

link
wild_preference 2761 days ago
Their point wasn't just "it's their MO". You just attacked the lowest hanging fruit. It doesn't make for good discussion.
link