Does anyone else find the prominence of sports betting in this app…odd?
I know sports betting has become a bigger and bigger part of watching sports. But as an activity that can become harmful to certain people, I find it very un-Apple like to have prioritized this information in what is otherwise a fairly mediocre app when compared to, say, ESPN.
Betting odds are useful even if you don't bet because they show you the outcome prediction. It would be weird if clicking it led you to a betting website given Apple's stance on gambling, but just seeing the odds isn't weird.
> Does anyone else find the prominence of sports betting in this app…odd?
Not really. The basic betting line indicating which team is favored has been apart of box scores long before betting was widespread or accessible in the US.
I would find it pretty shocking if Apple started displaying individual player betting lines, parlays, etc. The stuff that has propagated into broadcasts with the growth of sports betting.
But which team is favored seems pretty basic information that is interesting even if I don't care about betting.
It's definitely a surprise to see, coming from Apple. However, if we consider the amount of money they make on gacha games, which are essentially slot machines (that award you worthless items) (and are often targeted at children), it's unfortunately less of a surprise.
Both the appstore and the playstore are indeed making most of their money on casino type games but usually they try for obvious PR & legal reasons to avoid this subject.
Anything mentioning the store will show plenty of productivity apps or something similarly positive. I'm also very surprised by this move.
I am not a fan of betting but I support being able to do it. I do think it would be nice if Apple could add an option to hide all gambling-related things for those who struggle with an addiction to it.
Why? Do you consider Apple to generally be some sort of force of good?
I find Apple to be an incredibly cynical company. They are cynical towards their users (donglebook back when USB-c was hardly adopted, the whole "you're holding it wrong" saga etc etc). They are even more cynical towards the developers on their platform, no need to waste words on that after the recent malicious compliance of EU laws etc
Except, of course, it's not about using it too early, it's about getting rid of what EVERYONE at that point used (USB-A) too early. So they could shave off a few mm of the laptop body as if it were a designer bag and not a device with a "pro" designation.
Same as with the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone.
They, of course, would then sell adapters at a premium because why not.
If they didn't make the MacBook USB-C only manufacturers would still be churning out USB-A devices like there's no tomorrow. At least, due to economies of scale there are more devices and cheap adapters to use and even the original Thunderbolt promise of 'one wire' display, power and data is becoming a lot more common.
But of course, it's all about the few bucks Apple earns on a sub $10 adapter.
Oh right, Apple removed USB-A for the betterment of the world.
Just like Apple removed HDD support and that's why we all use SSDs now. Or how they removed DVD-ROM and that's why we use portable flash memory. And PS/2 peripherals in favor of USB ones.
Oh wait... Seems like I'm wrong, all of those happened organically! Huh...
Apple created the problems (USB-A and 3.5mm removals) and sold the solutions (dongles and adapters at a huge premium, and of course their Bluetooth earbuds).
Just look at adapter/airpods sales figures and the money Apple made post removal of those. I suppose you think Apple is above such business practices because they're some elegant, high brow company. But they're not, they're just a company.
In fact, that slimming of the macbook came back to bite them in the ass due to inappropriate heating for the Intel cpus at the time. All the macbooks between 2018 and the first M1 were just expensive, overheating garbage.
You had to put the 2019 macbook pros in the freezer so that they reached their advertised performance.
Or you know, you could buy the same dongles from third parties. That’s the beauty of standards. Also by abandoning old ports it incentivizes other companies to produce compatible hardware - just like the iMac did for USB in 1997.
As far as phones, now most premium phones come without a headphone jack. But most people aren’t walking around with cords hanging from their phones anyway - they use Bluetooth headsets
> Why? Do you consider Apple to generally be some sort of force of good?
No, but I don't presume they are purely guilty/cynical if there also might be good reasons for the changes they are making.
Also, presuming Apple as a company has perfect knowledge and will not ever make a mistake is not realistic. There are things like unintended consequences, of which they also fixed a lot.
I didn't find it prominent and had to read pretty far down to find out that it's only betting odds being displayed. I find betting odds useful to know expectations going into a game. You can turn the betting odds off as well.
I misunderstood you, sorry. I thought you meant that the ad copy was prominent in mentioning betting odds. I haven't ran the app, so I can't speak to that.
Apple Sports keeps fans up to date on the following leagues currently in season:
MLS
NBA
NCAA basketball (men’s and women’s)
NHL
Bundesliga
LaLiga
Liga MX
Ligue 1
Premier League
Serie A
I hope they expand their coverage for more sports like Baseball (MLB) and Tennis (WTA, ATP)
This seems designed in exact opposition to my needs.
I need a service that curates highlights of the sports and teams and players I care about, presented in a way that shares no spoilers, so I can catch up when I can.
As is usual this gap in copyrighted content is filled by unsanctioned channels.
I know sports betting has become a bigger and bigger part of watching sports. But as an activity that can become harmful to certain people, I find it very un-Apple like to have prioritized this information in what is otherwise a fairly mediocre app when compared to, say, ESPN.