Apple "rips off devs" over iOS 5 features: Wi-Fi Sync, iCloud, etc.

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Apple "rips off devs" over iOS 5 features: Wi-Fi Sync, iCloud, etc.

By Richi Jennings (@richi) - June 10, 2011.

It's said that Apple (AAPL) has been stealing ideas from third-party developers to put into its new iOS 5 platform for iPhone and iPad. Most obvious is Wi-Fi Sync, which even has the same name and icon as a popular rejected, jailbreak-only app. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers ponder alleged Jobsian evil-doing.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Captain Dave meditates on Air France 447, Sully, and Airbus FBW...


Stewart Meagher reports a kick in the teeth for one dev:


Apple seems to show little hesitation when it comes to absorbing ... ideas like the Borg Collective. The latest person to be assimilated ... is one Greg Hughes, a UK-based ... iOS developer and inventor of the well-known Wi-Fi Sync app.
...
Wi-Fi Sync allows iDevice owners to sync their iTunes libraries without breaking out a USB cable. ... Hughes submitted the App to the iTunes approval team ... [but] it was rejected. Apple minions explained that they liked [it] ... but couldn't accept ... because it contravened one or more of the Store's 10,000 Commandments. ... Hughes submitted Wi-Fi Sync to the Cydia Store ... much loved of the jailbreaking community. The widget soon became a hit.
...
Apple knows that one lonely student will never be able to take on the might of its legal department and can pretty much ride roughshod over the law.


Dan Goodin adds:
As Apple strives to maintain the allure of its aging iDevice lineup, it's inevitable [it] will integrate features ... once considered ancillary. Microsoft learned the dark side of this ... decades ago.
...
Apple is famous for going to absurd lengths to enforce its patents and trademarks. ... It has publicly lectured competitors to “create their own original technology, not steal ours”. ... [It] isn't always as fastidious about respecting the ideas of others.
...
The next time Steve Jobs and company chides a competitor for blatant copying, remember that ... originality is in the eye of the Goliaths. The Davids ... don't stand a chance.


And Michael Brown isn't impressed:

Apple has a ...reputation for taking ideas ... and incorporating them into their products. One recent example is the notification system in iOS 5, taken from ... MobileNotifier after Apple hired its developer. But one student is claiming that Apple took his app and modified it for use in its OS.
...
It would be easy to dismiss Hughes' complaint as coming from a bitter developer, eerie similarities exist between Hughes' and Apple's solution. ... The icons are near identical, bar a colour fix and a few other adjustments.

Eric Slivka wonders why Hughes didn't also get hired:

Hughes notes that Apple took a special interest in his ... application, with a member of the developer relations team personally calling him. ... Hughes says that Apple had also requested a copy of his [resume], suggesting that the company did have some interest in what he was up to.
...
In June 2010 after the original Wi-Fi Sync application had been rejected ... Steve Jobs noted that the company was planning to introduce a Wi-Fi syncing feature "someday."

But this Anonymous Coward thinks it's a storm in a teacup:

The name of the app is "WiFi Sync". What the **** else are they going to call an app that syncs over WiFi?

To which, exomondo retorts:

The name of the store is "Amazon Appstore". What the **** else are Amazon going to call their store that sells apps?

Meanwhile, Chris White offers more examples of Apple's sincere "flattery":

Jailbreak ... devs tend to focus on ... system-level tweaks ... there are more and different ideas ... being tried and implemented there. ... Fertile ground for Apple to ... cherrypick the best ideas.
...
One of the main reasons people jailbreak is to get ... a useful lock screen ... [which] Apple has finally addressed. ... David Ashman's LockInfo and Intelliborn's IntelliScreen ... both resemble ... iOS 5's new lock screen.
...
iCloud syncing looks like a fantastic backup system ... EvilPenguin already feels that its backup tool iBye is no longer necessary. ... James Emrich, the developer ... [said] "iBye was a backup/restore manager. ... Basically what iCloud does."
...
iOS development as we know it could not have evolved as quickly or as successfully without the ... jailbreak community. It's disingenuous for Apple to celebrate the innovations of iOS 5 without acknowledging [this].
Click to expand...

Cue the excuses...So much for "IOS is the most developer friendly OS" and innovation. Ya right boss. They are "friendly" for a reason Lol


http://blogs.computerworld.com/1844...icloud_etc?source=CTWNLE_nlt_blogs_2011-06-10
 
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Don't worry. Come over to our side. We won't rip you off. We are the 700 pound gorilla in the room anyhow.

Seriously, developers need to start focussing on android as it is very quickly becoming the standard and is not run by a douche of a company.

Apple will have its niche but you will always be at apples mercy. Look at what happened when they enforced taking a cut on in app purchases. They sent a good few companies down the tubes.

Eating gingerbread off my Galaxy S, baked by Darky.
 
Shayd said:
Don't worry. Come over to our side. We won't rip you off. We are the 700 pound gorilla in the room anyhow.

Seriously, developers need to start focussing on android as it is very quickly becoming the standard and is not run by a douche of a company.

Apple will have its niche but you will always be at apples mercy. Look at what happened when they enforced taking a cut on in app purchases. They sent a good few companies down the tubes.

Eating gingerbread off my Galaxy S, baked by Darky.
Click to expand...
Really? AFAIK the 30% cuts were supposed to commence at the end of June . . . and they've since been rescinded. IOW they never happened. So how did it send these companies down the tubes? :confused:
 
bwana said:
Really? These enforced cuts were supposed to commence at the end of June . . . and they've since been rescinded. IOW they never happened. So how did it send these companies down the tubes? :confused:
Click to expand...

Bwana, for the love of god, stop being so naive...This is one of the ways in which they send companies down the tubes

Wi-Fi Sync allows iDevice owners to sync their iTunes libraries without breaking out a USB cable. ... Hughes submitted the App to the iTunes approval team ... [but] it was rejected. Apple minions explained that they liked [it] ... but couldn't accept ... because it contravened one or more of the Store's 10,000 Commandments. ... Hughes submitted Wi-Fi Sync to the Cydia Store ... much loved of the jailbreaking community. The widget soon became a hit.
...
Apple knows that one lonely student will never be able to take on the might of its legal department and can pretty much ride roughshod over the law.
Click to expand...

^^^ They even kept is logo bar a few colour tweaks which can be seen here!

http://blogs.computerworld.com/1844...icloud_etc?source=CTWNLE_nlt_blogs_2011-06-10

Disgusting. I am by no means a Microsoft fan, but at least they pay for sh@t when incorporating it into their OS's.
 
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The Rat said:
Bwana, for the love of god, stop being so naive...This is one of the ways in which they send companies down the tubes
Click to expand...
I was responding to Shayd's claim that the 30% drove companies under, yet it never came into effect.
 
I hate to come to Apple's defense as a Android Fanboy but the developer has only himself to blame.

1. Apple did ask him for his CV when they rejected the app, he did not send it.
2. He did breach the rules by using private API's so it was rejected on proper rules
3. He continued to sell it for jailbroken phones even after it was known that Apple are planning the same. Also he made half a million in doing so

I dont feel for him at all.
 
bwana said:
I was responding to Shayd's claim that the 30% drove companies under, yet it never came into effect.
Click to expand...

You asked an open question "So how did it send these companies down the tubes?" so I wilfully provided another example.
 
The Rat said:
You asked an open question "So how did it send these companies down the tubes?" so I wilfully provided another example.
Click to expand...
"It", IOW the measure in question.
 
Elimentals said:
I hate to come to Apple's defense as a Android Fanboy but the developer has only himself to blame.

1. Apple did ask him for his CV when they rejected the app, he did not send it.
2. He did breach the rules by using private API's so it was rejected on proper rules
3. He continued to sell it for jailbroken phones even after it was known that Apple are planning the same. Also he made half a million in doing so

I dont feel for him at all.
Click to expand...

Even if we were to agree with you here, how would you then defend:

Apple has a ...reputation for taking ideas ... and incorporating them into their products. One recent example is the notification system in iOS 5, taken from ... MobileNotifier after Apple hired its developer. But one student is claiming that Apple took his app and modified it for use in its OS.
...
It would be easy to dismiss Hughes' complaint as coming from a bitter developer, eerie similarities exist between Hughes' and Apple's solution. ... The icons are near identical, bar a colour fix and a few other adjustments.
Click to expand...

Defending the indefensible...what does that remind me of..
 
Apple is the devil.

the bookstores getting closed is another form of proof.4
 
AstroTurf said:
Apple is the devil.

the bookstores getting closed is another form of proof.4
Click to expand...
if you're referring to brick and mortar bookstores then I'd wager Amazon with their lower prices, and the subsequent introduction of ebooks and the kindle, had a greater impact.
 
The Rat said:
Even if we were to agree with you here, how would you then defend:

Defending the indefensible...what does that remind me of..
Click to expand...

I dont need to, there is patents, copyright and trademarks that does it for us, oh and let me see they not doing any of those.
 
Elimentals said:
I dont need to, there is patents, copyright and trademarks that does it for us, oh and let me see they not doing any of those.
Click to expand...

Wow, what does it say about the character and integrity of an individual that supports the notion and "right" of one’s intellectual property being stolen/plagiarised due to technicalities by big business and being bullied by their legal might...Four words for you "Karma.Is.A.B###"
 
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