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Apple Removes Wi-Fi Finders From App Store
jasonbrown writes "Apple on Thursday began removing another category of apps from its iPhone App Store. This time, it's not porn, it's Wi-Fi. Apple removed several Wi-Fi apps commonly referred to as stumblers, or apps that seek out available Wi-Fi networks near your location. According to a story on Cult of Mac, apps removed by Apple include WiFi-Where, WiFiFoFum, and yFy Network Finder."
for the win.
if you wanted options, you would have gone android... fucksticks.
I just ran a search for WiFi in the app store, and plenty of free finders appeared.
Was there something about these specific apps, or is this just about those apps using reserved (ie subject to change) frameworks?
In short - let's not panic just yet, hm?
First they remove the pron apps, then the wifi steal- er, "borrowing" apps... What use do these "iPhone" devices have anymore, anyway?
Whatever it is, it's notablog.
It appears Apple's problem with the apps isn't with what they do but with how they do it; namely, using non-public frameworks. There probably isn't a way to do it using public frameworks, though (on Mac OS X, you need to use the private Apple80211.framework, not sure about iPhone OS X).
Is Apple actively trying to destroy any developer relationship that they had, and are they trying to show the community that they are not up to the challenge of hosting an app store?
As a software developer that owns an iPhone 3GS owner, and a first generation iPod touch, I feel like I am reminded every day as to why I do not drop $100 and write an application for my own phone.
What does Apple gain by removing these things?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I think this is called pissing in the well from which you drink. I really don't get why Apple is trying so hard to alienate developers. / Android user
garethw
I'm so glad you make all the hard decisions for me! Would you like to cast my next vote for me?? Oh yeah, when I actually succumb to mobile devices they will be open. This is like Microsoft telling you what software you can install on Windows! Is this the future? Twenty years from now Mac's will only be able to get applications from Apple's approved store? Yeah, I'm not gonna help with that.
Shh.
I've been using Android for a while now, and except for the whole ' evil android overlords ' thing... I love it! The apps rock, and you can have what you want, not what someone else does[n't] want you to have.
Three apps get removed and suddenly it becomes "Apple removes Wi-Fi finders from app store".
Like the adult apps topic of a few days ago, let's not panic.
* in case you still don't know, Apple has added a new category for those apps.
PlaceEngine developer Koozyt says other apps that use its technology have also been removed, including Yahoo! Maps for the iPhone.
If big companies are not spared what about the individual developers?
This space for rent.
All I can say is get a real phone with options you like eg android, nokia 9x ect.
Apple makes a great OS, some great hardware.
Just stay away from the DRM junk and itoys.
Or help port a real OS to it.
As amazon showed with 1984, MS with win 7 mobile and now Apple shows, your just a consumer renting space on their their vision of the world.
Time to disconnect Apple and buy or use/write a real mobile OS.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I believe you may be thinking of Engadget.
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
Apple has NEVER permitted the use of private frameworks in iPhone apps. My company had to rewrite an app we were trying to deploy because we were using some undocumented features for still frame capture from the camera device. We almost made it through the authorization process, then Apple shot us down at the last second because of it. We had to wait a few more minor releases before the functionality we needed was exposed through an approved interface. It had nothing to do with our application, but rather, the way it was implemented.
In general, the use of undocumented APIs is frowned upon throughout the industry, as it makes for flaky application and reverse-vendor-lockin, when an extremely popular application relies on undocumented APIs, the APIs change, then people come bitching to the platform manufacturer for "breaking" their applications. There's nothing weird about this, whatsoever. Chill out, folks.
It can be said that it is Kafkaesque when a reason isn't given but others with the same capabilities are allowed.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
This is great news !! This is the only way developers and users will learn never to trust a closed platform. Hopefully this starts pissing people off enough to go towards Android, or preferably the only truly open smartphone OS : Maemo / Meego. So I say, please Apple, remove more useful apps !!
Just somewhat related: Can Apple's Wifi chipset be somehow set to work in adhoc mode?
i.e. Can an IPhone/ITouch app (even a Jailbroken one?) let you communicate with the other 50 IPhone /ITouch users in the train you're on, without paying the cell companies?
I have the same question.
While I like some Apple products, I love my MacBook Pro I'm typing this on, I question some of Apple's and Steve Jobs' actions.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Hey, I know!
Since nobody on Slashdot knows a single thing about this action by Apple -- at this moment -- why don't we just post a bunch of shit that has absolutely no merit?! Hey, we can even call ourselves "journalists"!
The issue is Apple is a gatekeeper and they are very opaque about their reasoning in the case-by-case calls. I'd rather have incompatibility and no-one telling me what I can and cannot do rather than be forced to choose among the paid offerings that are well integrated. Even if they are really shiny. I suppose this philosophy is why I run Linux, I know there are other philosophies out there: Microsoft's and Apple's existence prove this but this does not mean that I have to buy in. I think choice is a good thing, choose Apple if you like ;)
Shh.
Oh what a difference a few decades make.
Bye!
For the dynamic front page, on the top of the left column, there's a list of sections. Mouse-over the one you want to hide, and click the icon that shows up. Then you can click "hide" to do the obvious.
For the classic front page, you'll need to go here, then click "Sections" under Classic Index.
My sig can beat up your sig.
I'll admit that even it has been a little rough,
with quirks and blips and little ticks since OS 3.1.
But even now I just say wow at the news that its been snuffed,
'cause as of late it's been so great to Find Wi while on the run.
It was lean and pretty clean as apps are want to be,
and so of use and not obtuse so now I'm slightly mad.
For no bugs I've seen have been so mean to give clear reason to me,
to kick it out and without a doubt this makes my phone so very very sad.
Uneven rules and duplicate tools have no doubt likely doomed,
our favorite apps we bought for laughs with money oh so small.
So let none be shocked and none be fooled to find out that we've zoomed,
on to other phones with other tones and no more garden wall.
I dti'r na ndall is ri' fear na leathshu'ile.
> Just so we're clear here, it'd be like if Microsoft could decide what software it wanted to host on it's servers, and provide a shop framework for. Which, last time I checked, they have every right to do.
Yeah, but they'd also be the ONLY store you can buy from (unless you hacked your computer). I know it's within their legal right. I don't believe that they should HAVE that legal right, however.
Oh, and believe me, I DO complain about those other closed systems. They're just a big and visible target. Thus, they get all the public hate.
"The Apple Appstore reaches 100K apps and 2 Billion downloads!!!!" Buy Buy Buy!
(1 week later)
"Apple removes 33% or apps (porn/racy, wifi helpers, productivity tools, map tool, skype tools, e-book readers(?), etc..." (Appstore now has 75K apps, and we find out 1 billion downloads were from porn/racy apps)
For some reason I think iTunes Connect will run faster and the appstore search will be more meaningful...
Jobs: "I've got it! We'll make the iPhone... LESS USEFUL!"
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
If the issue is that the Apps used a private API, how did they get approved in the first place?
I'm not sure why anyone would develop for the iPhone, apparently you not only face a capricious approval process, but they may revoke that approval on a whim.
...not to buy an iPhone.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Function is the common denominator in the revoked applications
But others left in the app store have the same functionality, so if the issue is the functionality then why were they left in?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Getting tired of these "apple removes..." blabla.
It's almost as if it's a marketing trick... get free news.
Best idea ever Apple.
It makes me even more proud to be a PC.
the iphone can see any wifi networks it can connect to. so why would you need another app to connect for you. apps with a db are all you need so you knoe where to go.
First they came for the porn apps and I did not speak out -- because I did not like porn
Then they came for the wi-fi apps, and I did not speak out -- because I did not use wi-fi
Then they came for my apps -- and there was no one left to speak out for me.
The iPhone has a small marketshare? HAHA! It has a 63.7% marketshare. Article linked to postulates one reason Apple slapped HTC with a lawsuit declaring patent infringement is because Android based phones are gaining on Apple's marketshare.
They might be number one now, but they were number one with the Apple II and look at how quickly they lost that lead.
In the bookstore of the school I attended in 1985, half of the computers sold were Macs. The rest were divided up by the various PC compatible OEMs. Than was 8 years after the Apple II came out. Looking now, Windows "accounted for 92.1% of the operating systems that powered machines visiting the 40,000-plus sites that NetApplications monitors for clients of its analytics service." That is up slightly from previously, but it does not break down OEMs. Now if Linux and other non-OS X OSes raised the percentage of OSes powering PCs to 93% that leaves OS X running 7%. Now how many of the rest are Dells, HPs, Levenos, or one of the dozens more OEMs? Seven percent may not seem like a lot but how does it compare to OEM sales?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
MS is a virus-laden hotbed of instability. I want things that work. Apple stuff works.
Very mature.
Apple's corporate nannyism is indeed a pain, and it's what keeps me away from iPhone. But I can't say I like Android any better. It's the usual disorganized Google product, where every product is viewed as emergent from a lot of independent programmers each doing their own thing. So there's no central vision to the product. You have a total mess of a platform that isn't even a single platform, since every Android hardware implementation is different from every other.
Really, our choices suck. Maemo (or whatever it's called now) will never achieve critical mass. Windows Moblle is, well, Windows. Symbian is showing its age. Blackberry is designed for somebody who texts a lot more than I do.
I'm sort of flirting with getting a WebOS phone, except I don't trust Palm not to screw this product up, the way they've screwed up every other product. Also, a phone plan that supports it properly costs $60/month (3G data rates in the U.S. are totally out of hand), and while I like having the Internet in my pocket, I'm not sure I like it that much.
What I should really do is go back to having a separate phone and PDA, and put up with the hassle of sharing data between them manually. (With a PAYG plan, I'd probably save $50/month.) Except nobody makes a decent PDA any more...
Yeah I'm a game developer and have been trying to get Apple to make this API public to no avail. We have a game on the DS that uses wifi hotspots as part of the gameplay. We really wanted to do an iPhone version but weren't able to because the API to find hotspots is private.
I believe you may be thinking of Engadget.
Filtering all the Apple stories on Engadget? Who wants to read nothing but ads?!?
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Steve Jobs' WIFI spots find YOU.
well played sir.
Death to teh apple tree! Stunted to retardation in its gilded cage.
-
WarIPhoning is not a crime.
Well, it is not like there is a shortage of alternative iPhone application stores: http://www.google.ae/search?hl=ar&client=firefox-a&hs=yJR&rls=com.mandriva%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&q=alternative+iphone+application+stores&btnG=%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%AB!&meta=&aq=f&oq=/
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
And your meme button is stuck.
Right, because the "Beleaguered Apple is Dying this year" meme is so spring fresh!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Increased Volume != Increased Options.
Except in the real world, where this is a fundamental truth.
Android already has a far greater variety of software then the Iphone due to the locked nature of the application delivery and development system.
Unless again, you consider reality. Reality includes Jailbroken iPhones, which at last count (sometime early last year) was around 3-4 MILLION devices (ad tracking agencies help verify those numbers, but that number is from the founder of Cydia).
Your wall is illusory. Anything you can name, it's been done on the iPhone - and usually first. Because there are simply more devices for it to be run on, regardless of which side of the App Store wall you are all.
If you think you really have more choice, look at any Android top ten app list compared to an equivalent Android one...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
'Kafkaesque' would most likely denote the endless pain and futility of dealing with an organization where the participant has no idea what hoops to jump through
Case closed then. Because the hoop is the same one it has always been - don't use private API's.
It's not like it's a big mystery at this point.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If the issue is that the Apps used a private API, how did they get approved in the first place?
Because over time Apple gets better about figuring out who is using private API's.
In the early days it was the most egregious violations that visually screamed out "hey look, I am using a private API" - like Coverflow.
So then that died down, and for a while people got away with undocumented framework and system calls.
But recently Apple has started basically using a symbol analyses tool looking for calls to specific system stuff. I can imagine it was only recently they thought to look at super low level network stuff.
Apple even has been pretty nice about it generally, most developers just get a warning saying "you are using a private API, fix that before your next update please". I guess whatever this framework was using was a little more undesirable than most calls.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple has made the decision yet again to limit the functionality of their own devices and control their consumers choices. You would think instead of removing apps from their store that they would add more to make their own product more marketable and versitile. Maybe instead of worrying limiting functionality, Apple should think about adding functionality and consider why people want other products instead of theirs. The ability to browse flash sites would be a good start, who cares if there are apps to watch porn on the app store. All people really want is the ability to do what they need, browse the web with no limitations, and use the device with no limitations. If I want to tinker with the hardware who cares, the idea is that you are selling phones, ipods and computers.
I bought the app and it has been great. It helped me check to see if I was sharing a common wifi channel with my nearest neighbours. It also tells me the -db signal strength around the house. and it lets me log on to a range of foreign hotspots that apples settings just won't let you see. I used it today. I somehow think that this has something to do with the heralding of wireless N on the iphone. Just my hunch. But I agree it is both strange and Kafkaesque.
Do people forget that when the iPhone was released it had no App Store? For a year Apple told people "just make web apps". In 2.0 they introduced the app store, and then when the apps came out, they had extremely limited functionality until 3.0. Apple has opened a ton of new APIs up for public use. I don't think it's so much that Apple is trying to block developers from doing things that they want as it is that Apple just isn't ready to support it. I only see them opening things up more in the future as Apple progresses. If they don't.. too bad. But's it's their platform and their decision. If it draws more people to Android then Jobs will need to explain the shift in sales to the shareholders. But you can't blame Apple for rejecting apps that aren't following the rules laid out before app was ever coded (though these apps should have been shot down in the approval process). If Apple changed their policy and cut off developers that were doing things by the rules before, that's a valid complaint.
So far though, I am very pleased with the iPhone. It could use a LOT of improvement for sure. They could make a more rugged model that isn't so focused on being thin and sexy, but more battery and a far less fragile case. Rated to be "resistant" to falls from 5-6 feet onto an unforgiving surface would be great. A little thicker so it's easier to hold onto without feeling like you're smashing a pancake into your ear would be great too. It's cool that these phones can be made so thin, but that's just not always the best thing for usability.
At the end of the day, though, you have to tell yourself "this is still a phone". If you have software on there that causes it to act funky and not work as expected, there's going to be hell to pay when I miss important business calls. Everything else comes second to it getting calls and keeping me connected to the people that fund my paycheck.
Happens every time and even though the intelligent users of slashdot are more than aware of this, they can't seem to fight the compulsion to re-re-re-re-state their position/perception/opinion on the matter.
Apple strong on consistent user experience. (by this I mean consistent with apple's ever-changing idea of what the user experience should be.)
Android strong on openness and flexibility. (except for where the carriers object and attempt to control it... but even then, not so much.)
When the iPhone came out with a battery that couldn't be replaced by the user, I wrote it off. To me, that was the primary show-stopper. It's a privacy and security concern. It's a battery life/conservation concern. It's even a safety concern.
Android, on the other hand is interesting in that it is yet another high profile Linux based product that has elements of traditional Linux failure all over it. I don't mean this to sound as bad as it sounds, but I can think of no better way to put it. The game isn't over yet and perhaps the people steering Android will see the failures and find some solutions, but what traditional failures am I talking about? Simple: "Being strong on consistent user experience" among other things.
Previous articles on slashdot came close to describing problems by talking about the wide variety of android phones and how software for one does not work for all. (it's not a problem for normal Linux hackers... we know all about tarballs, DEBs and RPMS, i386/i586/i686/x86_64/PPC and other divisions based on which version of glibc it was compiled for.) But there is more. The apps themselves are "more free" and therefore have less consistent delivery of look and feel. When this happens, a solid device starts to feel like a handful of marbles. At some level of consciousness, we all perceive problems when we are presented with things that don't match up well. Whether or not it's an actual problem is irrelevant to the feelings of the user (which, by the way is foremost on the minds at Apple) which is where the real success or failure of a project lies. "Better things" fail all the time at the hands of better marketing of lesser things. If people feel one thing is better than another or more reliable or will last longer or be supported longer or will have better backing, the truth doesn't matter so much as their feelings.
As a Linux optimist, I see this as an opportunity for Linux to gain recognition and public favor. We all know that Linux is a kernel and that it's in a LOT of stuff everywhere that most people never see or think about. We also know that because it's just a kernel, the REAL problems are in how it's packaged with other things... with or without a GUI, which GUI, what package management, etc. But there's more. Look and feel has never really been stressed. KDE users will probably disagree with me on this because KDE does, in fact, push more in favor of a consistent look and feel. But they are an exception.
But even if the Android project pulls itself together and actually does build a very successful consumer implementation of a Linux based OS, it can't quite be said "It's good because it's Linux." It would still be more accurate to say "It's good in spite of being Linux" because at the moment, a successful consumer Linux OS doesn't fix all the others that we know and love.
Reality is, that a jailbroken iPhone is not really feeling right. It's a closed platform that you've cracked. It can be bricked anytime, by just clicking the wrong button in iTunes.
It's one of very very few phones that come only with specific carriers.
you can easily compare it for tethering:
* the iPhone of my wife learned to tether when she decided to pay the carrier extra so that the carrier enabled it. No other option at the time was viable, because her phone was rather unjailbreakable for quite some time.
* the G1 of mine, I had basic tethering working on the first day that I've picked it up. (Long, long before I decided to root it.)
Same thing goes for changing SIMs. My wife has been locked to one carrier till she managed to jailbreak her phone. I, OTOH, do travel often, hence I've got a box with a varying number of SIM cards, seldom less than 5. Hint: Switching cards worked on day 1 too, quite well.
The UI is another thing. Hard as it sounds, while the iPhone does have colorful and nice to look at UI, it's rather unergonomic. (ergonomic btw is not "easy-to-use", look it up) No multitasking. No way to have an IM client that is not server based (basically a 3rd party that reads my "mail"), and even that has been for years impossible at all. No hardware keyboard (ever considered, that touch screens, or even keys that change dynamically meaning, are a really bad thing in situations where you cannot concentrate fully, including full use of vision, on the device?), and so on.
Yeah, it's not politically correct, to yell "the emperor is naked", but the UI of the iPhone is at best mediocre, because it's hindered by so many limitations from the onset.
Not that the Android UI is perfect, but you'll notice it's problems are related more to polish, and not to fundamental decisions early on.
Maybe because that business reeks too much?
Same reason the iphone isn't called iOdorize.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
I don't understand why you would need a wi-fi "finder" app on an iPhone, the thing does a pretty good job of finding them by itself.
I was in Paris a while back and needed to send a quick email, just flicked to the wireless settings page walked fifty yards down the road watching all the networks scrolling by until one popped up without a lock symbol next to it.
I for one have to agree with apple's removal of those apps. I dont know how those apps slipped trough review process , but it created uneven plain-field among developers. I dont mind hard work but i mind when i dont have same treatment as some other developer , i suspect decision to pull those apps was made because complaints from other developers or bug reports, even change in that api might be a reason for application being pulled! Company or developer made calculated risk when they used private api in their application, and suspect their risk was wary well payed off.
I use WiFiFoFum at my hospital to check the strength of the Wireless AP's scattered through the floors. At the moment I'm using it on a Intermec CN3 handheld scanner that we're using for Medicine scanning and verification. I wanted to get an iTouch or an iPhone so I could use it on that device since I may or may not be able to keep the CN3 that I'm currently using as my dedicated Test Platform.
By denying us access to such tools, Apple is alienating the IT Professional community and may drive us to find other applications or even (in their eyes) worse, jail-breaking the damn things so we CAN run whatever the hell we want and not what THEY want us to run.
Remember the days when we used to mock Microsoft and their advertisements by saying "Microsoft: You WILL go here today!"?
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
At least Apple has a reasonable excuse: their phone has to work on a cell network, and it needs to have restrictions placed on software. Game consoles have no such excuse.
Video game console makers' excuse is that they don't want their consoles to fall victim to an event like the North American video game recession of 1983.
Please correct my ignorance...
Wi-Fi sniffers alert you when you are in range of a wifi signal.
I do this all the time with an app from Apple. Go to Settings > WiFi . It will tell you all the Wifi networks around you. If you cant see or dont know the ssid then you probably arent supposed to be on the network. Please explain the other benefits of a third party wifi sniffer....
Also I noted some people chatting about how the iphone is better because of all the apps. I'm a mac guy, and we need to look at this. Remember the mac/pc argument...
"X86 computers have all the software! There aren't any games for the mac, no way i'm using one!"
a plethora of software does not make a good product...
Everyone who's had an app pulled from the store has known beforehand that they were doing something risky and were counting on using public opinion as their insurance policy. The prohibition against using private APIs is right in the developer agreement and Apple's submission tools have become increasingly sophisticated so that some apps that made it through at one point are now being flagged. There's no risk of doing this by mistake as Apple's API docs are extensive. If you don't see the desired class documented there, it's not intended for your use and you probably reverse-engineered the OS to find it in the first place.
Meanwhile, among the Top Free Apps in the iTunes App Store right now are "Sex Positions Game - 18+ Free" (#5), "69 Positions Lite - Sex Positions" (#8), and "Adult Sex Trick" (#25). What was this about Apple removing all sexual content from the App Store?
Who wants to developer only for a hacked platform, with just a few million users - and where the number is very much a vague uncertain estimate?
(When there's a story about an Iphone virus, no doubt you or someone else will be saying it's irrelevant, because it only applies to jailbroken phones...)
Anything you can name, it's been done on the iPhone - and usually first.
3G? Copy/paste? Internet access? Mapping software? Multitasking? MMS? Video recording? Java?
I love WiFiFoFum. I use it all the time because I don't have a data plan. I think the reason they are removing them is there is recently some news story about how people are using wifi finders to find laptops located in cars and steal them. http://www.pcworld.com/article/190674/wifi_could_lead_thieves_right_to_your_laptop.html
At the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine (wigle.net), a database and mapping system for "Net Stumbling" or "War Driving" hobbyists, we've seen the iPhone provide a low barrier-to-entry for this hobby. It combines a GPS with a Wifi radio, but it can only work when apps like Wifi-Where, WiFiFoFum and others are allowed to exist.
These apps were inspected for months before finally getting through the nebulous App Store approval process. Some have been available for months or even years. Now, arbitrarily, they are banned. If they use API calls that Apple didn't want them to, why were they approved? Why weren't the developers contacted behind the scenes to address any fiddly technical issues Apple might foresee?
As users all we see is a useful app, that was paid for, that now can not be updated. We can't find the least used frequency channels to set our access points to, can't take surveys of campus wireless coverage or find rogue wifi on a corporate network. And we can't help with wireless mapping projects. There's no app for that.
-- bobzilla
Wireless Geographic Logging Engine
When you didn't opt for a dataplan, your iphone would still attempt to reach out through 3g for data. This would eventually add up on your bill and they'd make their crooked money by having the iphone ping the datanetwork everytime you brought it out of sleep mode. regardless of whether you were on a wifi, it continuously attempts this every chance it gets.
For those users who didn't want to give the providers money for nothing useful at all, they wanted to use the wifi as the primary means of data transmission. and after changing the api of the datanetwork defaults on the phone to a "fake" one, they were completely free of the bullshit that is normally involved with not signing up for a contract and being alienated by their provider.
these wifi apps empowered the user to make the most out of their wifi on their phone, which made it "easier" to opt out of the seemingly obligated contracts and dataplans. resulting ultimately in less money for the greedy bastards.
So im sure that they all bitched and moaned incessantly to apple crying about how those wifi apps are the devil and the user shouldn't have things so easy. now apple, naturally wanting to "improve" their relations with the companies; fucked the customer's choices because they see very little to no consequence over removing that group of apps.
I actually haven't jailbroken my iphone, because i believe in choice and paying for apps that deserve my money. I have however disabled my 3g data, and don't ever plan on caving in to getting a "convenient" dataplan.
Now that those apps have been taken from me as a choice, i am more prone to consider jailbreaking my phone so that i don't have to bend to whatever whim apple decides to take.
in the end, every move they make to control our choices; will push us to take our freedoms back. and if any developers' wallets get harmed in the process, it's apple's fault.
Unless again, you consider reality. Reality includes Jailbroken iPhones, which at last count (sometime early last year) was around 3-4 MILLION devices (ad tracking agencies help verify those numbers, but that number is from the founder of Cydia).
And I taped my iphone to my car so it now drives me to work!
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
You forgot one:
Simplicity is power!
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Am I the only one who would like to see an app store where the applications are vetted for security -- i.e. will this app install backdoors in my phone, steal my identity, etc -- but otherwise allowed totally open access? I personally don't care if there are dumb, broken, offensive, duplicate, etc apps; because they might be of service to someone, even if not to me.
If they use API calls that Apple didn't want them to, why were they approved?
Perhaps because the review process isn't as good as it should be?
There's no app for that.
There's no supported stable API for that (in iPhone OS or in Mac OS X). (Yes, I think it would be nice if there were. I'm not about to say "Apple should ship what they have now", however.)
ergonomic btw is not "easy-to-use", look it up) No multitasking.
You're telling me to "look up" ergonomic, then claiming it means "multitasking"?
Since you are so keen on "looking up" things, lets look at the actual definition:
"The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Also called biotechnology, human engineering, human factors engineering."
Please enlighten us as to how the kinds of multitasking not allowed by third party iPhone apps (because the iPhone does support multitasking, and some form of that for third party apps) help in those regards.
Not that the Android UI is perfect, but you'll notice it's problems are related more to polish, and not to fundamental decisions early on.
Actually both, like the mandate of the Four buttons being a fundamental design mistake at the outset. Really kills an Android tablet. Apple made many more intelligent design choices up front and over time they are reaping the benefit of that.
Because the thing you are missing, is that the ONLY limitations the iPhone really has are things Apple can simply REMOVE from the system. That is the real secret, Apple can allow something to work when they feel like they have how it should work well thought out. The fact that you can do anything with a jailbroken iPhone you can with Android shows this to be true. You can already do more things with an iPhone today than you could at launch, Apple simply opens the platform more slowly but also more thoughtfully.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Need to delete apps? There's an app for that. It's called my Trash bin.
Oh no! Can they actually hack into my phone and remove that app since they have removed it from the app store?