Apple Yanks Toddler's Speech-Enabling App

theodp writes "TIME reports that four-year-old Maya Nieder's speech-enabling 'Speak for Yourself' app was yanked from the App Store by Apple due to an unresolved patent dispute at the behest of Prentke Romich Company (PRC) and Semantic Compaction Systems (SCS), makers of designated communication devices (not iPad apps). 'The issue of whether or not Apple should have pulled Speak for Yourself from the App Store before the case was decided is trickier. Obviously, Apple would rather be safe than sorry and remove a potentially problematic app instead of risking legal action. The problem, however, is that this isn’t some counterfeit version of Angry Birds.' 'My daughter cannot speak without this app,' writes Maya's mom, Dana. 'She cannot ask us questions. She cannot tell us that she's tired, or that she wants yogurt for lunch. She cannot tell her daddy that she loves him.' If you're so inclined, Dana suggests you drop a note to appstorenotices@apple.com."

Comments

Should have developed for Android

[drinkypoo]

I have absolutely no compassion for these people who chose to support a proprietary software ecosystem that they KNOW is run by fascists who care only about money.

I have even less compassion for them if the developer is an Apple fanboy who cannot see past the stars in his eyes, and is blind to the fact that Apple has been bad to developers in general.

Apple has boned developers time and again by not respecting their rights. Anyone who would develop an app they personally need and then distribute it to their own devices via the App Store is a fool when they can use Android and have zero of these problems. Android already has all the significant functionality that the new IOS is getting.

Apple also bones users regularly, when they make an error they tell the customer that it's their fault. B&W G3s have a well-known data corruption error and Apple's answer was "buy an IDE card", not "we will replace this hardware in accordance with the law because it is defective". When Apple folded the TIL into the knowledge base they expunged this article though earlier and later articles made it. Apple will steal from you (in this case, someone is really deprived of something, and the hardware was sold under false pretenses because it does not comply with specifications it claims to meet) and then cover it up.

When you lie down with the dogs, you wake up with disease.