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HTC Keyboard Ads Likely an Error, But Damage is Already Done (androidcentral.com)

Posted by msmash on from the bad-call dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Ads in the stock keyboard app on a flagship smartphone added quietly via an app update, which then asks you to pay to remove them. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a more comically villainous thing for a phone manufacturer, or app developer, to pull on its users. Yet that's what's been happening to some HTC phone owners over the past day. HTC 10 owners seem to be worst affected (we're not seeing it on the newer U11 for what it's worth), with the ad bar taking up a good chunk of screen real estate. There's understandable outrage among HTC owners whose phones have started coughing up ads every time they open the keyboard. The consensus, obviously, is that this is not an OK place for ads to be appearing. In a statement, HTC said it was an error, and a fix is underway.

10 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. I want my $40 back by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...said every HTC phone owner, ever.

  2. Summary by Dan+East · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's way too early in the morning for me to exert this much brainpower trying to decipher such a poorly worded summary.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Summary by necro81 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed. The first sentence is not actually a sentence by the usual rules (such as they are) that govern English. Where is the verb in that sentence? The second sentence is not much better - here the verb is constructed in the passive voice. The third sentence is some sort of dependent clause that has no business trying to stand on its own as a sentence.

      If all of this is so dastardly and important, don't make us work so damn hard to figure it out!

  3. An error? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not like you can just 'accidentally' code the framework which would support the ads to be played in the first place.

  4. Error my ass! by evanh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "HTC said it was an error, and a fix is underway" - With bullshit lines like that spewing forth every other day, is it any wonder people are fed up with the status quo?

    1. Re:Error my ass! by david_thornley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It seems more likely to me that HTC made a mistake in underestimating the pushback than in releasing the software.

      I am aware of where Android app revenue comes from. I also believe that basic functionality should not require ads without a prior agreement, and that ads should appear only in the apps that place them. The Android apps I use tend not to push ads on me, since I either pay for them or are conveniences for services I do pay for (like the Kindle app).

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  5. "It was an error" by NoZart · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure. Implementing all the code to display ads within the keyboard app just happened because the cat ran over the keyboard.
    Oh, you mean it was an error that this crap got rolled out? Thanks for informing me about how the future looks like for HTC customers, then.

    I used to love HTC products, now i avoid them.

  6. An error by necro81 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    HTC said it was an error, and a fix is underway

    Ads don't magically appear by dint of the universe being against us (although, the universe is against us). In order for those ads to appear, some poor developer had to be given the task of adding that feature. Then some other poor fools had to test it and qualify it across multiple hardware platforms. Then it had to get bundled into the software update, and then pushed out to users.

    My point is, there were many, many very intentional acts required for this to occur, and almost none of which could conceivably have been an accident or "error". This ass-hattery must be roundly called out and ridiculed. Probably there isn't any legal action indicated, but it might be nice for someone to try.

    1. Re:An error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It was intentional, the error was they weren't expecting an outrage...

  7. Re:"In error" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Exactly this. This was planned and put in there. Not by any accident at all.

    You have to wonder what other treasures HTC have stuck into unremovable apps on their phones. Next up, a homeland/russian/chinese/korean/popular wannabe tracking module, configured just for your country for your telecoms provider or national security vendor or choice!