Apple shuts down Podcaster, again

http://almerica.blogspot.com/2008/09/apple-shuts-down-podcaster-again.html

by nikils • 18 years ago

44 16 18 years ago

almerica.blogspot.com

SirWart• 18 years ago

I think the most telling word in that post was "childish." Apple probably has legitimate concerns here, but by simply shutting him off instead of talking with him directly they are really missing an opportunity to develop loyalty with app developers.

trezor• 18 years ago

They even removed the story about Podcaster being shut down!

So... Anyone have a mirror/cache or whatever handy? Google cache is failing on this one.

ovi256• 18 years ago

Yup, I can confirm, the blog isn't there as of 23 Sept 2008 21:10 GMT+1.

gstar• 18 years ago

This is going to be a PR disaster for apple, from a developers point of view. He may have been asked to pull the blog post until they get time to talk to him about it.

silencio3• 18 years ago

You'd think it was a PR disaster a long time ago. Right now it's just tons of seething anger and frustration and stress. I have a fair number of friends worried about their current and future contract work because of the way Apple is handling things.

KirinDave• 18 years ago

Did the author take down the post because of the NDA requirements or because it is a retraction or...? What?

dunk010• 18 years ago

Apple are doing this to a lot of people. Surely this is anti-competitive?

colinplamondon• 18 years ago

Seriously?

iPhone has 1% of the market, they've got another 79% to go before we're even in the ballpark of antitrust.

silencio3• 18 years ago

1% of what market? Last I checked the iPhone had a wee bit more than 1% of the smartphone market.

notauser• 18 years ago

They sell the iPhone in parts of the world with different legal systems, including Europe which has fairly tough competition laws. (WP quotes.)

- If a firm has a dominant position, because it has beyond a 39.7% market share then there is "a special responsibility not to allow its conduct to impair competition on the common market"

Apple has more than a 40% market share for iTunes and the iPod (estimated as high as 70%(1)). In it's class the iPod Touch is probably even higher than that. Since Podcaster would also have worked on the Touch then Apple is well within the realms of this particularly interesting requirement:

- A refusal to supply a facility which is essential for all businesses attempting to compete to use can constitute an abuse.

MS got hit with a $1.35bn fine for breaking the rules, and plenty of European companies have also been crucified.

(1) http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/01/29/beyond-the-i... estimates 70% units and 84% by $.

zandorg• 18 years ago

Agreed, while having good tech skills (and a degree), I still have my first phone, a Nokia 6310. It works pretty well as a phone and I let my Psion 3c do everything else. I note that the Psion 3c needs a battery change only every 8 months, noted because my phone's charge lasts about 3 days.

mpk• 18 years ago

For anyone interested, the blog appears to have belonged to the author of Podcaster. The cached url is http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:MP2KvHTWHQMJ:almerica.b... .

It doesn't contain the last post, though.

I'm curious to see how this develops.

mattmaroon• 18 years ago

I found the original post text just by putting their URL into Google Reader. Gotta love web-based RSS aggregators that cache. Here it is:

It seems that Apple has shut me down. I can no longer provision any more devices. The developers website that had a "remove device" link is now gone. I looked at the help tab but it still lists "removing a device" as one of the options. I guess Apple just shut my account down. I believe that all the copies of Podcaster I released will keep running. I will try to make an update and test it on my iPhone. If it works, I will release it to every user. I would recommend keeping version 1.0.8b around just in case.

On a more serious note, what does this mean for me? All I wanted was for someone from Apple to contact me and tell me how we can work it out so that I get into the app store. Instead, Apple took the cowards way out by simply disabling features in my developers portal. This seems like a childish move for a company that has been proving such high quality service and products in the past.

I plan to make Podcaster for the Android operating system. At least there, I will be welcomed instead of being walked all over. I will also try to port the app to a jailbroken iPhone.

So a final note to developers. Try to stay out of Apples grey area. Don't build anything that would compete with Apple. Don't spend too much time before you submit to the app store because it could be all for nothing.

P.S. Podcaster got a 4.3 our of 5 star from 63 reviews. You can read them at http://www.nextdayoff.com/reviews.aspx

UPDATE: I just wanted to add that I am not surprised that Apple has stopped me. The application seems to still be working and can still be installed if you signed up before 9/22/08 Midnight EST. If you are one of these people and still want to try it, email almerica@gmail.com I will also be making updates to the application and will still fix a lot of the issues users have bene having. Give me about a week.

khangtoh• 18 years ago

Apple Do no Evil

Apple shuts down Podcaster, again

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