undefined | Better HN

0 pointsroc16y ago0 comments

3.3.1 is a section of the Terms of Use of developers seeking to use Apple's distribution channel. Apple isn't trying to make middle-ware-built iPhone apps illegal. It just doesn't want them on the app store. An important distinction between the car/part and printer/ink analogies.

Forcing Apple to repeal 3.3.1 doesn't allow offending software to be built and sold (as it already can be), it forces Apple to stock its shelves with it and thus take on users' expectations that Apple will support it (by making sure an OS update doesn't break hundreds of apps by running afoul of a popular middleware package).

0 comments

2 comments · 1 top-level

gdee16y ago· 1 in thread

>> It just doesn't want them on the app store.

Where else exactly could they go?

>> Forcing Apple to repeal 3.3.1 doesn't allow offending software to be built and sold (as it already can be), it forces Apple to stock its shelves with it

Those two things are the same, by Apple's design.

rocOP16y ago

Cydia or the other jailbreak market (can't recall the name).

Those certainly aren't remotely equivalent options, but my point was just that 3.3.1 is about Terms of Use for the App Store, not an attempt to legally stifle an existing secondary market as with car parts and ink cartridges.

It's thus a qualitatively different situation.

More relevant precedent might be found by looking at other situations where service providers have added terms to limit allowed devices/tools.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse