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Comment by klohto | Hacker News Reader

Genuinely need to block Hey in keywords now. The marketing is too much.

Are you suggesting the drama with Apple was part of their marketing?

Because I dont see lots of Hey from marketing side, I do see lots of hey on the argument against Apple App Store.

Of course it is. They've weaponised it to their advantage. The actual solution to getting their app approved is obvious. But they've decided there's a greater gain in PR by 'taking Apple on'.

> The actual solution to getting their app approved is obvious.

It's not obvious to me. Mind elaborating on what the obvious solution is? Giving up 30% of your revenue on what's likely to be your largest platform when your competitors don't have to isn't obvious, so there must be another option I'm missing.

Yes, the obvious solution is to implement IAP. This is what Apple says they need to do. That said, they don't have to give up 30% of their revenue, they could make it more expensive to sign up via IAP if they wanted to offset the loss. Not great for the consumer, but at least it would work.

No you cannot do this. Apple does not allow you to put a higher price on iOS than other places. Also the issue is Apple's inconsistency. Netflix and Spotify do the exact same thing HEY is trying to do but Apple has done nothing for them because of this bullshit distinction between consumer and business apps??? Why do consumers apps not need IAP but business apps do?

What they're doing is exactly what mafias do. Look for the weak, force them to need your help or else, then extract as much money as you can.

I love Apple and all their products but this services growth strategy is putting a bad taste in a bunch of people's mouths.

They removed the price restriction in 2011. https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/09/apple-reverses-course-o...

Thank you for the correction, but my point still stands.

There’s literally a section in their book about leveraging enemies as marketing.

Mind sharing the title of the book?

They have a couple, but this chapter is in Rework - https://basecamp.com/books/rework

The drama with Apple is absolutely, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt, marketing. It’s literally in their book. Making an enemy as a marketing ploy.

Hey is a mailbox app that costs $99/year, doesn’t support IMAP (edit: or POP), and with a UI straight out of 2007. This app would never be getting this kind of attention otherwise. It’s brilliant marketing and is exactly the type of thing they talk about in their book.

>This app would never be getting this kind of attention otherwise.

Hey was extremely hyped up before the whole drama. That is why they had tens of thousands on waiting list before the whole thing. This isn't Free Web Mail, people are paying to use it. And if there wasn't any demand, invite code wouldn't have cost $500 dollars on eBay before Apple rejected their App.

>The drama with Apple is absolutely,.......

I cant see how they could have orchestra the whole thing when they have went out to make sure everything in their App was complying with the rules. And hence that was how 1.0 got put on App Store in the first place.

Yeah as much as the Apple thing got their name in the headlines...it’s likely going to end up basically banning their app on the store and force them to have a non-competitive product. I don’t think they are dumb enough to think of that as marketing.

Yeah, I'm still not sure whether this is a hidden marketing or a serious attempt from an innocent user. I dind't knew this service before, but now I knew. so marketing worked here at least to me.

Hey, I can't tell if this is irony or not. Then again, you probably won't read this if it isn't.

dhh should create a marketing framework next, could be named `active_marketing` or smth.

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