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Comment by iSoron | Hacker News Reader

> "That’s not what we want on the store" -- Apple Vice President of Worldwide Marketing

What if I own an iPhone and HEY is what I want on my phone? How can I override Apple's decision? If I can't, who really owns this device?

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Apple crafts their sales pitch around being a secure device that has a lot of restrictions (which means you can't install what you want, but it also protects non-tech savvy people from messing up their device or being hacked)

It is a pretty well established model. I don't like it sometimes either, but you know what you are getting when you buy an iPhone. It isn't like they changed policy after you bought the device.

> How can I override Apple's decision? If I can't, who really owns this device?

I know you're not, but - anyone earnestly asking this question hasn't been paying attention to Apple since, well, ever.

Not just Apple, the entire electronics industry.

TVs used to come with circuit diagrams so that people could repair it themselves at home using standard parts. I've not seen anything like that in many years, even for far simpler appliances.

I feel like that's a disingenuous comparison, given how complex the electronics of appliances must be nowadays (disclaimer: I have absolutely no idea, my experience is strictly at the software level) - but the general principle should still apply to be able to use products that you own in a (non-harmful) way that you choose.

Loads of appliances are still straight forward, simpler than TVs ever were. Vacuum cleaners are not exactly supercomputers.

Still there are components were a schematic would be useful. For example a schematic of the power supply, since 90% of the faults that TVs have are related to that. A power supply is not that complex and having a schematic would mean that repairs would be simpler.

Also nowadays it would be useful to have some sort of debug port, for example a serial port to connect and have a CLI to do diagnostic, upload a new firmware, etc. They have these interfaces in the TVs but most of the time are either disabled or protected so the end user cannot use them.

That would mean you could fix it yourself and cut out their authorized repair program. Better to just not put release the schematics, but also not go after anyone that creates the schematics either.

See dishwashers, microwaves, Apple iPhones, and washing machines. Car manufacturers still publish schematics for their circuitry (for a fee)

> TVs used to come with circuit diagrams so that people could repair it themselves at home using standard parts.

Nowadays a brand new high end +2000€ Samsung TV comes with ads (!) in the menu and the apps feel like they'd be running on a potato. With that kind of Smart TVs, the hardware won't be the issue since it'll be the software that will be obsole way before the hardware. Smart TV is not a promise, its a thread.

My new Philips Android TV came with a circuit diagram. It was basically just a punch of arrows pointing to a box labeled 'SoC'.

If you ask this questions, you shouldn't have an iPhone on the first place.

If you can state such a statement and not understand his statement, you shouldn't comment in the first place :)

Well pointed out, although critics will say, "it is not a bug, it's a feature", e.g. "walled garden life". Imagine if you bought a Microsoft Surface and you could only use the Windows Store to download apps on your device.. People would be outraged, but since it's Apple it is "expected"...

Hint, if it is expected, that doesn't mean it's still ok..

It’s their store, and they get to pick what’s in it. If you want stuff not available in that store, you need a new store. You own the phone, but you agreed to only load software on it from the one store, as it has been for the last decade.

No, they need to allow other stores with different rules and different pricing models. If not, then their store needs to drop the anti competitive practices. This is what the EU investigation is about.

Until the EU decides, they don’t need to do anything. And when the EU decides, if they decide it’s not anti-competitive, they get to go back to doing nothing. You have a choice of what device you use, and if you don’t like all of the things that come with Apple products, vote with your money and use something else.

When you bought the device, did you expect it to run “Hey”? If Apple promised that, sue them. If not, you’re just confused about what you bought and probably shouldn’t handle your own money.

You can override their decision by jailbreaking your phone.

If Apple provided an official jailbreaking tool, I would actually consider this a valid solution, even if it voided the warranty on the device.

Perhaps that's the one more thing at WWDC next week.

BaseCamp is free to offer in app subscription and charge 43% more than directly on their website.

Yeah, they just can't have anything in the app mentioning that they're doing so. That doesn't sound very user-friendly either.

Yes because most retailers like Best Buy let manufacturers advertise that you can get products cheaper at Amazon....

Best Buy also doesn't require you to sell your software in their store if you want people to be able to use it with the laptop they bought there.

And neither does Apple. You are free to offer both in app and out of app subscriptions and charge different prices. You don’t have to sell your app in the App Store, you have to distribute it.

This makes me wonder if they could charge $99/year on their website but $999/year via in-app purchase. Basically a price so high that no one would realistically buy it from within the app.

It technically fulfills the requirements specified in the review guidelines but I suspect it would be frowned upon.

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