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Comment by CubsFan1060 | Hacker News Reader

They don't lose access to the apps. I suspect the phone itself is what disables it, not sending the location to Apple.

> They don't lose access to the apps. I suspect the phone itself is what disables it, not sending the location to Apple.

Imagine paying a thousand dollars for a computer that actively sabotages its user based on their gps data… All because the manufacturer wants to control how someone can install a piece of software on it…

It.. doesn't bother me. But none of this is different than when said person spent a thousand dollars. If this is the sort of thing that annoys you, you should probably have bought a different device in the first place.

This is a brand spanking new feature[^1], I'm not sure they knew this kind of thing would bother them until recently.

[^1] Source: TFA, the thing we're commenting on, at least, hopefully we're not just looking for comments to reply to, and then replying in a way that makes people feel small and look silly

You never had the ability to install stuff outside the App Store before, so this is really just the status quo.

100% correct. Apple never dictated app operation, especially ones they officially support, via GPS before. 100% unforseeable.

Eh. AirDrop in China.

Right. So, when the person bought the item, the expectation was that Apple's App Store was the only option. Now, there is an additional option, while in the the EU. So the feature set when the person bought the phone is the same, and there is now a new added ability.

That's right. Apple never dictated app operation, especially ones they officially support, via GPS before. It was completely unforseeable.

Are you the same person who was saying tough noodles, you should have accounted for this when buying the phone?

Or is someone else operating the account now?

I'm completely tired of seeing this awful mindset. Why do you get mad when consumers make shitty practices illegal instead of just putting up with it, but not when you see companies scam people? If "just don't get scammed lol" is a valid argument then there's clearly nothing wrong with just making the practice illegal.

Yeah, I really don't get the "just get an android" type of response (even though the OP here is quite polite and I'm referring to other people arguing this). If something exhibits anti-competitive behaviour, it's great if competition exists, but it does not justify the behaviour which should still be subject to typical anti-competitive laws.

So instead make it impossible to create an alternative to Apple because now there isn’t a point? Someone could have come in and done everything better than Apple and more open, but now that’s impossible. Who would bother when they could just donate to the nearest EU politician to dictate what software change they want next?

You should lobby your nearest EU politician to stop platform-holders from creating anti-competitive conditions. It damages the market, and requires regular scrutiny to prevent the corporate bean counters from deploying salami tactics.

Because guess what? Apple isn't going away, their hardware will continue to be popular, and companies will compete with them regardless. Just because one business tactic has been deemed anticompetitive doesn't mean everything is, let alone that you can't continue providing the same features under fair pretenses. Apple chooses how they respond to the legislation, and right now they are deliberately steering themselves in the most victimizing and infantile direction possible. It makes me embarrassed to be an American, where many consider this behavior an... attribute of free-market patriotism. Barf.

Literally anytime anyone has said "X will exist forever" has just been proven wrong by time, that's how green you sound.

I didn't say they'd exist forever, just that they'd continue being around. Apple could profit $0 for the next decade and have enough cash-on-hand to continue operations for several years. It's not realistic that Apple would cease to exist immediately anyways - that's not how antitrust works.

If Apple dematerializes one day, I give you full permission to intrude on my latest comment and break the good news. There are two champagne bottles I'd like to open and I've been saving them for such an occasion.

And I'm completely tired of the "I am going to buy a well known item, with a well known feature set, and then later complain about all of this". YOU are enabling the shitty practices by giving them money in the first place. People need to take personal responsibility. If it's important to you, take a stand BEFORE you give your money to said person.

There's no scam here. Everything is VERY well known.

These things are multifaceted.

Someone might want to be able to video-call with their grandma who only knows how to use facetime, while also wanting to be able to compile and run open-source apps from source on the device they paid money for.

It's also not particularly well known either that apple has such predatory practices I don't think.

Of my friends, I don't think any of them realized the reason they couldn't buy ebooks on the iOS kindle app, and the app couldn't even have a link to the webpage where you could buy it, is Apple's anti-competitive rules to give apple books an edge. I think everyone just assumed Amazon was too dumb to design a "buy now" link.

I don't think most of my friends realize uBlock origin not existing for "chrome on iOS" is apple's fault, but rather assume the addon developer or chrome folks are at fault.

I'm not buying anything from apple and I still don't want consumers to be screwed over. It's you and only you (and I hope you're being paid to do this) playing defense for billion dollar corporations selling a premium product to consumers and engaging in shitty practices. Your meme ideology doesn't work and never will work because this is more profitable than ever, and companies love to copy what apple does so it spreads. Companies are getting more anti-consumer every single year in the US and they don't need your help.

You are being dishonest. It not like you stop buying bad tomatoes from one vendor and go to one of the hundreds others with zero incurred costs for transfer.

Apple is a world duopoly, the cost of devices is enormous and device is not the only thing that exists standalone. You likely have a lot of of purchased apps, media, uploaded data, proprietary hardware infrastructure which doesn't work with other vendors (like airpods etc.) and many many other ties to the Apple.

Saying that a person should just discard all that and simply move to the other vendor is a dumb proposition.

Wow, this is a wildly defeatist & subservient mindset. It's ok to like something, and also recognize its flaws & demand better. It's kind of the underlying principle behind all of human history. But if you're so apathetic, that's fine, just sit this one out & let the people who do care try to effect change.

I'm not sure the nuance of technically not sending to Apple really matters when we talk about iOS. iOS is Apple's loyal servant, does it really matter if their control is exacted server or client side? That line is pretty blurry when it comes to Apple in general.

If the phone would not send location data then it would need to store quite a bit of geographical data to be able to accurately say if you spend last 30 days in EU. That might be harder in border regions...

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