| From: zax | 5/1/2025 12:36:56 PM | | | | | | Apple Must Halt Non-App Store Sales Commissions, Judge Says
apple.slashdot.org
Apple violated a court order requiring it to open up the App Store to third-party payment options and must stop charging commissions on purchases outside its software marketplace, a federal judge said in a blistering ruling that referred the company to prosecutors for a possible criminal probe. From a report:
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sided Wednesday with "Fortnite" maker Epic Games over its allegation that the iPhone maker failed to comply with an order she issued in 2021 after finding the company engaged in anticompetitive conduct in violation of California law.
Gonzalez Rogers also referred the case to federal prosecutors to investigate whether Apple committed criminal contempt of court for flouting her 2021 ruling. The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco declined to comment. The changes the company must now make could put a sizable dent in the double-digit billions of dollars in revenue the App Store generates each year.
The judge's order [PDF]:
Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court's Injunction. It did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive. That it thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation. As always, the cover-up made it worse. For this Court, there is no second bite at the apple.
It Is So Ordered. |
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| From: zax | 5/6/2025 12:47:08 PM | | | | | | Amazon Adds Purchase Button To iOS Kindle App Following App Store Rule Changes
apple.slashdot.org
Amazon has updated its Kindle iOS app with a new "Get Book" button that redirects users to complete purchases through their mobile browser, taking advantage of recent App Store rule changes. The update follows Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' April 30th ruling in Epic Games v. Apple, which bars Apple from collecting a 27% commission on purchases made outside apps or restricting how developers direct users to alternative payment options.
Previously, iOS users had to visit Amazon's website through a browser to buy Kindle books -- a workaround implemented after Apple's 2011 rule changes required developers to remove links to external purchasing options. Apple has appealed the ruling but is complying in the interim. |
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| From: zax | 5/8/2025 11:55:47 AM | | | | | | Apple Asks Court To Halt App Store Rule Changes While It Appeals
apple.slashdot.org
Apple asked a judge to halt an order forcing it to give up control over App Store payments while it appeals the decision. From a report:
In a filing on Wednesday, Apple says the order contains "extraordinary intrusions" that could result in "grave irreparable harm" to the company. Last week, California District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple was in "willful violation" of a 2021 injunction issued as part of the Epic Games v. Apple case.
As a result, the judge ordered Apple to stop collecting an up to 27 percent commission on purchases made outside the App Store, and said the company can no longer restrict how developers point users toward external purchases. |
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| From: Jon Koplik | 5/10/2025 9:42:00 PM | | | | | | NYT -- How Apple Created a Legal Mess When It Skirted a Judge’s Ruling ....................
nytimes.com
or :
archive.ph
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excerpt :
The documents made clear that Mr. Roman had lied under oath, that the Analysis Group report was a “sham” and that Apple had “willfully” disregarded a court order, Judge Gonzalez Rogers said. She called it a “cover-up.”
Her ruling will give prosecutors, regulators and judges ammunition against Apple’s defense strategies in a half dozen similar cases around the world, several antitrust and tech law professors and lawyers said.
When the company tries to redact or withhold documents, prosecutors and judges can point to how those strategies were found to be “tactics to delay the proceedings” in the Epic Games case, these experts said. When Apple executives testify, prosecutors and judges could question their credibility because the company was found to “hide the truth” and “outright lie.”
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END.
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| From: Jon Koplik | 5/16/2025 10:01:13 AM | | | | | | WSJ on : Apple Crapple's Vomit Pro / how stupid it is ...................................
wsj.com
or :
archive.is
WSJ
May 15, 2025
They Paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts.
The mixed-reality headset launched last year with great promise, but all these buyers got were dirty looks and sore necks; ‘I don’t need that’
By Joseph Pisani
Early adopters of Apple’s Vision Pro headsets have one thing to show for the year they’ve spent with their pricey purchases: regret.
“It’s just collecting dust,” Dustin Fox said about his mixed-reality headset, which looks like futuristic ski goggles. “I think I’ve probably used it four times in the last year.”
The $3,500 device sits in a bin with other gadgets he no longer picks up.
The Vision Pro launched in February 2024 with great promise. It was Apple’s first major product release in years! It’s the first device you look through and not at! Typing can be done in the air! But buyers who wore them in the wild say they got nothing but dirty looks and sore necks. Now, the devices are daily reminders of their misplaced bravado.
Fox, a realtor in Centreville, Va., had to have the Vision Pro as soon as it launched. “I’m like a little boy when something new comes out,” he said.
The 46-year-old thought he’d use it for work. Then he put it on his head.
“It’s way too heavy,” Fox said about the device, which weighs just over a pound. “I can’t wear it for more than 20 or 30 minutes without it hurting my neck.”
Tovia Goldstein was excited to wear his set to watch movies and TV shows. But he ended up needing breaks. “After 60 minutes, you can’t, you just have to throw it down,” he said. He hasn’t touched it in about four months.
Weight isn’t the only issue for the 24-year-old New Yorker. There also aren’t enough apps to make the Vision Pro worthwhile, he said.
Goldstein thinks from time to time about getting the headset out of the closet and dusting it off to see if any new apps have been added. But the pain in the neck he gets, plus the painfully long three minutes it takes to plug in the battery and wait for it to turn on, make him think again.
[ Note from Jon -- interesting how . . . with all of the media hype / coverage of the Vomit Pro, I never once heard about this three minute - business. ]
“I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying it,” he said, “unless you’re really rich and you don’t know what to do with your money.”
No player in the virtual reality space has yet to figure out how to drive widespread adoption of the technology. Apple hasn’t disclosed how many of the devices it has sold. The company has struggled to get developers to make apps for the Vision Pro, putting its success at risk, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Apple declined to comment.
It’s a disappointing reversal from the fanfare that accompanied the headset’s release last year, when CEO Tim Cook shook hands and chatted with fans at the flagship store in New York City. Soon after, the Vision Pro started showing up on streets, in restaurants and even at a basketball game.
“People were excited to be wearing it,” said Fox, who used to see people wearing the devices at his local mall. “Then it just died.” He hasn’t seen anyone with one in months.
Fox thought about selling his own headset, but realized he could never get close to the $3,500 he paid. “Every time I see it in the bin,” he said, “I feel total regret.”
Anshel Sag used to take his Vision Pro on flights to watch movies. “I got pretty dirty looks from people,” said the tech analyst from San Diego. “I don’t need that.”
Another reason the 35-year-old stopped flying with it: the size of the case.
Sold separately for $199, the Vision Pro’s pillow-like white protector is about a foot tall, 9 inches wide and 6.5 inches deep. “It takes up like half of the volume of my carry-on,” said Sag.
When Anthony Racaniello wore his set for a nearly six-hour flight to Las Vegas, the flight attendant kept rolling the drink carts past him without asking if he wanted something. The 41-year-old Philadelphia resident blames the Vision Pro for his thirst.
“You look like you have a sleep mask on,” he said, “and people are going to treat you that way.”
Racaniello also tried to wear it in the office, thinking he could fill out spreadsheets and type e-mails at the media studio he runs. But colleagues either made fun of him, told him he looked creepy or asked him to take it off. “The best compliment I got was a light chuckle and, ‘It looks like you’re wearing ski goggles at work.’ ”
He recently sold his Vision Pro online for $1,900. He doesn’t miss it.
“It’s definitely a glimpse at the future. I just think it’s a ways away from there,” he said. “For now, you have to put on what feels like a 500-pound MacBook Pro, strap it to your face and have people laugh at you.”
The experience hasn’t, however, soured the Apple fan (who also bought the first iPhone) on the company. “This is the first time, ever, that I’ve thought an Apple product was just a bit early, or ahead of its time,” said Racaniello.
Yam Olisker, another Apple superfan, thought the Vision Pro would be the next iPhone. He flew to New York from Israel last year to be one of the first people to buy the headset. At the store he met Cook, and got him to sign the back of his iPhone and his Vision Pro’s box.
Olisker was wrong. “I use it much less than I expected,” said the 20-year-old YouTuber.
But he doesn’t regret the purchase. He still loves watching movies with his Vision Pro, especially 3-D films like the recent “Metallica,” sold as an immersive experience of the heavy-metal band’s “stadium-filling live shows.” “It feels like you’re at the concert,” he said.
He’s even figured out how to get through the movies without the weight of the Vision Pro bothering him: “I lie in bed.”
Write to Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com
Copyright © 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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| To: Jon Koplik who wrote (32656) | 5/17/2025 2:42:19 PM | | From: Force Majeure | | | | Looks like the WSJ has stooped to new lows... I use mine daily and LOVE IT!!
Flown cross country too and never had a problem with drink service either. Mainly because if you have half a brain, you know to dial in how much of the immersive environment to be in; so you can see in your peripheral when people--and drink carts-- are in the aisle.
Geesh, so irresponsible of them to pick and choose who to interview to make an obvious, disingenuous smear piece. Shame on them! |
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| To: Force Majeure who wrote (32657) | 5/18/2025 1:17:33 AM | | From: Jon Koplik | | | | I was disappointed that this WSJ piece failed to mention another obvious absurdity of the Vomit Pro :
at least some portion of humans get debilitatingly nauseous when using it.
(As made clear in a NYT review : Message 34570421 ))
excerpts :
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When using the headset for work, you can surround yourself with multiple floating apps -- your spreadsheet can be in the center, a notes app to your right and a browser to your left, for example. It’s the 3-D version of juggling windows on a computer screen. As neat as that sounds, pinching floating screens doesn’t make working more efficient because you need to keep twisting your head to see them.
I could tolerate juggling a notes app, a browser and the Microsoft Word app for no longer than 15 minutes before feeling nauseated.
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Next I tried the headset in the kitchen, loading a pizza recipe in the web browser while I grabbed and measured ingredients. Moving around while looking through the camera, I became nauseated again and had to remove the headset
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I do not think that Apple Crapple can overcome the way someone's brain responds to this issue.
Jon.
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