Absurd!

I think the article misses the point. I don't think it's a personal statement from Jobs against Google; I believe it's just as the rejection notice says: that mentioning an app's qualifications on another platform has no relevance to the description of its functionality. And I agree.

I would imagine Apple reacting in the same way if the app's description said something like "Works great in Linux too!" or even "Soon to be available for Windows 7." How does that help users determine if the app will work for them?

-dZ.

At least they keep the quality up....

I have a T-Mobile G2 (HTC Hero) running 1.5 Android and wish that Google would take some lessons from Apple with their Market. Yes, Apple may have a little too much control over what goes on the App Store, but at least you know that what IS on there is generally finished, polished and will work on all iPhones.

Android Market is full of unfinished crap, 100's of apps that are the same (soundboards, wallpaper collections, etc) and almost totally impossible to search or filter thanks ro Google's complete disregard for the end-user or the app developers.

We should be allowd to do what we want with the product we own

there is a petition against hardware manufacturers having control over what we can do with the product after we own it.

its on

petitions.number10.gov.uk/BadProprietary/

Just say it like it is Apple

"Providing future platform compatibility plans or other general platform references are not relevant in the context of the iPhone App Store,"

Quit f*cking around with words Steve, just say what you mean - you don't want anyone to notice there are products made by other companies. You're God. We get it.

And yes, I think it's relevant - the mention means it's a good app that people will want to buy.

... it's called marketing and business ...

Love it or Loath it, this is just marketing 101.

Apple need to give the perception that their platform is the only one worth using or in fact, the only one you need.

If an application mentions the product is available on another platform, that message is lost.

Reality check folks - Apple is as much about money and control as it is about innovation and design. They are NOT a smiley happy bunch of open source hippies.

It's their marketplace, it's their shop front - they call the shots - if you don't like it, pack up your wares and sell them in another marketplace. Apple have never pretended to be any different (unlike Google)

Nice? No, it's not nice, it's ruthless, but this is business and it's ALWAYS been this way, since time immemorial.

You and I may cry foul. Some of us may vow to shun Apple. Apple don't care, because 99.9% of punters will never hear about Apples tactics and if they did, they won't understand, or care, or will just shrug and say "that's business"

Remember - it's all about choice - nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head.

When you submit your Application to Apples store, you do so understanding there's a hefty barrier of T&C's to wade through and one of those terms is bound to say "we can change these T&C's without notice"

Apple? Google? Microsoft?

Pfft... I have a Palm Pre!

Please note . . .

This is Apple's store (like Tesco). Apple's not objecting to the same App being sold elsewhere, with the same name, or winning prizes elsewhere, they're just saying "stay on topic in our iPhone App store with your merchandising materials".

Just like Tesco saying "sell as many packets of Macvities digestive as you like at Sainsbury's, but please don't place merchandising materials in Tesco stores that say how good your digestives are when bought from Sainsbury's."

Part of the problem is that people are bringing platform presumptions across from the PC market (instead of, for example, the games console market or traditional retailing), and part of the problem is that no other company has made the sustained commitment required to replicate Apple's setup. It's like a Tesco with no Sainsbury's, Asda or Morrisons to compare against. The most obvious candidates with the appropriate resources were Microsoft and Nokia, but (a) they don't get it and (b) they don't sustain any initiative for long enough to be trusted and (c) they are actually greedier than Apple with their attempts at content distribution and lazier in fighting the consumer's corner against big content publishers.

Apple must be constantly dumbfounded by the incompetence of their competition.

It's annoying -- but try it in Tesco!

I think we need to chillax a bit and look at how this would operate in a bricks n' mortar shop.

If you were shopping at Tesco do you think that they'd take kindly to a product that said "Ariel selected by Sainsbury's as washing powder of the year 2010"

Or, for a US equivalent ... shopping at Wal-Mart and you get "Tide, more Costco shoppers love us!"

It's tough, but that's just the reality of retail, e-tail really no different.

A supermarket would be threatening to delist any product that did that too.