Blockchain’s Response to Apple

[freyrs3]

This was unexpected? How is not naive to expect a corporation to remove any software when it infringes on their bottomline. If you buy into developing software for this corporate-controlled walled garden of any kind you set yourself up for this. It's 2014, we've had 5 years of this kind of behavior from Apple and people still seem surprised by this fact.

[thethimble]

I'm surprised by the outrage. Apple's position here is logical - banning bitcoin wallet apps does not impact the vast majority of its userbase while taking a strong stance in preserving its payments monopoly. Corporations are not benevolent but are rational agents acting in their best interest.

[colinbartlett]

What's the best way to make noise about this?

Sure, I can switch to Android but A) I don't really want to do that and B) losing a handful of Bitcoin enthusiasts to another platform is really not going to dent Apple in any way.

[higherpurpose]

Switch to Android and recommend other people to buy only Android phones from now on. Actively discourage people from buying iPhones. It will make a dent.

[Geee]

Sadly, Android is not secure enough for Bitcoin apps.

[freyrs3]

The only rational response is to weigh the benefits of developing for and using the iOS ecosystem with your convictions about general purpose computing. If you don't think Apple shouldn't have this kind of power then don't use their products and don't support the Mac ecosystem.

[ye]

Switch to Android. It will make a dent.

Bitcoin people are not a random demographic, they are early adopters, many are entrepreneurs, most are young.

[gcb0]

Return your device. Say you bought for this and now it is useless. And maybe sue for punitive damages.

And then move to palm, windows, webos.. because moving to android will just make you do the same thing to google in a couple months.

[ceejayoz]

> The only thing that has changed is that bitcoin has become competitive to Apple’s own payment system.

Well, that, and a bunch of media, law enforcement, and legislative attention.

> Bitcoin’s use for international payments from family members sending money home to support entire communities in the developing world and for charity fundraising and fund distribution will be severely affected by this decision.

Can't they just use their web browser?

[pdx6]

> Well, that, and a bunch of media, law enforcement, and legislative attention.

Normal currencies and online currencies suffer from these same 3 issues though.

[droob]

Departed from the reality the rest of us share with "Apple attempted to strike a devastating blow to the bitcoin ecosystem"

[niccary]

Let's build amazing products they can't ban. On Android. On browsers. Everywhere.

[madeofpalk]

Don't mistake to maliciousness what can be attributed to naievity.

The reason Apple has issues with other payment methods on their App Store is that they can't control them. Meaning, they can't ensure the user experiance they would like to, and when things go wrong, they can't fix it.

Apple's userbase is so large and diverse now that users blame things on Apple that shouldnt (e.g. they loose money through bitcoin they used with an iPhone app, Apple gets blamed ). This is their way of minimising that.

[higherpurpose]

Yeah right. Bitcoin is a threat to payment systems. Apple intends to launch its own payment system soon (for more than just apps). It's as simple as that. But of course they would use an excuse like "it's for your own good". That's what all dictators say, too.

[beedogs]

Apple's a pretty terrible company. This should've been expected.

[ChuckMcM]

I'm sure they would be ok with it if you paid Apple 1/3 of any Bitcoin transaction you made through it. Without doing so you create a huge hole in their app revenue tax.

[robzyb]

No they wouldn't. Profiting from Bitcoin transfers is a regulatory nightmare. This is because there are no controls to minimise the risk that Bitcoin is being used for money laundering.

[wmf]

Does apple take 1/3 of every transaction through banking apps?

[jsz0]

Apple isn't even remotely close to having a monopoly in the SmartPhone market. That's such a non-sense thing to say in an official statement. My perception of block chain.info is now a company that lies / misrepresents the truth on purpose. Good work guys.

[sekasi]

Apple will fight all day and all night to maintain control of money on their app store. The way they push their weight around against anything that tries to do anything outside their walled garden is nothing short of disgusting.

[meepmorp]

> The way they push their weight around against anything that tries to do anything outside their walled garden is nothing short of disgusting.

This is capitalism. They provide services that they expect you to use, and if you want to do business on the platform they control, you play by their rules. If you don't like it, you're free to leave.

[valarauca1]

Those first to paragraphs are very harsh. Which I find funny because some their harsher lawsuits were started by Jobs, who's famously quoted in their first paragraph (well he wrote it not said it).

[mat1911]

buy android

[joaorj]

In my opinion anyone that uses apple's products must know that at any moment, apple can decide unilaterally that the user should not use some app / functionality.

If you don't like that you probably aren't using apple products already.