Itâs really hard to call something âanti-competitiveâ when, at this point, theyâre only a theoretical competitor.
I think itâs most likely that Apple just doesnât want to get associated with any of BitCoinâs less savory associations; the next time a Silk Road-type operation gets taken down, they donât want to be part of the story, even peripherally. And, the Silk Road takedownâs been getting a fair amount of mainstream press lately.
If Apple does come out with their own PayPay-type competitor, then of course they wouldnât want to facilitate the use of BitCoins, but it seems to me thatâs really a secondary concern at best. Itâs not like theyâre going to destroy BitCoin by kicking out these apps. Whoâs to say theyâve got any intrinsic right to be including on Appleâs platform, anyway? If having a BitCoin wallet on your phone is an absolute requirement for users, thatâs just an incentive for them to buy an Android device.
Apple has numerous payment apps in their online store. Square, paypal, etc. So I doubt this has anything to do with the competitive nature and more to do with the nebulous legal status that bitcoin currently has including laundering, tax issues, etc. If anything I think itâs more likely they donât want to be viewed as lending credibility to something that world governments are starting to take a hard look atâŚand not wanting to be pulled in front of some Senate panel and explain why they allowed it.
I agree with the above, this strikes me more as a pre-emptive move to prevent their name from being associated with nerdy drug websites by some technologically challenged reporter.
âAre your kids buying drugs with their iPhone? News at 11.â
Letâs imagine, just for fun, that there is more to this story than the scant information presented here.
Given how aggressive apple has been at controlling the âfamily friendlyâ nature of iOS, blocking anything perceived as unsavory, even apps that can potentially be used for accessin porn, I donât think you have to look any further to find an answer. Bitcoin is something apple doesnât like and canât control, and the fact that it is already linked to illegal activity makes it a slam dunk to ban. It is maybe surprising that it took them this long to get around to it, but it isnât like the app reviewers are perfect or consistent.
Imagine how Apple would react to a TV crime drama where a mobster uses an iPhone to pay for a shipment of drugs by bitcoin.
The obvious facts of the situation are enough to explain this. No need to invent anything new.
Bitcoin is a horrible choice for online payments unless youâre engaged in illegal activity or tax avoidance. Most people who acquire Bitcoins are hoarding them, because theyâre speculating, because Bitcoin really works like a highly volatile stock (with some nice mathematical properties thrown in for geek cred).
Just the same, Apple wants a cut of every transaction, and Bitcoin apps wonât do it for them. Since they make no money on it and it might become a legal hassle, the path of least resistance is just to ban it. They can do things like this because they are a walled garden, which is why I donât buy Apple toys.
History belies your commonsensical argument. Read Tim Wuâs The Master Switch, for example, and you will learn that AT&T was vigilant about snuffing out the smallest potential threats to their monopoly. Of course, this idea is so old that the Greek myth of Cronus described it: a God who ate his baby children lest one grow up to challenge him.
Howâd that work out for him?
Bitcoin is a horrible choice for online payments unless youâre engaged in illegal activity or tax avoidance. Most people who acquire Bitcoins are hoarding them, because theyâre speculating, because Bitcoin really works like a highly volatile stock (with some nice mathematical properties thrown in for geek cred).
Which is why there are not thousands of retailers, restaurants, and services using Bitcoin, including major players like Overstock and TigerDirect. Nothing to see here folks - itâs failing and for nerds only. Useless currency.
Iâm not a Bitcoin user, but even my casual exposure and research through Ars Technica, The Verge, Reddit and various other tech-news sites would seem to contradict your assertions in nearly every way.
Ignoring the laughable notion that Overstock is a thing, thereâs a good question here- Overstock has an iOS app. If that app were to allow payment for orders via Bitcoin, would Apple ban the app? Whereâs the line? Are retailers allowed to accept Bitcoin on their iOS (and assuming Google takes a similar stance, Android) app?
This is always the problem with the âwalled gardenâ app model. Comixology can sell me the comic Sex Criminals on the web, and I can read it on the iOS app. But because Apple thinks sex is tabu, I canât buy it directly on the iOS app.
Ignoring the laughable notion that Overstock is a thing
Overstock.com? One of the biggest online retailers ($1.1 billion revenue), that ran commercials at multiple Superbowls, has #2 highest-ranked customer service of any US retailer (online or not), etc, etc? Those guys? Yeah - theyâre a thing. I think I bought shoes from them a couple years back, but apparently theyâre selling more stuff now. The Bitcoin thing netted them $125,000+ in the first day.
This is always the problem with the âwalled gardenâ app model.
Precisely. It creates all these absurd levels of almost philosophical analysis about what is âmaybe okâ and âmaybe not okâ. Conversations about the various levels of tabu and marketplace acceptability end up sounding like discussions about consciousness and our place in the universe.
Yes, but considering that there are over 1B cellphone subscriptions in N/S America, we can already say that, for the most part, your kids already are, and have been for some time, purchasing their drugs with a mobile handset of some sort. I can already hear the caveat that Americans are morons and they will seize on iPhone==bitcoin==drugz, but I think (hope) our populace isnât quite that stupid.
So, in other news, most bank robberies are perpetrated with cars! Letâs ban all cars herpderp!!
Like snapchat and tinder?
I realize some of those phones are probably business-only phones, but it still messes with my head that there are more cellphones than people in the Americas.
haha, perhaps Bitcoin has inadvertently inspired Corporations to begin issuing private currency plainly.
HI scrip, HI company store, where ya been all these years? Biding time while labour is beaten down from its recent high? Vacationing in the East, you donât say?!
Go have a cry app dev. Thatâs what happens when you dev for a walled garden: they get the final say regarding whoâs on the guest list.
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bitcoin isnât silk road
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apple is going to get into the payment space: mark my words
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since the app likely doesnât violate any of appleâs rules (if you know fo a rule they violate, let me know), fairness says they have an intrinsic right to be on the app store.
@wrecksdart is right⌠there are tor browsers for iphone on the itunes store and you dont need an app-based wallet to make/receive payments.
This is apple being defensive.
An android copy of Tealâc killed him.
