He HAS to offer refunds based on app store policies. Apple now offer refunds within 14 days of purchase to anyone who asks. That’s all that’s happening; to imply that this is some kind of further altruism on Arment’s part is disingenuous, he doesn’t have a choice.
And let’s be clear, most people will not ask for a refund because
a. it’s too much bother
b. it’s only a couple of $
c. the author of the app is firmly on the moral high ground
d. many people won’t realise that he’s pulled support
I’m a big fan of Ament’s work and have bought a number of his apps, including Overcast which is by far my favourite podcasting app; but I’m really sceptical of his motivations and timing here.
That’s disputable. Just because some websites depend on ad revenue to operate doesn’t mean they have a right to make my machine execute arbitrary code doing who knows what (besides trying to distract me from the website’s actual content) from an unvetted, unknown third party, who is also hellbent for leather to track me as an individual like a steer in a cattle herd. Ads are unethical most of the time. If a website wants to promote stuff in their own store selling stuff they are proud of, they can self-host their ads and not be blocked.
But don’t tell me that feeling bad for not supporting website’s ability to monetize in a way that’s pathetically lazy and often hazardous to the user is somehow holding the moral high ground. It’s all done without consent, and even ignoring the hazards of basically injecting whatever’s on the bottom of your shoe, wastes my time, processing cycles and bandwidth.
Just saw on his Twitter that Apple have informed him that they will be refunding all purchases proactively.
By his own admission, he had no choice in the matter, and was informed after the event - he certainly didn’t ask them to do it. I think Apple’s action suggests that they’re pretty unimpressed with him to be honest.
I’d imagine he’s pretty pissed off with them too, to be honest, I don’t think he was expecting to have to give it all back.
Sorry, you’re right - I meant to say ‘he’s occupying the moral high ground and is refusing to come down’. I don’t actually think his stance is particularly decent, and I’m really dubious about the timing and treatment of users. I’m not particularly impressed.
I seem to remember a glowing review of Instapaper on this very BBS a few years ago, so I’m sure he’d fit in well. For certain definitions of “well”, at least.
Being serious for a moment, once upon a time Florida was basically swamp land and people thought Disney was off his rocker to buy up so much of it in the Orlando area. That’s the source of the phrase. Disney and air conditioning are the reason Florida has gotten built up as much as it has. But as the old commercial used to say: it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Florida will go back to the watery mess it used to be, thanks to a nation of Florida Men not understanding basic science.
The real joke was that selling land in Florida used to be a scheme in which people would agree to buy the land, sight unseen, and then find out it was in the middle of a swamp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swampland_in_Florida
I agree. He probably figured most people would not bother seeking a refund, and he could take their money without having to give any support for his product. Good on Apple for taking away all his ill-begotten gains. Oh and if you look at his twitter now, he is tweeting and retweeting a bunch of anti-Apple stuff. Looks like he got his panties in a bunch.
