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A comment on Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams. Parent comment

Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by TaupeRanger on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:00PM (#27414475)
The article is arguing that the veneer of safety implied by Apple (above and beyond other stores) might make users more susceptible to fraud because they are more likely to believe the apps are all safe. They might be more cautious with other stores that don't offer that protection. Whether this leads to more actual cases of fraud would require a real study to be done.
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by granzymes on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:05PM (#27414508)
The reason I disagree with this argument is that it boils down to "tons of scams are better than a few sophisticated scams because users are more wary."

Users themselves have various levels of sophistication, and unsophisticated scams have plenty of victims.

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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by smoldesu on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:15PM (#27414593)
The only reason I disagree with your disagreement is because Apple is making money here, and they have every incentive to turn the other cheek. Their entire business model is based on driving user interaction and spending, so I don't think they're the most trustworthy party to audit the App Store. That would be like if we let the President decide which news channels were allowed to broadcast at the beginning of their term.
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by simondotau on Sunday June 06, 2021 @06:25PM (#27416926)
Apple doesn’t make money from free apps, so they have no financial incentive to turn the other cheek with respect to them.
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by granzymes on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:21PM (#27414637)
If we restrict Apple's incentives to be purely monetary, then we have to wonder if the reputational damage is less than their cut of users being scammed.

I would argue that the reputational damage is worth more, strictly monetarily. Apple is an incredibly valuable brand, estimated in the hundereds of billions of dollars[0], and they are understandably protective of it. If <2% of the top 1000 apps are scams (from the article), and Apple periodically catches scams and helps unwind them (2/3rds of the apps the Post reported were removed), I don't think Apple is making all that much money here. Remember that Apple does't keep its 30% cut when a transaction is refunded.

[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/264875/brand-value-of-th...

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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by amaBasics on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:30PM (#27414688)
The reputational damage is worth more only if there is reputational damage to begin with.

There may have been some smaller isolated stories in the past, but the truth about App Store scams is really only now coming to light - and so Apple’s calculus might be changing.

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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by amaBasics on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:44PM (#27414803)
Those are all valid, but do you have a non-recent example that got mainstream attention?
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by granzymes on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:47PM (#27414819)
Do you consider the New York Times mainstream? This article is from 2012:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/technology/pressure-on-ap...

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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by amaBasics on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:58PM (#27414906)
I do, and I’m not sure why the snark.

Thanks.

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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by granzymes on Sunday June 06, 2021 @01:59PM (#27414913)
You're welcome, and I apologize for the snark.
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by dumbfounder on Sunday June 06, 2021 @02:02PM (#27414938)
I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Apple to know who is publishing apps and making money off them in order to facilitate law and order in cases of flagrant illegal activity such as this, and for users to assume there is accountability that deters the behavior.
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Re:Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams by granzymes on Sunday June 06, 2021 @02:04PM (#27414953)
100% agreed.

https://developer.apple.com/support/identity-verification/

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