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This is rather hilarious. The makers of iPhone applications like Beer Pong and Spin The Bottle (Swavv) have added another title to their collection – iDroid. Unfortunately it will sit in their collection and ONLY their collection as Apple rejected it from the App Store.
It isn’t surprising considering that the only thing the application does is display the glowing red Droid eye that, when you tap it, displays a list of selling points that prove its better than the iPhone itself. Essentially it is an advertisement for an opposing piece of hardware.
But what harm would it have done to accept iDroid? People using it already own the iPhone and chances are they already know about the Motorola Droid. The only thing this does is provide an example of why Android Market’s open nature is better than the App Store where you can only have what Apple wants you to have.
Thanks Apple… but I already have a mom and dad.
[Via TechCrunch]
It’s almost funny the way they handle approvals/rejections. It’s almost like the spoiled little kid that doesn’t want to play any more and says “If you won’t play by my rules and let me win, then I’m taking my ball and going home!”
That is the perfect analogy!!!!! LOL. Kids like that would get beat up in my neighborhood. C’mon Apple…….you cry baby….stop runnin so we can hit ya and get it over with!
iDon’t allow freedom of choice.
ha! i love it!
I dunno. Let’s say that Apple put out an app on Android Market listing reasons that the iPhone was supposedly better than the Droid. People would see it as a sign of desperation, a rather pathetic gesture.
I love my Droid, but this makes me shake my head. I know some people who’ve seen this news and already gone, ‘seriously, the Droid’s that bad off that they have to try and advertise on the iPhone to get users?’ Which isn’t true, but… really, this whole thing doesn’t make /anyone/ look good.
iPhone: the AOL of this generation.
Apple rose up against MS to give folks “hope” (choice). As like corrupts like kind of evolution what was the MS of the 90’s, and some say still is, Apple has become what it is. Much like the unions came to combat the unfair treatment and now have become as problematic as what it rose against, Seems Apple has become equal to and/or exceeds MS…
Apple has always been and will continue to be proprietary and protective of theory turf, in SPITE of the potential downside. At large is the bigger question of what right does an equipment manufacturer have over said equipment once they have “sold” it to to you… could you imagine a car manufacturer putting in a new gas tank to their vehicles which only accepted their gasoline because it was made specifically for their vehicle and in their business model was beat for you, oooooh, I meant their profits… why digital media gets to enjoy such protections is ridiculous, thank God Android is here! :)
iLaughed so hard.
@David
That makes you wonder what Google will be seen as in the future…
Theory = Their
Beat = Best
Sorry for the typo’s.
:)
Gosh, I wish the whole world could see this! And I wish all Apple fanboys could see what communist system they are supporting.
iBulls%&t!
It shows how insecure Apple is with their product. Lol FUNNY!!!! Also shows their Nazi idealism.
@Rachel
It wasn’t Moto or verizon who built the app… it was some random devs. so it’s not at all like Apple releasing an app in the Android Market.
There is no reason to be disappointed in Apple for doing this. It os only logical that a company try to restrict its rival’s and promote its own product(s).
I think it’s just me, but this application sounds a bit childish. Not to mention a waste of resources and time. Again, just my opinion.
@SprSynJn All the iFart apps are childish and a waste of resources too. But the point of the post is that Apple is once again dictating to iPhone users what they can and can’t put on the phone that they paid for. As an Android user I can place any app on my phone that I want. That includes apps that make it look like an iPhone if I so chose. I’m not all of a sudden gonna think I have an iPhone! It’s not going to make me run out and buy the phone that the app apes! It’s about freedom and the lack of it when you buy into the Apple mindset. It’s about the lunacy of the Apple app store with it’s retarded approval process.
Seriously, I can’t get more than 10kb on an iphone in NYC! What a piece of shit!
Does anyone really expect Apple to accept apps like these on their systems? It’s just a mockery, and I think it was actually pretty rude of the makers to send the app to Apple.
Btw, I don’t own an iPhone, and I may or may not buy the Droid in the future.
@NUarch no way! i own an iphone and want that droid eye…it looks bad ass to me…gonna swap to android in march when my contract ends!
@jeremy
Really… has the Nazi bar been set so low that we can describe apple’s ideology as “Nazi idealism”. Can we stop comparing everything we don’t like to Nazis. Lets end this trend towards alarmist insane hyperbole. Or at least keep it fresh. There are so many terrible regimes and dictators to choose from, why can’t we dig up some more original ones? Throw a dart at Africa, find out who’s in charge of the country your dart hits and compare apple to that guy. There’s a good chance he a pretty bad guy. Here’s an easy reference for your future dictator needs:
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/whos-the-worst-dictator/
and while I’m on the subject Bush is not dictator. Even the illegal shit he did is not that crazy when you read about what past presidents got away with. Take a look at Jefferson and the trail of tears.
sorry for the rant, I’ve been holding that one in for a while. Now back to android goodness
oh, and that app is hilarious and apple’s oppressiveness is on par with Stalin or the Khmer Rouge or Omar al-Bashir
There’s no way the developers didn’t know it would be rejected the moment they conceived of it. So I don’t doubt they were just poking fun at Apple by sending it in.
On the other hand, as if anyone needed more proof, this shows once again that Apple will tell their customers exactly what they can and can not have. And if you are happy with that, great. But I will not be joining you in Apple’s walled garden, and I will avoid doing anything to help Apple succeed in gaining total control of any segment of the tech world. The only thing that “keeps them honest” at all is that at the moment there are good alternatives.
“…they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors, they are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them.”
Is there an app for the droid that does this? I want the glowing red eye on my screen
My question is, did the maker of this app have the right to copy and use the glowing red eye graphic, and the font (if it’s proprietary) and logo for DROID? I’m guessing Verizon owns the copyright in the said works.
I’m guessing that there was some copyright infringement by the maker. Even if the stated reason for rejection was not that, I think the rejection is fair.
I’m more curious to see what happens if a similar (or more useful?) app extolling DROID’s virtues BUT which does not infringe anyone’s copyright, is lodged with Apple.
APPropagandaLE
So, there is an app for that too!
asqwerth is absolutly correct.
“Droid” is a registered trademark of LucasFilm, and if they failed to obtain the proper permissions for its usage than of course apple would not allow it. There may not be anything sinister going on here guys.
HAHAHAHAA
“iDon’t allow freedom of choice.”
That’s a good one!!
@flyboisk8er
Trademark is designed to prevent customer confusion. I cannot make a homemade soda and mark it as Coca Cola, because it’s not. If I buy a Coca Cola and then put an ad in the paper saying how awesome it is trying to resell the Coca Cola, I am not violating any trademarks because I am, indeed, selling a Coca Cola.
Similarly, an app that accurately describes the Droid, refers to the Droid, using the same selling points that Verizon uses for the Droid, is not violating any trademarks any more than my excessive use of the word Droid in this paragraph about a Droid violates the Droid trademark.
Apple didn’t allow it because Apple demands absolute control of their device even after you buy it.
Disclaimer: I recently switched from a (jailbroken) 3G iPhone to a Droid, and it was like switching from briefs to boxers. I feel so free!
@The infamous Joe TMI!! TMI!!!
“…and it was like switching from briefs to boxers…”
this is great!!! LOL.
this like Howard Stern coming into town and quickly attacking #1 disc jockeys in each city and coming up with small and tactful attacks on his competitors.
I love it.
I would have much more respect for Apple if they just rejected buggy harmful apps. But no, they have to go after everyone they disagree with.
@The infamous Joe – I referred not to Trademark law but Copyright law (post 25). Someone holds the copyright in the red eye graphic, and it’s not the maker of the iDroid app (as I said, I’m not sure about the font used for the DROID logo; the DROID logo as artwork is also different from it as a trademark). He may have meant it as a tribute, but he is reproducing someone else’s work without permission. As an example, the maker of the Tricorder app for Android does not use samples of actual sounds from Trek; he came up with his own so as not to infringe copyright. He also designed the Tricorder UI using a LCARS-type scheme, but he did not rip off an actual screen design seen on Trek. In contrast, an iPhone tricorder app was apparently pulled from the App Store because it used actual Trek sounds and tried to faithfully reproduce the tricorder UI/display from Trek.
Of course I know copyright issues may not be the only reason Apple pulled the Droid app off its shelves, but that does not make the copyright reason less valid.
I love my Droid but putting bookmarks in the market is not cool. Do I really need antivirus protection for my phone as well? So to me the way they run their store is not bad at all.
WOW!
Abuse monopoly much?
FAIL!
I want to see the app :(