Perhaps, like me, you’re upset with the money-grubbing ads Apple is now inserting on its app stores. This post by Shac Roc, a senior kernel engineer at Apple for 10 years starting in 2007, describes my feelings perfectly:
When ads first appeared in the App Store in early iOS betas, many inside were very upset. It was an insult to our customers. We pushed back strongly. After a meeting where management pretended to listen to our concerns, it was evident they had no intention of changing their mind.
I’m glad to see apple getting raked for ads in the OS. They are disgusting and shameful. I hope they will realize how offensive these are, but realistically I doubt it.
This was the strongest pushback effort I’ve seen in my time at Apple. It was also doomed because Tim Cook saw the money Facebook, Google, and others were making from ads for apps and decided that he wants a portion of that.
To me ads in iOS are particularly offensive because I took pride in making products that served the customer. Ads turn “customers” into “users” to be monetized for the real customers, the ad buyers. They fundamentally compromise the integrity of the product.
What’s more, as noted by MacRumors, several prominent developers have complained about distasteful ads for gambling apps appearing in their own App Store listings outside of their control, including Marco Arment, Simon Støvring, and others.
° From Marco Arment: Now my app’s product page shows gambling ads, which I’m really not OK with.
Apple shouldn’t be OK with it, either.
The App Store has corrupted such a great company so deeply. They make so much from gambling and manipulative IAPs that they don’t even see the problem anymore.
° From Simon B. Stavring: With Apple’s recent changes to ads on the App Store, your product pages may now show ads for gambling apps. One of my product pages just did that.
° From Cabel: It is really sad to me that Apple needs to start taking Casino Game Ad Money in order to make their line go up for the shareholders. When Steve introduced iAds and the whole pitch was, “These ads aren’t garbage, you’ll like these ads.”
° From Federico Viticci: Can you imagine having $48.2 billion cash on hand and YET still thinking “ah yes, those House of Fun Casino ads will grow our bottom line, let’s do it”
° From Florian Mueller: Apple just sent all developers an email that “Today tab and product page campaigns start October 25.” It’s another means of increasing the effective app tax rate, forcing developers to buy ads on their own app pages in order to avoid that others steer customers away from there.
“Greed is good” is a catchphrase based on Gordon Gekko’s quote “greed, for lack of a better word, is good” from the 1987 film, “Wall Street.” Apparently, Apple agrees. So, Apple, how much money is enough?
Late today, in a statement shared with MacRumors, Apple said it has paused gambling ads in App Store app pages, with no further details provided.
