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Ars Investigates: Does Google Mobile use Private APIs?
Infinite Loop —
[image] Tonight, our peeps pointed us to this Daring Fireball post that suggests that Google Mobile got an application by Apple that uses private iPhone APIs. Said peeps asked me whether Google is getting a better deal than most devs, or whether Google just pulled something over on Apple. The answer is, to say the least, complicated. First of all, Apple is a private company. It can do whatever it wants to stock its App Store shelves however it pleases. There's nothing that says the company must treat Joe Q. Developer the same way it treats Moneybags J. Google. So, ...
Google’s iPhone App Is Cheating, Breaks App Store Rules
MacBlogz - One Stop Apple News —
Google’s Mobile App for the iPhone is breaking some App Store rules. By tapping into private API’s the application is utilizing technology that should be off limits to developers using the iPhone SDK.
According to research done by John Gruber (Daring Fireball) and Erica Sadun (Ars Technica), the Google Mobile App that has recently been embraced with open arms, is using technology and tapping into API’s that officially break Apple’s iPhone SDK rules, that most other developers have to live ...
Google: Yes, We Broke iPhone App Store Rules (GOOG)
Silicon Alley Insider —
... quietly breaking Apple's (AAPL) App Store rules? Yes. iPhone programmers figured out quickly that Google was using "private" code in its iPhone app, which is officially against Apple's rules. ...
Google admits to violating iPhone development terms
Macworld —
... of the iPhone’s code that controls that capability is undocumented by Apple. Using undocumented Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) is not just frowned upon—it’s against the terms that iPhone developers agree to when they download the SDK. The reason for this isn’t particularly nefarious: undocumented APIs are often in active development and subject to change, which could lead to third-party applications that rely on them to break or crash. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has a more in-depth piece about what exactly this means. But the central point of this issue is ...
Google: Yeah, we did use undocumented API. So what?
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) —
... using undocumented API calls on the iPhone. Either Google just went and did it themselves, or they got special permission from Apple to dive into places that most developers aren't really supposed to go. And it turns out that the former is true: Google says to CNET that, yeah, ...
Google: Yeah, we did use an undocumented API. So what?
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) —
... using undocumented API calls on the iPhone. Either Google just went and did it themselves, or they got special permission from Apple to dive into places that most developers aren't really supposed to go. And it turns out that the former is true: Google says to CNET that, yeah, ...
Vlingo: A New Way to Talk to Your iPhone
Technologizer —
... the default, but it’s easy to switch between engines on the fly.) Voice dialing. You can speak the name of a contact to dial his or her number, a feature that lots of folks wish the iPhone had built in. Google doesn’t do this. Maps. You can search the iPhone’s Maps app from Vlingo to locate businesses (classic example: pizza). Social networks. You can update Twitter and Facebook statuses by talking. Google doesn’t do this. Google Mobile App’s signature feature is the ingenious (if apparently questionable ) way it notices that you’ve lifted the phone to your ear and accepts ...
Apple Rejects Official Google Voice iPhone App [Apple]
Gizmodo —
... —web app land. It's an interesting switch for Google and Apple on the app front, actually. Google was noted for getting away with using private APIs in its Google Mobile app to make the voice search command work. Now Apple's rejected two of its major apps in a row, in a way validating Google's belief that web apps are the future anyway. ...
Apple's Chickenshit Approval Process Has Gone Too Far [Apple]
Gizmodo —
... , no less—before it delivered the feature to its own OS, very obviously using private APIs that would've likely resulted in a swift kick in the ass for any other developer. ...
Apple’s App Store Approval Process Now Includes an Automated Layer
TheAppleBlog —
... Despite being technically fair, the move feels a little unfair to developers, since Apple hasn’t exactly been consistent about enforcing the rules regarding private APIs up till now. One reason could have been that spotting their use just isn’t that easy, which the computer filter now rectifies. But it seems clear that Apple also looked the other way in at least a couple of cases when it suited them to do so, like with Google’s mobile search app, hence my suggestion that this has more to do with reducing workload using a non-arbitrary ...
