蘋果參考別人的功能造成app商店浩劫 - 手機討論

https://tinyurl.com/y6j8px56

Apple’s Greatest ‘Borrowed’ Features Are Wreaking Havoc in the App Store

蘋果那些偉大的借來的功能對App Store造成浩劫


Where does Apple get the ideas for its new features? It may borrow quite a few
of them from developers in the App Store.

蘋果的軟體功能從哪裡得到靈感呢？它或許很多都是從app開發者得到的

Apple incorporating features originally found in third-party apps is a
well-documented trend. But this week, a Washington Post article took a deeper
look at some of the implications of it.

蘋果把原來在第三方程式中的功能拿來用一段時間了。但這個星期華盛頓時報更深入的
探討其意義。

Apple’s Borrowed Ideas

蘋果借來的靈感

The Washington Post’s Reed Albergotti uses “Clue” as the first example. In
the absence of any period-tracking features for women in Apple’s Health
platform, a slew of third-party apps, including Clue, have filled the gap.
But in iOS 13, Apple is going to introduce several fertility and period
tracking features into its Health app.

例子一：經期追縱原本不在蘋果的"健康"程式中，但許多app像"Clue"都有，iOS 13
這些功能都被加進去

While it isn’t clear what will happen to Clue and other apps like it,
similar instances in the past have lead to apps ultimately meeting their
demise.

雖然不知道"Clue"未來的命運，但過的案例可以推測它會走向滅亡

Back in 2013, for example, Apple added an official flashlight to iOS making a
plethora of third-party flashlight apps obsolete. The Measure app and even
Animoji were once ideas explored by third-party developers first.

2013年，蘋果增加了手電筒功能，這使的一大票手電筒程式作廢（我還真的下載一堆，
該刪了）。"測量"app和"動態表情符號"原本都是第三方程式先開發的

Apple is also adding the ability to use an iPad as a secondary Mac display,
putting pressure on existing firms like Luna Display and Duet Display. And,
with a baked-in swipe-to-text keyboard, it looks like the writing may be on
the wall for apps like Swiftkey.

蘋果也讓iPad可以當Mac的第二螢幕。這使的原本靠這個賺錢的Luna Display和Duet
Display感到壓力，當然還有滑動鍵盤，跟Swiftkey很像

Having an app or feature idea copied by Apple is apparently so prevalent that
it has a name: “Getting Sherlocked.” It refers to Apple’s Sherlock desktop
search tool, a precursor to Spotlight. But Sherlock’s functionality already
existed in a third-party app called Watson.

這被被蘋果抄襲的行為是如此的常見，常見到大家都給它一個名字：被夏洛克。這指
的是蘋果的桌面搜尋工具，Spotlight的前身，但夏洛克的功能本來就已經存在第三方
程式Watson

App Unfairness

App 不公平

At its core, “borrowing” ideas from another company or developer is pretty
common in the tech industry. Late Apple cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs even
once said that Apple has “always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

在科技業，從其它公司或開發者借鑑靈感其實很常見。Steve 賈伯斯甚至說
："蘋果總是很無恥的偷偉大的想法"

But the bigger issue here is not that Apple copies app ideas, it’s that the
Cupertino tech giant can render those third-party apps obsolete at a drop of
a hat.

問題不是在於蘋果拷貝這些app的創意，而是在於蘋果只需要掉落一頂帽子就可以讓
這些第三方程式作廢

That’s true because first-party Apple features or apps typically have access
to tighter integration than third-party apps. Just look at Spotify and Apple
Music. The former streaming platform can’t currently be controlled via Siri,
while Apple’s can.

因為蘋果的功能或是程式往往有權限做更緊密的結合，但第三方程式沒有。看看Spotify
和Apple music，Spotify無法用Siri來控制，蘋果的卻可以。

Apple may also have an unfair position as the creators and maintainers of the
App Store. The company has full access to a treasure trove of deep insights
into app popularity. It could use that data to figure out which apps or
features users want and debut its own solutions based on them.

蘋果處在一個不公正的位置，它球員兼栽判，同時是app store的創造者和維護者。
它擁有所有的權限去接觸所有的財寶：像是app歡迎程式。藉由這些資料，
它可以知道哪些功能是使用者要的，並且創造它自己的版本

It’s also worth noting that Apple takes a cut of any in-app purchases made
on the App Store.

更何況，蘋果從in-app購買中賺錢

A former App Review team leader made it clear that Apple doesn’t “borrow”
ideas from apps during the review process. That presumably prevents the
company from denying an app and then stealing its idea.

App審查員說蘋果沒有在app審查的時候借鑑別人的創意。這個理論上避免
蘋果拒絕一個程式然後偷它的創意

Developers could, conceivably, avoid the App Store if they find this unfair.
But doing so could doom their app from the start. According to WaPo, Apple is
responsible for a staggering 71 percent of all app-generated revenue in the
U.S.

開發者理論上如果覺得不公平可以不要用App store，但在美國，71% app營收來自於
App store


Antitrust Implications
反托拉斯？

The WaPo story comes at a time when Apple and other tech giants are under
increasing scrutiny for allegedly unfair practices.

現在蘋果和其它科技業對於它們不公平的競爭行為受到越來越嚴格的檢視

Many political figures have called for Apple and other tech giants to be
broken up. The Justice Department is also reviewing tech giants like Apple
for possible violations of antitrust regulations.

很多政治人物要求蘋果和其它科技巨頭被分拆。




心得：

進入App Store就好像進入中國市場一樣，雖然很賺，但一旦技術被抄就沒有了

蘋果最厲害的不是創新

而是把別人的創新變的完美

--