Jack Williams:
After 1st February 2023, new perpetual license purchases will not receive any feature updates (16.x)
This means that any updates containing new features and functionality will not be included in your license purchase. However, bug fixes and optimizations will be included (16.x.x) until a new paid version is released (16.x).
Finally as a subscription license always provides you with access to the latest version, subscribers will also not be affected by these changes.
[…]
The changes we are making allow us to shift to the latest software development practices without removing perpetual licenses altogether. While over half of our users are on a subscription and close to 80% of new users choose a subscription, we still understand that perpetual licenses are important for many of you. That’s why we’re committed to keeping the option open.
I don’t understand the point of doing feature updates throughout the year but withholding them from certain customers. The stated goal is to move faster, but, if anything, this would create extra development work because now bug fixes might need to be applied on top of two different branches. It seems as though the actual goal was to discourage people from purchasing perpetual licenses without getting rid of them entirely. It also sounds like they are changing the deal for people who recently bought upgrades thinking they would get a year’s worth of features, as before.
Previously:
App Subscriptions Business Capture One Mac Mac App macOS 13 Ventura
Ashley Belanger (Hacker News, MacRumors):
Confronted by police reports and concerns from privacy advocates, Apple released updates in February, claiming that new features would mitigate reported stalking risks. Stalking reports kept coming, though, and it increasingly seemed to victims that Apple had not done enough to adequately secure AirTags. Now, Apple is being sued by two women who claim that the company is still marketing a “dangerous” product.
[…]
Plaintiffs suing represent various stalked classes. They are asking for a jury to assess whether, in addition to injunctive relief and damages, Apple should owe punitive damages for allegedly releasing a defective product with insufficient safeguards to prevent stalking, then profiting off sales after allegedly misleading the public to believe AirTags were “stalker-proof.”
[…]
One of the earliest solutions from Apple was providing text-based notifications for iOS users, alerting them when there was an “AirTag Found Moving With You.” However, users couldn’t always trust this alert was accurate—or referring to an AirTag device located near them in a crowd—and they couldn’t always find the tracking device, even if they knew it existed. For Android users, the situation was even bleaker because Apple had no way to send automatic alerts. Android users, thus, became “nearly defenseless to tracking/stalking using an AirTag,” because the only way to find out was to proactively download an app called Tracker Detect and manually search for AirTags.
It doesn’t seem to me that the product is defective or that there’s something Apple should be doing but isn’t. There’s no way to fully prevent malicious uses, and they already made AirTag less useful in trying to reduce them.
Previously:
AirTag Android iOS iOS 15 Lawsuit Legal Privacy
Apple (Hacker News, MacRumors):
Under the updated App Store pricing system, all developers will have the ability to select from 900 price points, which is nearly 10 times the number of price points previously available for most apps. This includes 600 new price points to choose from, with an additional 100 higher price points available upon request. To provide developers around the world with even more flexibility, price points — which will start as low as $0.29 and, upon request, go up to $10,000 — will offer an enhanced selection of price points, increasing incrementally across price ranges (for example, every $0.10 up to $10; every $0.50 between $10 and $50; etc.).
[…]
In each of the App Store’s 175 storefronts, developers will be able to leverage additional pricing conventions, including those that begin with two repeating digits (e.g., ₩110,000), and will be able to price products beyond $0.99 or €X.99 endings to incorporate rounded price endings (e.g., X.00 or X.90), which are particularly useful for managing bundles and annual plans.
[…]
Today’s enhancements expand upon these capabilities, allowing developers to keep their local currency constant in any storefront of their choice, even as foreign exchange and taxes fluctuate.
This sounds great, although it will be interesting to see what the new lower tiers like $0.29 will be used for.
Previously:
See also: Slashdot.
Update (2022-12-14): Dave Mark:
From Apple’s original App Store developer class action settlement announcement[…]
Damien Petrilli:
Actually I think the small price tier could be very interesting.
Instead of giving a free trial, you could now propose a very low tier weekly subscription.
Previously:
Update (2023-03-10): Apple (MacRumors):
Starting today, these upgrades and new prices are now available for all app and in‑app purchase types, including paid apps and one‑time in‑app purchases.
App Store Business iOS iOS 16 Mac Mac App Store macOS 13 Ventura
Adam Engst:
However, if you’re like me and haven’t set up Apple Pay on your iPad, you might be bothered by the way iPadOS badges the Settings app and constantly reminds you to finish setting up your iPad. I expect that succumbing to iPadOS’s demands and setting up Apple Pay would work, but being nagged triggers my rebellious streak, so I wanted to see if there was a way to eliminate both the badge and reminder without setting up Apple Pay. After all, there may be scenarios where setting up Apple Pay is inappropriate, such as on an iPad that a child frequently uses.
[…]
As soon as you cancel out of the Apple Pay setup screen, the Finish Setting Up Your iPad reminder disappears, along with its red badge on the Settings app icon.
Now, how can I turn off the Apple TV+ and Apple Music ads, and tell iOS that I really don’t want a passcode or Touch ID on a certain device?
Previously:
Apple Pay iOS iOS 16 iPadOS iPadOS 16
