Apple is Another Dark Side

Friday, September 18, 2015

Haters are gonna hate, right? What can you do? One item I appreciate about the curated approach Apple takes to their App Stores, Mac and iOS, is that you cannot review an app on the store unless you own it. In whatever world does that make sense? A good world. A world where common sense prevails.

Let me contrast that with a view of the world from the other Dark Side. The original Dark Side belongs to Microsoft, a company that is behaving more like Apple under newly minted CEO Sataya Nadella. Free apps. Hardware and software. You get the idea. Imitation is a form of flattery.

The other Dark Side is Google, an advertising engine which generates revenue and profit riches, not so much from great software or hardware, but by advertising (which, in turn, is created to track users while they’re online, thereby increasing the value of the data they collect and sell… to advertisers).

One of the more obvious trends recently is the migration from Android smartphones and tablets to iPhones and iPads, a rate of transfer which seems to be growing recently and for which Apple feels the pain of Android device sufferers so much that the company created an Android app to make the migration faster and less painful.

The app is called Move To iOS and it’s a free download on Google’s Play Store, the Dark Side’s equivalent to the iTunes App Store. As of now there are over 10,000 so-called reviews of the Move To iOS app on Play. Roughly 80-percent are one star reviews, which are more complaints about Apple than actual reviews.

You don’t actually have to download and use Move To iOS to write a review on Play. What’s wrong with that picture, Google? An app review should be based upon actual usage, not on an opinion or perspective about the company behind the app. But not on the Dark Side. Reviews on the merits of an application? Nope. If the app is good, say so, but be willing to say why. If it’s not good, fine, but explain why it’s not good. Attacking the source of the app without actually trying said app can only be described as shallow and cowardly. On Google Play reviews are disguised as complaints, anger, hatred, trolling, and all the negative things you would expect from the more vocal dwellers on the Dark Side.

The comments by so-called reviewers are indicative of the internet’s perverse side, and another good reason why Apple’s curation continues to attract ever more customers, including those on the Dark Side who have seen the light.