Epic argues Apple has “no evidence” its app review process “screens for security issues better than other methods of app distribution”. It cites many examples of fraudulent apps, eg fake blood pressure detection tools and scams where users have been mislead into buying items

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

App Reviewers typically review between 50 to 100 apps per day … "In certain instances, reviews took less than a minute to review apps.”

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Apple is at once both overselling the benefits of the App Store reviews (we'll protect you! we're sophisticated!) and underdelivering massively (store is full of obvious scams). Only area where the review process actually works is in collecting fees. Disgraceful process.

— DHH (@dhh) April 8, 2021

apple finally said the quiet part out loud https://t.co/xFqgUzkAdP

— dan seifert (@dcseifert) April 9, 2021

if you're wondering what the rest of the world uses instead of iMessage:

• Europe: WhatsApp / FB Messenger
• China: WeChat
• South Africa: WhatsApp
• India: WhatsApp
• Australia: FB Messenger
• Ukraine: Viber
• Iran: Telegram

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 9, 2021

Not likely to produce warm fuzzies for either personal data privacy advocates nor cyber security managers: https://t.co/E8UbBcClBp

— Ira Michael Blonder (@mikethebbop) April 8, 2021

In Apple’s defense, the plastic butter knife it brings to its app review process is the best damn plastic butter knife that a 30% platform take can buy... https://t.co/EtCqVKB4ir

— Garrett Johnson (@garjoh_canuck) April 9, 2021

U.S. Senators Urge Apple to Reconsider Decision Not to Testify in Upcoming App Store Hearing https://t.co/Eff7yeQNAa by @julipuli pic.twitter.com/MAZoSX9V0H

— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) April 9, 2021

I don’t see why everyone’s talking about this.

Of course iMessage provides huge iOS lock-in. Of course Apple knows it.

Tech companies are under no obligation to be “open”. They’re open when it suits them and closed when it doesn’t, and that usually doesn’t warrant intervention. https://t.co/nhVqabN6sV

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) April 9, 2021

This shows that "security by obscurity" sooner or later will blow out. Unfortunately, more vendors don't even attach CVE numbers to the patches. #apple #cybersecurity #Hacking https://t.co/OvBpshegtD

— RedBlue Global (@RedBlueGlobal) April 8, 2021

Anyway iMessage for Android is one of those forever pipe dreams but I guess the case could be make that iMessage could be a gateway service in the way the iPod was a gateway device?

Yeah a stretch. Here’s the only argument that’s ever made sense to me:https://t.co/A0f5phTOhi

— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) April 9, 2021

CEO of Headspace became upset with the level of “egregious theft” on the App Store as copy-cats sprang up, stealing its IP.
“Shockingly, Apple [is] approving these apps, and when the users buy the apps they are left with nothing but some scammy chat rooms in the background."

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

In current job postings, listed qualifications for App Reviewers primarily include nontechnical skills such as teamwork, curiosity, clear communications and resilience. A thorough knowledge of macOS and iOS is noted as “helpful,” but not a requirement.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

New: @SenAmyKlobuchar, @SenMikeLee write to Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying it's unacceptable they have not agreed to send someone to testify at an upcoming Judiciary hearing on app stores https://t.co/SGuT3N2eFd

— Ashley Gold (@ashleyrgold) April 9, 2021

In 2015, Apple recognized that Google’s way of automating the screening process had some advantages. It acquired a company called SourceDNA to help detect malicious apps.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

BREAKING: @EpicGames v Apple in Australia has been stayed for three months (at least). Apple had argued the lawsuit should be heard in Northern California. More to come... @mlexclusive

— Laurel Henning (@L_K_Henning) April 9, 2021

It is fascinating how a generation of bad policy has allowed huge corporations to make people believe that anti-competitive behavior is actually competition

— nilay patel (@reckless) April 9, 2021

This thread explains so much. Why the App Store is full of scams, why rulings are so arbitrary, why its impossible to get clear answers. Apple hires essentially unskilled people to do the reviews, yet claims they're necessary to protect people. You can't have it both ways! https://t.co/e8gVqSTzdn

— DHH (@dhh) April 8, 2021

Wild to see Apple execs openly acknowledge the fact that blue bubbles are a huge lock-in advantage https://t.co/JLrZshfY06

— nilay patel (@reckless) April 9, 2021

Today in "things that are so obviously true, I mean have you seen the shade of green they chose" https://t.co/CvJq1jS5HB

— David Pierce (@pierce) April 9, 2021

How any of this justifies 30% is quite a mystery. https://t.co/8kblwY2GUM

— Anton Nekhaenko (@derloos) April 8, 2021

Totally rational when you're selling internet-connected jewellery made of sand you don't polish off the bling.

✨???✨

"[Moving] iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us" — Phil Schillerhttps://t.co/mSjZpVM1tI

— ⌗ChrisMessina (@chrismessina) April 9, 2021

“iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones,” was Federighi’s concern according to the Epic filing.https://t.co/PNcOw69hVg

— J Herskowitz (@jherskowitz) April 9, 2021

The reason Apple didn't make iMessage for Android is exactly what you thought.https://t.co/7TtFlmacw3

— Droid Life (@droid_life) April 9, 2021

Epic argues that Apple’s App Store review process is “cursory” and that Apple doesn’t recruit reviewers with sophisticated tech backgrounds.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

*Thread*
Overnight both @Apple and @EpicGames released hundreds of pages of new documents, containing lots of colour based on discovery and recent depositions. I stayed up reading so you don't have to. Here's what I learnt (couple *bombshells* in here)

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Hard to say iMessge on iOS only is problematic.

SMS was carrier specific & helped drive adoption. SMS was free in network, costly out of network. If you wanted to chat with your friends, VZW was the way to go.

AIM didn’t work with MSN Messenger. I could go on.

— Michael Gartenberg (@Gartenberg) April 9, 2021

All you Google folks who I know have tried (futilely) to get Apple to change the green dots, now's your chance -- what a story!

You should call me. https://t.co/LRTs1eValo

— Mark Bergen (@mhbergen) April 9, 2021

However in late 2017 Apple’s FEAR team still called the App Review process inadequate. Friedman said it “was more like the pretty lady who greets you with a lei at the Hawaiian airport than the drug sniffing dog.” pic.twitter.com/1jjxgTuSio

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

I don't know if we should bring reinforcements or popcorn ? https://t.co/dfrLSNvgsd pic.twitter.com/jxgBle3U14

— ⌗ChrisMessina (@chrismessina) April 9, 2021

Schiller responded, “moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why.”

Phil once told me never to put stuff like this in email because it might turn up on a deposition.

Also, Green Bubbles Rule! https://t.co/CHtjSSYKxE

— Michael Gartenberg (@Gartenberg) April 9, 2021

Senate hearings are largely performative. Skipping one is still an incredibly stupid move though.

Apple can send someone other than Tim Cook — but they need to send *someone.* https://t.co/zkIrMvgR4b

— Andrew Escobar (Andres) (@andrewe) April 9, 2021

NEW: @SenAmyKlobuchar and @SenMikeLee criticize @Apple's refusal to participate in an upcoming Senate hearing about anticompetitive practices in app stores.
Story on @TheTerminal via @business
Letter to @tim_cook here: https://t.co/JPjPyhlMjO

— Anna Edgerton (@annaedge4) April 9, 2021

Eric Friedman, head of Apple’s FEAR unit — Fraud Engineering Algorithms and Risk — said in a recent deposition that his team believed the App Review team was inadequate to the risks posed by malicious actors, saying they were “bringing a plastic butter knife to a gun fight.”

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee are blasting Apple CEO Tim Cook over a decision not to testify in an upcoming Senate hearing on app store policies: https://t.co/33LqGSc8x9 pic.twitter.com/7rF3jTrA5F

— Brian Fung (@b_fung) April 9, 2021

Looking forward to some revelations in this court filing about bears’ toilet habits too. https://t.co/PNNJwpIwzK

— Charles Arthur (@charlesarthur) April 9, 2021

Former head of App Review says some apps were “remov[ed]” “immediately” because Mr. Schiller and Mr. Cue were “adamant” about (their) removal, despite Mr. Shoemaker’s “protest[s]” that there was no clear justification for doing so under the app review guidelines.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

I believe both of these are true:

1. Apple’s arguments to prohibit third-party IAP methods for digital goods are flimsy, unreasonable, and anticompetitive;

and

2. Apple’s IAP system is easier for most customers, and it should compete with its merits on a level playing field. https://t.co/C86iI3s9mT

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) April 9, 2021

The Apple and Epic Games saga continues.https://t.co/tevmIytqjW

— Gizmodo Australia (@GizmodoAU) April 9, 2021

I’m less surprised by the fact that Apple executives are just openly worried that people would switch to Android if it has iMessage than I am at how much of these conversations are happening over email.https://t.co/VYOvVvcKof

— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) April 9, 2021

Tomorrow's @FT runs with @PatrickMcGee_ 's Apple vs Epic story on front page of its Companies section. It is going to be interesting to see how this case gets resolved. You can read the article here: https://t.co/dNcJZilnfY ($) pic.twitter.com/ZCq3udpPA3

— Ben Wood (@benwood) April 8, 2021

“The revelation could be a significant blow to Apple’s defence, which rests on its insistence that the contentious 30 per cent “tax” ... s necessary to fund curation of the store and protect consumers from malware” https://t.co/7mLxb7tCwQ

— Simonetta Vezzoso ? (@wavesblog) April 9, 2021

Certain apps that may have competed with Apple’s apps or features, such as Google Voice, were “rejected on pretextual grounds”.

(that is, competitive reasons)

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Amazon Seems To Have Crushed The Union Drive In Alabama https://t.co/zkP2gxZ4bi via @ceodonovan

— mat honan (@mat) April 9, 2021

I’m thinking that whoever in the Apple legal team decided to put the adequacy of app store moderation squarely at issue in the Epic Games (Fortnite) litigation... maybe didn’t realize quite what a can of worms they were opening. https://t.co/2IX7coCDPp

— Daphne Keller (@daphnehk) April 9, 2021

The words "content moderation" and "discovery" (in the litigation sense) should give anyone in this space a little thrill.
That might be a thrill of delight, horror, amusement, schadenfreude, or any number of other feels. It all depends where you stand. https://t.co/OHUCRfVP2p

— Daphne Keller (@daphnehk) April 9, 2021

Apple was negotiating w/ the cmte then abruptly informed them they wouldn't be sending anyone, citing ongoing litigation, Klobuchar & Lee say. hearing is apparently in two weeks.

— Ashley Gold (@ashleyrgold) April 9, 2021

When the App Store first began, applicants were considered qualified if they “understood how to use a Mac”, “understood how to use an iPhone”, “understood a little about the Apple brand”, “could breathe . . . could think”.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Epic's Case Against Apple in Australia Might Be Over https://t.co/8oW96UB2Wz pic.twitter.com/Br7DXHtTMu

— MacRumors Front Page (@MacRumorsFP) April 9, 2021

Basically the App Store is a cash cow monopoly that Apple only uses to attack competition, make boatloads of cash for doing nothing, and doesn't really protect users. https://t.co/oFDvrOBDNH

— Joe Youngblood (@YoungbloodJoe) April 8, 2021

it's funny to see Apple admit iMessage lock-in is a thing, but it's mainly a big deal in the US. Nobody cares about iMessage in Europe https://t.co/meVAKLY39i

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 9, 2021

"Friedman likened @Apple’s process of reviewing new apps for the App Store to 'more like the pretty lady who greets you …at the Hawaiian airport than the drug-sniffing dog'. He added that Apple was ill-equipped to 'deflect sophisticated attackers'." https://t.co/bjH7BDq3SR

— Peter Coffee (@petercoffee) April 8, 2021

Tim Cook is too busy to appear before the United States Senate to answer for Apple’s App Store abuses. Funny how he always seemed to have time to appear as Trump’s little helper at any photo op! Democracy, schmocrazy! https://t.co/zruONK1qEs

— DHH (@dhh) April 9, 2021

"A senior Apple engineer compared the defences of its App Store against malicious actors to “bringing a plastic butter knife to a gunfight”.. The revelation could be a significant blow to Apple’s defence [that a 30% tax] is necessary to protect consumers"https://t.co/7PilnoSEAS

— DHH (@dhh) April 8, 2021

Epic said the volume of apps submitted “does not permit robust review."

As of April 2016 the human review process typically took 13 mins per app and 6 minutes per app update.

— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) April 8, 2021

Apple admits it almost brought iMessage to Android.https://t.co/7TtFlmacw3

— Droid Life (@droid_life) April 9, 2021