Apple has a significant Chinese customer base, and nearly all of its critical manufacturing and assembly partners are based there. Trump’s ban might not only force Apple to remove WeChat from its App Store — which would destroy Apple’s Chinese smartphone business — it could existentially change how Apple is able to build and sell new products in the future.
It's unclear how the companies plan to implement the Trump administration's executive order, which becomes effective on Sept. 20, or the State Department program. Representatives for Apple and Google didn't respond to requests for comment.
But both companies have removed plenty of apps in response to foreign government requests. It may be unprecedented for the U.S. to ban apps on a national level, but other governments do it all the time.
Perhaps the most important question for all of us, though, is how Apple came to revoke the certificate of a developer whose apps have passed its malware checks when undergoing notarization. In revoking that certificate, Apple was surely admitting that malicious software signed by that developer had been detected, and that the Notary Service had proved inadequate to prevent its notarization and distribution. Doesn’t that undermine the whole justification for notarization?
In a petition on Change.org, Prepear goes on to say, “before attacking us, Apple has opposed dozens of other trademark applications filed by small businesses with fruit related logos. Many of those logos were changed or abandoned. Most small businesses cannot afford the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to fight Apple.”
At my job, it can be frustrating, for me, to be not able to PHP my way out of problems. I guess this is similar kind of frustration that some other people may feel to be not able to throw money to get rid of problems.
~
Thanks for reading.