Topic: Potential fix for Apple Bitcoin ban (Read 5502 times)

If Apple had ban bitcoin there would not be a bitcoin wallet app on their app store, they would get rid of the rest of the bitcoin apps as well. I have heard they don't allow apps which download the blockchain, while I don't support the blocking of any non dangerous apps. Not sure anyone would want a 13 gig wallet app either.

There is no way in hell Microsoft would use windows to attack users and create a botnet. The backlash would pretty much put them out of business or in jail, and would be ineffective in a couple weeks anyway. A GPU botnet would pretty much just burn out gpu's as well. Anyone who has tried to gpu mine without taking the cover off and turning the fan's up could tell you that idea is not gonna fly.

Did PayPal, Visa and MasterCard loose any significant market share over the Wikileaks blockade?

These attacks you speak of will never happen because apple execs aren't brain-dead. Due to user backlash they would lose the remainder of their ever-dwindling market share quicker than you can say Satoshi Nakamoto.

Same goes for Microsoft.

You forget who these companies work for.

Apart from what Apple has already done namely ban Bitcoin applications which has had minimal impact on Bitcoin only because there are many Bitcoin users that 1) do not use IOS devices for Bitcoin or 2) have jailbroken their devices. Here are some examples from https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses

1) Cancer Nodes
Turn every iPhone an iPad that has not been jailbroken into a Bitcoin Cancer node.
2) Timejacking http://culubas.blogspot.ca/2011/05/timejacking-bitcoin_802.html
Turn every iPhone an iPad that has not been jailbroken into a Bitcoin timejacking node.
3) Rival/malicious client code
Apple has the market share to pull this off
...
n) any attack where one controls a substantial number of Bitcoin nodes, hash power etc.

These attacks work because Apple and not the end users has control over the software and hardware.

This is not just Apple FUD as Microsoft is moving in he same direction with Windows 8 RT and given Microsoft’s desktop OS market share this can even post a greater threat to Bitcoin. Let us not forget that both these companies are based in the United States and are therefore subject to US law.

Here is an example of a 51% attack by Microsoft: A Windows update that turns every GPU on a Windows machine into a Bitcoin mining node to mine a bad blockchain. To hide itself this could used only say 10% of the GPU power.

These are variations of the Treacherous Computing attack on Bitcoin. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html The warning on Treacherous Computing was first published by Richard Stallman over a decade ago and is extremely relevant to the security of Bitcoin.

Fanboy detected

Please state a specific example of how Apple could attack Bitcoin or Bitcoin users.

I will start with the fact that Apple's business model for IOS poses a threat to the integrity and security of Bitcoin. Why because if one gives centralized control over computing devices to a single authority by means of DRM, then one has already set the stage for all sort of attacks against Bitcoin, since the security of Bitcoin depends on individual users having complete control over their computing devices.

Do not get me wrong I do not expect for example a 51% attack against Bitcoin to work at all, in-spite of the efforts of Apple with IOS or Microsoft with Windows 8 RT. Nevertheless it makes very little sense to me why anyone involved with Bitcoin would want to support a business model that poses such a security threat to Bitcoin.

Not sure what all this apple hating is about, no one likes their censoring and that part makes sense. Although a 5 year old could jailbreak a iphone. When you produce the best phone and have the largest selection of apps, I guess you get jealous haters. Only one android phone even turns a profit these days, you can hardly get upset that a company likes to turn a profit on thier products.

Is that cross compatibility? Sounds more like inbreeding.

It depends on your definition of minority.  Personally, I don't like to exclude 100+ million customers.

This reminds me of the browser wars back in the day.  I use to hate coding for Intenet Explorer.  Not only was it a hassle, it added extra cost to every job.  but even when traffic dropped below 50% from IE, we still do it.  why?  Because we don't want to miss that business.

On a brick and mortar business, do you make the door only 2 ft wide?  Why not?  the majority of people would fit through that door, right?

You can say that Apple users are a minority and all that, but they are still (and will be for some time) a significant minority.  These sorts of issues are obstacles that bitcoin will have to figure out how to work with, not avoid.  If we are serious about mass acceptance, then we're going to have to learn how to accommodate a very wide range of customers.

Otherwise, you might as well be Paypal...

Still a large number of people not using Bitcoin... he has a point.  They may be a minority, but it's still tens of millions (or hundreds of millions?) of people.

Oh c'mon, people with apple products are negligible. They are a minority.

Say, one app which has nothing to do with bitcoin, can capture an image and upload it to a web site. Then bitcoin app can send "take a picture" signal to the first app, and then download the image. If they can't talk directly within the iPhone, maybe they can use an external website for communication.

The problem is not me using Apple products (I do), but the real problem is that my customers use Apple products.  And guess what?  They can pay with a credit card or Paypal or any number of other payment methods with their devices.

So, it is hurting bitcoin, not Apple.  Every single person using an iPhone or IPad buying something online is someone not using bitcoins to make that same purchase.

That means a lot to people who sell things online, and it is really their support that bitcoin needs, not the other way around.

iOS users are a small minority here, but I agree with you.  For a phone, I want something that just works.  I don't want to fiddle with it, or worry about what I am downloading might crash my phone, reduce battery life, contain malware, or something worse.  I want to know that all of the apps I see listed work as intended and don't do anything I don't want behind the scenes.  So, in that way, I appreciate Apple's stringent censorship - there are still so many apps to choose from I couldn't possibly have time enough to try them all.

Also, the cross-compatibility is excellent.  I think I have 8 relatives who all use iPhones, and I can text pictures and video to them for free without even having to pay for any sort of texting plan.  That is great, and saves me a decent amount on my monthly bill.  I know I can recommend an app to any of them and their phones will run it.  With Android, I'd have to look up their model of phone, determine whether their system specs are up to snuff and if their current OS version is recent enough, or if they need to update it, etc.  There is something to be said for this sort of simplicity.

The ONE blackspot in my mind is their elimination of Bitcoin apps.  However, I think that may change in the future.  Apple allows a Paypal app, various banking apps, etc, without taking a cut of those transactions.  I think as Bitcoin becomes more popular and more users complain about being unable to transact with Bitcoins on iOS without going through special gyrations to get blockchain.info running, Apple will eventually cave and allow it, just as they have with Paypal and banking apps.

It is not hard to avoid apple today, other products are cheaper and are better...

Gonna have to agree with the replies before me, easiest way to stop Apple is to stop using Apple products.  They overcharge just to tell you what they think you should do with your phone.  And if you disagree, too bad.  Apple's word is law, and their TOS is the holy bible.

Nice graph, but it is so old.

Android market share today is 75% or more 

This

Apple don't even innovate anymore... its been practically the same phone since the 4.
The app store is great... soon to overtake Iphones.

I don't want some central authority dictating what I can or cannot put on my phone.
I have a wallpaper of a girl wiggling her tits and a torrenting app...
And my Bitcoin wallet will not be withdrawn anytime soon... I bet it will (again) on IOS.

Android is awesome!

Making jailbreaks keeps getting harder. You may soon find that you can't install apps that require jailbreaking anymore. Also, the latest Android phones are better than iPhones in practically every respect. They are fast, fluid, easy to use, reliable. Get a Nexus 4 and see how you feel about it after that.