Apple on Monday tapped its Push Notifications mechanism to remind users that they can donate money to (RED) charity by purchasing (RED)-branded iPhone and iPad apps.
The company has also created a donation page in the App Store (the first banner below ‘Games for (RED)’ section) for simple, convenient and frictionless donations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200.
A dedicated donation webpage is available at RED.org, but it requires you to use a web browser and type in your credit card information, as opposed to the simplicity of iTunes billing.
Reminding folks to “get great apps and help (RED) fight AIDS” via a push alert did not sit well with some nit-picky watchers. I’m talking about Instapaper and Tumblr creator Marco Arment whose blog post insists Apple broke its own rule about using Push Notifications for promotions.
Some people piggy-backed on Marco’s blog post and tweeted out their disdain because the App Store sent them the (RED) notification, twice.
“This is clearly a promotion, will annoy thousands or millions of people and is in direct violation of the least-enforced rule in the App Store,” Arment wrote explaining his first-world problem with Apple’s promo alert.
Claiming Apple broke its own rule is something of an exaggeration. Who’s to say that App Store rules must apply to Apple? Just because a rule exist for third-party apps doesn’t mean Apple itself should abide to it.
Apple on Monday tapped its Push Notifications mechanism to remind users that they can donate money to (RED) charity by purchasing (RED)-branded iPhone and iPad apps.
The company has also created a donation page in the App Store (the first banner below ‘Games for (RED)’ section) for simple, convenient and frictionless donations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200.
A dedicated donation webpage is available at RED.org, but it requires you to use a web browser and type in your credit card information, as opposed to the simplicity of iTunes billing.
Reminding folks to “get great apps and help (RED) fight AIDS” via a push alert did not sit well with some nit-picky watchers. I’m talking about Instapaper and Tumblr creator Marco Arment whose blog post insists Apple broke its own rule about using Push Notifications for promotions.
Some people piggy-backed on Marco’s blog post and tweeted out their disdain because the App Store sent them the (RED) notification, twice.
“This is clearly a promotion, will annoy thousands or millions of people and is in direct violation of the least-enforced rule in the App Store,” Arment wrote explaining his first-world problem with Apple’s promo alert.
Claiming Apple broke its own rule is something of an exaggeration. Who’s to say that App Store rules must apply to Apple? Just because a rule exist for third-party apps doesn’t mean Apple itself should abide to it.
