Not arguing about the point that Apple can decide what runs on your phone, but in this case Facebook was in clear violation of the terms of agreement.
And they only shut down their enterprise apps not the actual Facebook app.
It's not really an agreement, if you want to support Apple customers you either accept or leave that market to Apple itself. For something like social networking, that's absolutely massive, and we can't say that Apple has been shy to duplicate and replace applications with their own versions, and push them along with their ecosystem.
What we see here are two monopolists fighting, it's hard to pick a side but imagine what chances a startup has in this environment. The robber barons are back.
In this particular case the agreement is not the app store agreement but a entreprise certificate for which you have to apply separately and which gives you special treatment. It enables you to create and distribute apps without going through app store review under condition that you will never distribute them outside your organisation. Facebook quite deliberately violated this rule.
> it's hard to pick a side but imagine what chances a startup has in this environment.
Facebook is constantly paranoid about new social media networks taking away their advertising space. This is them admitting a startup has a chance in the environment. Social media platforms gain huge traction and lose favor every year. Facebook sticking is an unnatural position and they know it.
Apple's flagship product, the iPhone is suffering from longer and longer upgrade cycles as the category matures. Many people are starting to ask if a new product category can replace smartphones. This is coming at a time when Apple doesn't have Jobs, and it's possible they won't be in the early wave of innovators on the next tech wave. A small innovative team could outperform Apple on this front.
