I had box office as well before it was taken off of the app store by Apple, however i discovered a much better app for movies which is OneTouch Movies. It only costs $1.99 and offers a smooth interface, movie trailers, and all showtimes. There is also a free version available by the same developer call Showtimes. Definitely better than box office, make the switch.
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Where did Box Office go? Gone from App store
- Thread starter HarryKeogh
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I paid for OneTap, and still enjoy and appreciate Box Office much more. Box Office is better than Showtimes and Movies.app, too.
I'm happy to have v1.2... but am still very, very curious to hear any updates on this situation. The most frustrating part is that the developer has been unable to get any answers whatsoever from Apple. That doesn't bode well for the future of developer relations and the App Store. Removing an app is one thing -- but not communicating to the developer WHY? So potentially the situation can be resolved? That's just inexcusable.
I'm happy to have v1.2... but am still very, very curious to hear any updates on this situation. The most frustrating part is that the developer has been unable to get any answers whatsoever from Apple. That doesn't bode well for the future of developer relations and the App Store. Removing an app is one thing -- but not communicating to the developer WHY? So potentially the situation can be resolved? That's just inexcusable.
it's true, Box Office was the only app that let me do it all:
browse movie times
watch trailers
see Rotten Tomato scores
buy tickets
All of the others lacked one or more of these features. And I really don't want to have multiple movie time apps on my iPhone. I have too many clutterred screens of apps as it is!
Fact is, Apple needs to come clean and EXPLAIN why this app has been pulled.
browse movie times
watch trailers
see Rotten Tomato scores
buy tickets
All of the others lacked one or more of these features. And I really don't want to have multiple movie time apps on my iPhone. I have too many clutterred screens of apps as it is!
Fact is, Apple needs to come clean and EXPLAIN why this app has been pulled.
I updated to 2.0.1 and the box office app updated from 1.1 (that crashed on opening it) to 1.2 and works perfectly! I'm not sure how I got the 1.2 update when it was never installed (and deleted off my iphone no less). Does that mean Apple has it stashed on a server somewhere?
no offence to the developer i'm sure he spent a lot of time designing the fantastic app (it is one of my favs by far)
but i have a feeling he is not disclosing all the details as it is almost certain that he was infringing on some property/copywrite laws with all the sources he was using. I find it hard to believe that they all allowed him to use there info for free. I have a feeling it is rotten tomato because this is the one feature that the other movie apps do not include.
but i have a feeling he is not disclosing all the details as it is almost certain that he was infringing on some property/copywrite laws with all the sources he was using. I find it hard to believe that they all allowed him to use there info for free. I have a feeling it is rotten tomato because this is the one feature that the other movie apps do not include.
I think it's pretty clear from his posts that he doesn't know. Note that his app is free and fully open source. Other devs are having this same problem getting info from Apple when their apps get pulled. So I don't think there is any basis for implying that he's being somehow misleading or deceptive.
Metasyntactic: any update?
No matter what the issue is, they should no simply pull an app without informing the developer of why. Apple must have a "comment" field that is filled when an app is pulled, why not let the developer see it.
Could you let me know where you got this information. Who do you not believe allows their information to be used?
Thanks!
The rottentomatoes fresh/rotten images are licensed for use (along with proper accreditation).
Cheers!
Not yet.
Also, as i mentioned before, i don't check this forum very often. So if you have any information, please email me directly: cyrusn@stwing.upenn.edu
Thanks!
Kyle, could you let me know what features you'd like to see in BoxOffice? They'll be things i can consider adding to 1.4.
email me: cyrusn@stwing.upenn.edu
Thanks!
Bring Box Office Back Legally?
I have a suggestion that might be a lot more productive than speculating that the developer might be hiding something. Like everyone else, I think it's a cool app and I'd like to see it come back. I do think it's "accidentally infringing" on the intellectual property of some other companies. Using their content without their consent is extremely risky, and giving it away for free doesn't make it any better in their eyes (witness Napster and Kazaa)- it's still their content and they still have the legal right to protect it.
My suggestion is that you approach Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, What's Showing, and the other companies you're aggregating content from and propose a licensing agreement. You could have 2 versions- basic (free) and premium ($1.99?), with some added features in the premium version- and a you could give them a split of the revenue as a licensing fee. Another option would be to keep it free but allow them to sponsor the app, with their logo included on the splash page and on relevant pages with their content.
I've done licensing agreements with many big companies (Paramount Pictures, Coca-Cola, etc.), and it's not as hard as it sounds- especially when you have a cool app. They might just be thrilled- especially if you tell Fandango you're also talking to MovieFone and some other movie ticket sites and you only have room for one of them- let them compete for you. If you get them on board, you could bring this back bigger and better- and you'd get a lot of free PR in the process.
Just my 2 cents worth...
I have a suggestion that might be a lot more productive than speculating that the developer might be hiding something. Like everyone else, I think it's a cool app and I'd like to see it come back. I do think it's "accidentally infringing" on the intellectual property of some other companies. Using their content without their consent is extremely risky, and giving it away for free doesn't make it any better in their eyes (witness Napster and Kazaa)- it's still their content and they still have the legal right to protect it.
My suggestion is that you approach Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, What's Showing, and the other companies you're aggregating content from and propose a licensing agreement. You could have 2 versions- basic (free) and premium ($1.99?), with some added features in the premium version- and a you could give them a split of the revenue as a licensing fee. Another option would be to keep it free but allow them to sponsor the app, with their logo included on the splash page and on relevant pages with their content.
I've done licensing agreements with many big companies (Paramount Pictures, Coca-Cola, etc.), and it's not as hard as it sounds- especially when you have a cool app. They might just be thrilled- especially if you tell Fandango you're also talking to MovieFone and some other movie ticket sites and you only have room for one of them- let them compete for you. If you get them on board, you could bring this back bigger and better- and you'd get a lot of free PR in the process.
Just my 2 cents worth...
+1, I doubt Metasyntactic is hiding anything, he has 16000 posts on Arstechnica.com and from his posts there seems like a decent guy.
Well, i've reached someone at Apple. I'll be talking with them next week to see what progress can be made on this. Wish me luck!
Good luck, its taken longer than it should, but at least its finally happening.
Good luck!
I have had BoxOffice since I got my iPhone about 2 and a half weeks ago. It seems the app was pulled only a few days after I got it.
I sync my phone daily and my 1.2 BoxOffice is still working fine and I hope it comes back to the AppStore for everyone else.
To whoever said ShowTimes is better than BoxOffice, it is definitely not. My friend wanted a movie app and got ShowTimes and it is terrible compared to BoxOffice.
I have had BoxOffice since I got my iPhone about 2 and a half weeks ago. It seems the app was pulled only a few days after I got it.
I sync my phone daily and my 1.2 BoxOffice is still working fine and I hope it comes back to the AppStore for everyone else.
To whoever said ShowTimes is better than BoxOffice, it is definitely not. My friend wanted a movie app and got ShowTimes and it is terrible compared to BoxOffice.
I have a question to the Dev.
Why is it that iTunes cannot unsyc Box Office off the phone. It has to be manually deleted. Is it an iTunes problem that seems to affect a handfull of apps?, or is this the reason Apple could have pulled it?
Why is it that iTunes cannot unsyc Box Office off the phone. It has to be manually deleted. Is it an iTunes problem that seems to affect a handfull of apps?, or is this the reason Apple could have pulled it?
No idea. The only guess i might have is that i store data locally on the phone. i.e. i use the 'application support' folder to cache data so that BoxOffice will be usable even without a net connection.