Tech is Life: AZ-186-JE

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.

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