The intent of the post was to share experiences and lessons, not to promote what we did at Pingjam. We already went through that discussion several months ago when we were working to get Pingjam accepted by developers. Some developers (including very respectable apps) liked our service and tried us out, some did not. To each their own.
Since I don't think it's useful to discuss what we did - I'll refrain from fully explaining what we did, why we thought it was a good thing, the value that the service provided to users or how we made sure to follow best practices on opt-ins, opt-outs, privacy, etc'. You are welcome to think what you want about our service.
Regardless of whether you like the service we provided or not, we went through a certain set of experiences that can be useful to others. If you choose to take anything from that - I hope it helps you in whatever you are doing.
Thanks for the comments and don't get us wrong, we fully agree that everyone's privacy should be respected. This is why we started this endeavor by consulting a crack team of lawyers and by surveying a lot of users to understand where the line is drawn by both.
We went for the less invasive option, and when all was said and done - almost all we did that exposed any 3rd party details was to show you the name of the person that is calling you. After all, if they are calling you they either want to share their name with you anyway or they are shady to begin with.
Again no problem with having clear directions and following them. Huge problem with arbitrary, terminal decisions that come without dialogue or an opportunity to understand what is deemed wrong.
Is Apple kinder to developers than google? I always thought it was the other way around but maybe apple's process you before publishing the app is kinder than google's "shoot you in the back" attitude. At least with apple when you are in - chances are that you will stay in...
The intent of the post was to share experiences and lessons, not to promote what we did at Pingjam. We already went through that discussion several months ago when we were working to get Pingjam accepted by developers. Some developers (including very respectable apps) liked our service and tried us out, some did not. To each their own. Since I don't think it's useful to discuss what we did - I'll refrain from fully explaining what we did, why we thought it was a good thing, the value that the service provided to users or how we made sure to follow best practices on opt-ins, opt-outs, privacy, etc'. You are welcome to think what you want about our service.
Regardless of whether you like the service we provided or not, we went through a certain set of experiences that can be useful to others. If you choose to take anything from that - I hope it helps you in whatever you are doing.