Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#91

Post by ivl » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:48 PM UTC

nickjj wrote: post #80

autokad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "he 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable." Not really, the fee's much of big tech often puts on people are draconian, and they are able to continue doing so because of the monopolies they hold. 30% is huge. Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line. > "Want to bypass that cut?" break the monopolies. The cuts big tech muscle on their constituents actually hurts them in…

> Just try running a business when you loose 30% strait off the top line. What's your take on taxes? Most business owners lose a lot more than 30% straight off the top from governments with no way to opt out (other than not to work at all which isn't really feasible in most countries if you want to enjoy your life).

No, with taxes they lose (typically sub) 30 % off the top of profit, not revenue. This is 30 % off the top on revenue.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#92

Post by sparkpeasy » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:50 PM UTC

bepotts wrote: post #46

peatmoss wrote: post #20

I miss the idea that a platform, applications, and marketplace were not a vertical stack owned by one entity. As a consumer, I’d love to buy a phone, not a content distribution straight jacket.

As a consumer, I love it. I love that I buy an iPhone and Apple doesn't allow any non-trusted binaries to run on my phone, enforces strict style guidelines (the average app just looks better on my iPhone than Android IMO), has one place where all possible apps are, maintains a distribution channels that allows all my apps to be updated easily, and builds hardware and software that is designed to work together. I love…

All this plus-it is so much easier to have all my subscriptions for apps in one place to know who I'm paying monthly, and to able to cancel them all in one place through Apple.

I'm tired of signing up for subscriptions and going through a series of dark patterns on a zillion websites to figure out how to manage and cancel my subscriptions. The worst is when there's one click to subscribe and they make you phone in to an annoying retention specialist to cancel.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#93

Post by hobofan » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:50 PM UTC

bepotts wrote: post #79

microtonal wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple and Google not only created the device and funded the R & D for the features, but also created the APIs, the tools, the infrastructure, and attracted the (hundreds of millions of) users. The 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable. Want to bypass that cut? Build a web app and make it play well on mobile. I can understand the argument that they should accept the 30% cut to be listed in and downloa…

Only on the internet does the notion of a "gatekeeper" leading to some authoritarian universe make sense. In the real word, it isn't immoral to sell devices that don't run non-trusted binaries. If Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai could speak to every user and tell them "the reason our platform's default behavior is to not run non-trusted apps is because we don't want your device to get viruses or perform non-trusted functi…

Yes, because the average user buys into the lie that "by adhering to this one simple trick you get 100% security", just like people tolerate the TSA with the same reasoning as a means "to fight terrorism".

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#94

Post by smacktoward » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:50 PM UTC

bepotts wrote: post #10

Apple and Google not only created the device and funded the R & D for the features, but also created the APIs, the tools, the infrastructure, and attracted the (hundreds of millions of) users. The 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable. Want to bypass that cut? Build a web app and make it play well on mobile. If you want to run it on Android and iOS devices, then I don't really see how anyone can say…

> The 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable.

When you're a platform vendor, what's reasonable is something you work out collaboratively with the people who use your platform. They will frequently have different ideas of what's reasonable than you do. You can disagree, but if you simply refuse to negotiate the users will eventually get fed up and go somewhere else. To succeed as a platform vendor you need users, so it's in your interest to be flexible enough to find a modus vivendi that both you and your users feel is reasonable -- or at least, close enough to reasonable for everyone to live with.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#95

Post by 99052882514569 » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:51 PM UTC

Redoubts wrote: post #76

patmcc wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30% of a single app purchase might be reasonable, we can argue about that. 30% of a recurring monthly subscription (like netflix) is bonkers.

It's half that after 1 year.

15% of a recurring monthly subscription (like netflix) is bonkers.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#96

Post by orf » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #87

orf wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which is a valuable lesson - a lesson in learning to be a rational, critical, grown-up human being. Well... you can phrase it like some life lesson, sure. In reality 1% of 3 million kids clicking on 'Free vbux!!' and converting is 30,000 kids having malware ridden phones, doing god knows what to god knows who. Is increasing the profits of malware distributors by so much really worth some hand-wavy "teach kids to be…

In reality 1% of 3 million kids clicking on 'Free vbux!!' and converting is 30,000 kids having malware ridden phones, doing god knows what to god knows who. Well, most of those kids will run outdated Android versions with many known vulnerabilities. And they cannot update their phones, because they have locked firmware and walled-garden OS, largely put in place to make them buy new phones. Again, the proper solution…

> Again, the proper solution beyond a good security baseline is to educate people.

"The beatings will continue until your security improves!"

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#97

Post by s73v3r_ » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #67

gst wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, an iOS device is also the property of its owner and the owner should be allowed (morally) to install software outside the app store. Even if that comes with potential security problems. Android already permits this. The owner has the choice between iOS and Android. Why should Apple change their policies (and lose revenue) if the majority of users appear to be sufficiently happy with those restrictions (oth…

I won't deny that there are many many users that do not care. However, I disagree that there is a real choice in the current duopoly. Android allows you to install applications outside the app store. However, you trade this possibility for continuous data harvesting by Google and only a limited window of updates. So, the choice is largely: some freedom ^ (privacy | long-term updates) Freedom, privacy, and long-term u…

Just because you aren't having all your desires perfectly catered to does not mean that there is not real choice. It means that, like everything else in life, you have to make tradeoffs.

Re: Netflix is the latest company to try bypassing Apple’s app store

#98

Post by gowld » Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

gst wrote: post #29

microtonal wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple and Google not only created the device and funded the R & D for the features, but also created the APIs, the tools, the infrastructure, and attracted the (hundreds of millions of) users. The 30% cut they ask of developers is more than reasonable. Want to bypass that cut? Build a web app and make it play well on mobile. I can understand the argument that they should accept the 30% cut to be listed in and downloa…

> However, an iOS device is also the property of its owner and the owner should be allowed (morally) to install software outside the app store. Even if that comes with potential security problems. Android already permits this. The owner has the choice between iOS and Android. Why should Apple change their policies (and lose revenue) if the majority of users appear to be sufficiently happy with those restrictions (oth…