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

marketwatch.com

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

#421

Post by wilsonnb3 »

danShumway wrote: post #327
Donzo wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A website from 1996 will look much the same in a modern version of Chrome. Good luck with your SDKs.

To be fair, browsers aren't always perfect about preserving backwards compatibility for every API. Miles ahead of native, and hundreds of miles ahead of mobile. For the most part, the web is one of the most future-proof platforms you can develop for, if not the most future-proof platform you can develop for. But there's still room to improve.

IBM mainframes are the most future-proof platform you can develop for. Current mainframes have backwards compatibility going back to the 70's. Perhaps even the 60's.

The web is probably second, though. Either the web or Windows.

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

#422

Post by Karunamon »

amelius wrote: post #401
kitsunesoba wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They're already trying to control the UX with the TV app and are offering companies better rev share rates to do the integration work. To be fair, that’s not the only reason the TV app was created. Most notably: – Users want a single place to keep track of all the shows they’re following across all services. Streaming services weren’t coming up with a cooperative solution for this, so Apple did it instead. – Plainl…

> Users want a single place to Imho, we've got to solve that "single place" problem, because it creates a winner-takes-all situation. Not just with apps, but also taxi-cabs, food-delivery, etc. Perhaps a government should step in and say that you can have a "single place" but only if you don't abuse your power.

It's not something you can solve. People want single apps because having to switch across multiple services and multiple accounts (and pay multiple $$$) and remembering what shows are on what services is a piss poor user experience.

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

#423

Post by windows_tips »

ysavir wrote: post #404
sametmax wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Apple controlling the UI means, as usual, they kill other services ability to innovate. But most apple users don't care to have very limited capabilities as long as the core value is here and it's streamlined in the apple experience. Hell, they used a phone without copy/paste for a long time and it didn't bother them.

Companies aren't innovating anymore, though. We've reached the point where we have dominant players controlling the field, and any "innovation" we see has to do only with profit margins.

Maybe the "smartphone" format is played out for now. New innovation may need to come from a new or emerging industry.

Following price and size trends, the next industry would be making a device ~1/50th the size of a "smartphone". Something like the size of a large SD card, probably.

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

#424

Post by wilsonnb3 »

cm2187 wrote: post #366
threeseed wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have painted this false dichotomy. In Apple's world: The users come first. Everyone else second.

I strongly disagree. Apple has made a lot of user-hostile moves recently. Suppressing ports to sell more dongles, constant nagging for apple paid services, uping prices to make up for lack of growth in volumes. Profits first, users and developers not on the map.

I find it amusing that people think a company making $10B in profit a quarter is trying to use $30 dollar dongles to make money.

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

#425

Post by close04 »

scarface74 wrote: post #403
close04 wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Play Store is at the other end of the spectrum where you can literally upload massive amounts of malware and no one bats an eye.

The issue is not that a manual review process should catch bugs. The issue is that Android’s permission system allows it.

Who said anything about bugs? The point is to do something proactive to stop apps that don't conform to your policies (whichever they may be - maybe you don't allow collection of data, or using a specific interface, definitely not malware, etc.) instead of just reacting, and even that too late.

Apple is at one extreme blocking even legitimate things for obscure and esoteric reasons. Google is at the other, letting all kinds of crap in the store only to review it later, maybe. [1]

I'm sure my remark ruffled feathers on some Android fans but it doesn't make it less true.

[1] https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/30/google-play-removed-70000...

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

#426

Post by wilsonnb3 »

andyfleming wrote: post #177
dperfect wrote: post #174

> They are being redirected to the mobile web version of the app and asked to enter payment details with Netflix directly. Sorry, but if Apple's policies are applied consistently (I know they often aren't), this won't fly. I have an app with a basic email/password sign-in screen (the app represents a small part of a larger web-based SaaS product). Apple has rejected my app for including anything in the app that even…

IF applied consistently. This is Netflix though. I'll be interested to see how this plays out.

It's a lot easier and cheaper to switch from a $10 a month Netflix subscription to a $10 a month Hulu/HBO Go/Amazon Prime subscription than it is to switch from an iPhone to an Android phone.

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

#427

Post by ezekg »

happywage wrote: post #380

I have a startup which builds a web-based enterprise product. A year ago we launched a companion app that provides a fraction of the functionality of the desktop application, just enough to help our customers extract the key information they need when they're on the road. All of a sudden a few days Apple decides we have to implement in-app payments. I explained them that this is an enterprise product for an arcane in…

Do you have any mentions of registering/purchasing in-app? I'd remove those, including any links leading to your website, and only show a login screen. I bet they'd let that pass. I think their main goal is making sure the possibility of registrations/purchases outside of IAP is near-zero.

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

#428

Post by wilsonnb3 »

realusername wrote: post #413
sjwright wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fantastic. Some people agree with your views and there are products and software distributions in the market to satisfy them. Some people prefer the way Apple does things. Everyone's preferences are being catered for, and that is wonderful.

the crippled smartphones won the war, there's no real "usable" product for my preferences unfortunately :/.

Can you not install whatever app you want on an Android phone, as long as you enable sideloading in the settings?

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

#429

Post by scarface74 »

rhodysurf wrote: post #408
scarface74 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name one....

Their apps are free to use private APIs and other devs are banned from using them

I keep hearing this use of “private APIs” that Microsoft and Apple use and think it’s some evil plot.

This how software engineering works.

If I have a publicly released module, I define a public methods that are my interface and private methods that my interface uses.

Of course as the implementator I’m going to have “private APIs” that only I use. In the next release, I might change the entire underlying implementation get rid of private methods, etc. but still not change the public api. You as a developer shouldn’t depend on “private apis” and Apple should have no obligation not to break apps that depend on them.

To be even more blunt. There is no such thing as a “private API”. The Application Programmers Interface is the published spec that developers should use. By definition, if it’s private, it’s not an “API”.

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