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Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

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Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#21

Post by umvi »

supernova87a wrote: post #14

And could someone please explain where there's an expectation of equal access and right to appear with a certain preference in a closed app store's search results? Or not to have your app's functionality copied by anyone else?

Well, there's at least an implicit expectation that a "platform" farming out work to (and taking a cut from) 3rd party developers should be neutral with regard to app ratings and popularity

Apple wants to have its cake and eat it to (have a non-neutral platform that favors only them while implying the platform is neutral to their money cows).

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#22

Post by physicsyogi »

This isn't cool, but it doesn't bother me too much because iOS app store search has been useless from day one. It should almost never be used unless you already know what you're looking for. There are better places to find music or notetaking apps to download.

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#23

Post by awinter-py »

watching a video of bill gates on the indoor toilets project now vs in the 90s giving DOJ depos is like watching xergiok get his eyes back

The DOJ isn't a subtle instrument and there are a lot of up-and-comers gunning for this (yelp, for example, was part of the group that lobbied margrethe vestager to take down G in europe)

The investigations that are coming into the tech cos will going to be like gladiatorial combat. It will be like the microsoft hearings combined with the kavanaugh confirmation combined with the mel brooks passion movie

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#24

Post by heisenbit »

The app store is not only keeping the competition down but is hampering innovation. At the size of this business this is an existential threat to Apple‘s ecosystem as old ideas get tired and new can not get a toehold. They really need to get out of being an abysmal marketing platform and focus on distribution mechanics.

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#25

Post by jimbokun »

rogerkirkness wrote: post #3

The world of atoms is the same as the world of bits: you really want to control the means of distribution. Uncreative product managers at platform companies target the most successful apps first. You can pick the winners of the evolutionary process, take a skim while you're learning and then copy them with something using private APIs. I don't think that's wrong necessarily but people seem shocked every time it happe…

> You can pick the winners of the evolutionary process, take a skim while you're learning and then copy them with something using private APIs.

Right back to the Microsoft-Windows business model from the 1990s.

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#26

Post by simion314 »

mooreds wrote: post #7
rogerkirkness wrote: post #3

The world of atoms is the same as the world of bits: you really want to control the means of distribution. Uncreative product managers at platform companies target the most successful apps first. You can pick the winners of the evolutionary process, take a skim while you're learning and then copy them with something using private APIs. I don't think that's wrong necessarily but people seem shocked every time it happe…

My question is, why aren't the folks at the platform companies who do this worried about biting the hand that feeds them? Haven't they seen platforms get pilloried before? Aren't they worried about alienating developers and decreasing the value of the platform? Or is it the death of a thousand cuts, where each product manager thinks "ah, just this one time won't hurt"?

There are business that must have an mobile app and a website, you can't screw half of your customers and tell them to buy other phone. Developers did not like to develop for IE but the businesses had no choice to support IE because the customers were demanding it.

So as a individual you can decide to buy an Android but as a business sometimes(maybe most of the time ?) you can't decide not to support iOS or Android, you have to support both.

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#28

Post by TeMPOraL »

mooreds wrote: post #7
rogerkirkness wrote: post #3

The world of atoms is the same as the world of bits: you really want to control the means of distribution. Uncreative product managers at platform companies target the most successful apps first. You can pick the winners of the evolutionary process, take a skim while you're learning and then copy them with something using private APIs. I don't think that's wrong necessarily but people seem shocked every time it happe…

My question is, why aren't the folks at the platform companies who do this worried about biting the hand that feeds them? Haven't they seen platforms get pilloried before? Aren't they worried about alienating developers and decreasing the value of the platform? Or is it the death of a thousand cuts, where each product manager thinks "ah, just this one time won't hurt"?

> Haven't they seen platforms get pilloried before?

Have you? I haven't.

> Aren't they worried about alienating developers and decreasing the value of the platform?

I think Twitter is a perfect counterexample here; roughly every three years it pulls something that should completely alienate the developers and destroy the platform, but after the first wave of "omg Twitter's new TOS destroys my business" articles falls off the news cycle, developers decide to stay and keep playing that game.

It turns out the allure of making money on someone else's established platform is very strong.

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#29

Post by travisjungroth »

supernova87a wrote: post #14

And could someone please explain where there's an expectation of equal access and right to appear with a certain preference in a closed app store's search results? Or not to have your app's functionality copied by anyone else?

There are three areas of reasoning of why people might consider this bad: moral, legal, and business. A consumer might be offended by this behavior and take their business elsewhere. A citizen may believe this is against the law and point it out. A vendor might dislike these terms and complain publicly.

What’s not fair is to completely disengage from someone’s area of reasoning to pick a more favorable ground. I see this all the time.

“This is immoral!” “Who cares? It’s legal.”

“This is illegal!” “Who cares? Take your business elsewhere.”

“These are terrible business terms!” “Who cares? It’s moral.”

Re: Apple Dominates App Store Search Results, Thwarting Competitors

#30

Post by asr »

supernova87a wrote: post #14

And could someone please explain where there's an expectation of equal access and right to appear with a certain preference in a closed app store's search results? Or not to have your app's functionality copied by anyone else?

Your question is worded to suggest you are not actually open to the answer, but I will try anyway: in antitrust law. You cannot create an open App Store ecosystem, invite in outside developers, and then pivot and kill them all off by steering customers to your own app. Closing off your previously-open ecosystem can be illegal. Read Eastman Kodak Co. v. Image Technical Servs.
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