RSS readers are a very specialized market. Around me, only techies and nerds have heard of it. Mobile Natives haven't and are using FB/I/Twitter instead (sad !).
So this boils down to th enerd market on iOS and MacOS is the same size. I'd go one step furter: it's probably not only the same size, but, simply, the exact same.
The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
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Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#22Actually, when Apple launched the Airbuds, I computed that it was very likely the AirBuds would generate more profit for Apple than Mac hardware. IIRC assuming 70% profit on the Airbuds and 30% on the Mac (because lots more R&D, lots more support, lots more warranty, lots more dev...), a 30% attach rate made the Airbuds more profitable.
AirPods
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Venn diagram of people who use BBedit and NetNewswire is roughly a circle.
Pretty sure BBEdit has wider appeal than NetNewsWire. For one thing BBEdit is the only decent text editor on Mac App Store (not that it’s a high bar to clear).
It sucked less.
Loved that tag line.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#24You gotta control here for variables, hon.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#25Discoverability is horrible on the iOS App Store. I have looked for a good RSS reader on there in the past and only been served shovelware.
I found out about NNW from DF the other day. Even after using and installing it, it is nowhere to be seen when I search for RSS.
Apples broken App Store system surfaces cheap crappy apps. Apple wants users to make impulse purchases so they can skim 30% off the top. It’s a bad experience and is doing tremendous long term damage. Steve Jobs would be pissed.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#26Discoverability is horrible on the iOS App Store. I have looked for a good RSS reader on there in the past and only been served shovelware. I found out about NNW from DF the other day. Even after using and installing it, it is nowhere to be seen when I search for RSS. Apples broken App Store system surfaces cheap crappy apps. Apple wants users to make impulse purchases so they can skim 30% off the top. It’s a bad exp…
> Steve Jobs would be pissed
Discoverability on the App Store has always been horrible.
That, and App Store performance (search, page load, etc) are high on the list of things that baffle me most about Apple.
These are not hard problems to fix. There is no incentive to not fix them. Customers are suffering. FTFAS.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Venn diagram of people who use BBedit and NetNewswire is roughly a circle.
Pretty sure BBEdit has wider appeal than NetNewsWire. For one thing BBEdit is the only decent text editor on Mac App Store (not that it’s a high bar to clear).
I've switched to CotEditor for lightweight text editing.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#28> Yes, the iOS app has more downloads, and it got there in only a few weeks. But if the iOS market were so much larger than the Mac market, you’d have expected this to happen within a day or two of launch day. Based on what logic? Everything about this article feels like it's based on vague and incorrect assumptions.
I feel like being on Hacker News sometimes warps the context of a personal blog post. If I put out a tweet that said "Huh, my app got about the same number of downloads on iOS and Mac, I think the market's about the same for certain types of apps" would you say my tweet is full of vagaries and incorrect assumptions?
sometimes warps the context of a personal blog post
That's true but those blog posts end up making poor HN posts. This one is very short, contains a little bit of data and would not have been hn-noticed other than for the deliberately provocative title which then becomes the central topic of the HN discussion. People familiar with the author/blog don't have any trouble recognizing their chain is being playfully tugged; on HN it's just a bombastic one-liner sitting on the front page, demanding rebuttal.
A lot of tweets that are perfectly fine tweets make bad HN posts for similar reasons.
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#29> given that Mac apps are less complex to write than iOS apps these days
Do you agree HN?
Re: The iOS and Mac markets are almost the same size?
#30>News reading is probably more of an iOS thing than a Mac thing in general
I think that is where the assumption gone wrong. News Reading /= RSS. I mostly consume Social Media on my Mobile. Or easy to read, digest, bite-size information. Easily hoping on and off in the timeline. My RSS feed is none of that, for me it tends to require more focus and longer time to digest. Hence I never do any RSS reading on mobile.