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Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

deccanherald.com

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Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#231

Post by zepto »

singularity2001 wrote: post #160
wtmt wrote: post #143

This is going to be a big mess. PayTM as a company isn’t known for respecting user privacy. The CEO’s brother was caught in a sting video saying they could sell any user’s information for a price (search online and you’ll find the video). All that these Indian startups care is for them to benefit and control everything. It’s not about equitable treatment. It’s more about regulatory capture and making sure that their…

At least we get a choice whether we want our privacy violated by CCP, silicon-NSA complex, or Indian aristocracy

What choice? All of these are mandatory.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#232

Post by zepto »

cblconfederate wrote: post #203
Mupuff wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But big businesses have been created so it's not entirely true. Do you have any good examples where you think innovation has been stifled on the play store? (Apple's app store aside)

> big businesses have been created so it's not entirely true. examples?

Epic

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#233

Post by throwawayinfo »

cblconfederate wrote: post #203
Mupuff wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But big businesses have been created so it's not entirely true. Do you have any good examples where you think innovation has been stifled on the play store? (Apple's app store aside)

> big businesses have been created so it's not entirely true. examples?

Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok...

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#234

Post by franga2000 »

powerapple wrote: post #208
phatfish wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not happy with governments taking such an active role. Ideally they help home-grown alternatives and push out American/Chinese corporations to give them space. That is probably too little too late at this point though. Google, Facebook, Apple et al. have shown they will not stop until they dominate digital markets worldwide. Aggressive intervention by governments is the only way for them to wrestle back control.…

All we need is a proper way to tax these companies. It is totally okay that Google or Facebook is doing the work, the people can tax them and get a fair cut from the profit.

"All we need" == an entire restructuring of every major country's government from the ground up. Not that it would work anyways...

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#235

Post by akira2501 »

parasubvert wrote: post #219
rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

If you read the subtext of the other Epic v. Apple threads, this is the point: government is somehow going to do a better job than Apple or Google. That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store. Mobile operators alone will balk at that. This is a fever dream from a new generation of publishers and developers that have to learn how this worked…

> That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store.

It's a little disconcerting to me that you would see allowing me to install whatever software I want on a device I fully own as a "Libertarian wild west."

> Mobile operators alone will balk at that.

Why? Don't fixed-location ISPs have the same issue?

> the market evolved

I think the concern is it didn't evolve naturally.. it evolved to this configuration due to the whims of a few companies in strong monopoly positions. Believing that we have the best solution available is again, a bit disconcerting.

> due to the PC monopoly that no one cares about.

They were sued for this. The government won. Then the next administration basically vacated the actions against them. People care.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#236

Post by bilbo0s »

zepto wrote: post #231
singularity2001 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least we get a choice whether we want our privacy violated by CCP, silicon-NSA complex, or Indian aristocracy

What choice? All of these are mandatory.

Yeah, I'm not sure a lot of people see what's about to happen here.

Many here seem to believe this will open up opportunities for them to start app stores. It won't. It will open up opportunities for governments around the world to do what they've been contemplating for a long time. Part of which is to specifically preclude you from opening an app store in their jurisdiction.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#237

Post by joshuaissac »

raghavtoshniwal wrote: post #144
actuator wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am just puzzled about one bit of this, why the hue and cry few days back about this. Don't Android App stores like the Amazon one already exist? What's stopping these devs to even distribute the apps themselves? iOS is a different matter but Android has always allowed this. Not sure if they exist in India, but I have seen Android phones come with non Google App Store as well.

Yeah alternate app stores exist but when something like this is driven from a nation stare, the Indian govt will most likely mandate inclusion of their AppStore on Android and iOS. Once it is loaded on by default, you suddenly gain 800 million strong distribution channel. It would be a no-brainer for devs to put their app on the strore. The same case could not have been made for Amazon's and Samsung's store.

Putting apps on Samsung's Galaxy Store gives developers access to the 893 million Samsung smartphone users[1] who have the app installed by default, so an ever stronger case can be made for it than the government's proposed app store. Yet it does not have anywhere close to the same number of apps or devs.

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2018/09/13/s...

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#238

Post by oauea »

ffpip wrote: post #226
oauea wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So just don't install them. You can make these decisions yourself, you don't need Apple to make them for you.

I think you are underestimating the Indian govt's determination to force anything on citizens in the name of patriotism. If this store is actually true, a law will definitely be passed to make sure this app is preinstalled with root access for updates.

This thread is talking about apps with poor/no privacy policies on alternative stores.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#239

Post by bilbo0s »

akira2501 wrote: post #235
parasubvert wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the subtext of the other Epic v. Apple threads, this is the point: government is somehow going to do a better job than Apple or Google. That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store. Mobile operators alone will balk at that. This is a fever dream from a new generation of publishers and developers that have to learn how this worked…

> That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store. It's a little disconcerting to me that you would see allowing me to install whatever software I want on a device I fully own as a "Libertarian wild west." > Mobile operators alone will balk at that. Why? Don't fixed-location ISPs have the same issue? > the market evolved I think the concern is i…

The libertarian argument is a fever dream.

There will be no wild west. If you're in India, you will be using the Indian government approved service. In China, you will be using Chinese government approved services. In Africa, you will be using ECOWAS, EAC, or SADC approved services. In Brazil, you will be using.. well, you get the idea.

Material point being, none of these services will be made by developers outside of those regions. There will be no wild west, what's forming up is very much the opposite of the wild west. It is governmental control with radical reach. Worse, it's forming up to be balkanized governmental control with radical reach.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#240

Post by parasubvert »

akira2501 wrote: post #235
parasubvert wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the subtext of the other Epic v. Apple threads, this is the point: government is somehow going to do a better job than Apple or Google. That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store. Mobile operators alone will balk at that. This is a fever dream from a new generation of publishers and developers that have to learn how this worked…

> That or government will mandate the Libertarian Wild West on our phones where anyone can install anything from any store. It's a little disconcerting to me that you would see allowing me to install whatever software I want on a device I fully own as a "Libertarian wild west." > Mobile operators alone will balk at that. Why? Don't fixed-location ISPs have the same issue? > the market evolved I think the concern is i…

If the device wasn’t connected to the global telephone network then you’d have a point. Mobile carriers and governments have never allowed just “anything“ installed on phones.

> I think the concern is it didn't evolve naturally.. it evolved to this configuration due to the whims of a few companies in strong monopoly positions.

What’s “natural?” Markets are not created by god, they’re created by customers. Apple didn’t build the most successful product line in history because of monopoly practices - they built it because customers wanted it. And, Apple isn’t a monopoly by any historical definition of the term. Google is one in search and have tried to parlay that into Android. Illegally? We will see.

> Believing that we have the best solution available is again, a bit disconcerting.

I don’t claim we have the best solution available, I claim that government regulation of app stores or forced disaggregation of app stores would make the current situation far worse.

Want a better situation? Build a new and better ecosystem. It wasn’t even 6 years ago that Apple and iPhone and iPad was declared dead by most pundits, about to get trammelled by Samsung and Chinese Android makers. Now we want government to turn them into a utility? These decisions and laws take decades.

> The government won. Then the next administration basically vacated the actions against them. People care.

There was a second consent decree. It arguably didn’t really matter, because the next generation was mobile.

And I’m sure some people care about Microsoft’s continued dominance of PCs, but not enough to convince a government to do anything about it.

The same likely goes with iOS and Android. I see a lot of devs/publishers complaining and not a lot of users.

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