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Apple-Developer Relations

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Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#51

Post by Apocryphon »

enos_feedler wrote: post #35
enos_feedler wrote: post #30

"The “way” is already paid by the hardware — but Apple uses their position of power to double-dip." I understand the optics of this don't look good, but is it wrong to have multiple sources of revenue derived from the "way"? 1. what happens if supply chain dynamics and smartphone market competition negatively impact the hardware margins? What happens when consumer appetite for innovation in the phone stagnates and ma…

First law of Hacker News: taking the “pro app store fee” argument in any thread comment results in “k” karma points, where “k” <= 0.

As frustrating as it may be to receive downvotes for seemingly no reason, getting salty about it simply invites further downvotes.

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#52

Post by vimy »

wayneftw wrote: post #22
anonymouse008 wrote: post #6

I'm wondering if webapps are achieving parity with native apps. My intuition says that most of the use cases today could transfer over if they really wanted to. Does anyone have any insight into the major differences between native and web app in 2021? The biggest disparity between webapp and native used to be Notifications - but with Twilio, it appears trivial to make an arguably better notifications user flow throu…

I'd like to hear the thoughts on this of people who are arguing with me in another thread that "Apple planned for web apps to be the only apps for the iPhone until they just happened to come up with the idea for the store full of native apps". Honestly, if you believe that Apple ever planned for iPhone to be web only you've got to buy this bridge from me. No kidding. Apple used the "web only apps" angle as a stopgap…

It really seems that was the original plan. An email from the Apple vs Epic trial where Steve Jobs gives the go ahead for the app store in October 2007. They had to rush to get the sdk done in three months.

https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1400270458608664577

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#53

Post by Apocryphon »

causality0 wrote: post #46
actuator wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App Store should be just the start. Mobile web for more than 50% of the US users is also restricted to Apple's whims. They should be forced to allow competing browser engines(not just skins on Safari engine) on the platform. If Microsoft couldn't even bundle IE on Windows, it should be possible to make an alternative browser(along with engines) for iOS.

Looking back on Microsoft in the 90s they seem almost childish. If the Apple/Google duopoly had existed forty years ago the government would have smashed both companies into dozens of pieces.

I don't dispute that the regulatory climate has become far less responsive over the decades, but why forty years ago- during the Reagan administration?

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#54

Post by swiley »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #26
post_break wrote: post #13

I used to love browsing the app store looking for cool apps. Now I can't even trust searching for the app by name because sometimes a completely different app shows up, and then there is the case of appstore ads. It's a joke.

It's a bit unfair to state that you are the only option when it comes to ios apps, to then push ads on your captive customers and provide them with a lower quality of service. iPhone is a premium product, ads have always seemed to me to be a symbol of tacky seediness, a cheap alternative for the masses. It's not in line with Apples image. At least it shouldn't be.

The iPhone is certainly expensive, but it's a bit to abusive to its users to be called "premium."

Maybe if it had a self hosting dev environment like macs do but certainly not the way it is now.

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#55

Post by ec109685 »

ccgus wrote: post #20
mathgladiator wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I'm optimistic about WebAssembly, beyond time and investment, what prohibits it from achieve performance parity with native?

There's no JIT for WebAssembly on iOS (at least last time I looked last year), so it's going to be much slower than it could otherwise be.

Are you sure about that? Why wouldn't WebAssembly in Safari support JIT?

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#56

Post by handrous »

actuator wrote: post #38
atonse wrote: post #2

I am deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem and yet, can’t wait for the DoJ to throw the gauntlet on the App Store. I really hope they get broken up, with the App Store being extracted into a separate business.

App Store should be just the start. Mobile web for more than 50% of the US users is also restricted to Apple's whims. They should be forced to allow competing browser engines(not just skins on Safari engine) on the platform. If Microsoft couldn't even bundle IE on Windows, it should be possible to make an alternative browser(along with engines) for iOS.

Be careful what you wish for. Safari's forced presence on the most lucrative mobile platform is the reason we don't, for all practical purposes, have only one browser engine, period, now. Which is something only nerds like us care about on a technical level, so I don't think the typical user is harmed or bothered by all browsers on iOS sharing an engine, but the social harm of Google 100% owning the Web would reach beyond us.

[EDIT] Incidentally, I see the fact that there's an angle for this being beneficial as a comment on the beyond-terrible state of privacy legislation and anti-trust enforcement in the US, same as the reasons that the App Store is a good thing (by which I mean, the worst things it forbids should just be illegal, and those restrictions enforced everywhere)

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#57

Post by nabla9 »

Monopoly power is not illegal itself. Abusing monopoly power is.

Apple can argue that their App Store should be the only way to sell apps in Apple phones because security and other stuff. But they can't take huge markup unless they are actually spending most of it into security and providing App Store (they are not).

If they drop their cut into 5% or so, and they would 3% of that running App Store, it's still handsome 40% gross margin and regulators would leave them be.

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#58

Post by awillen »

izacus wrote: post #48
judge2020 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's possible if your goal is zero (system-altering) malware - pretty much all (with the exception of checkra1n) recent iOS releases have had a jailbreak that works by chaining exploits to break out of the app sandbox and can be installed via just signing an IPA, gain root and install Cydia/other dpkg frontends. Without the app store you would see these making their way to things people can download,…

You're again mistaking security and software safety for anticompetitive business practices. Apple loves to mix this too - after all, their marketing is spending a lot of money persuading it that those two are related. They're not. Even currently, AppStore is not without malware, so they have failed at that goal and us users have paid too great of a price by distortion of no.1 tenement that makes capitalism a function…

Don't trivialize domestic abuse with this kind of comparison.

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#59

Post by actuator »

wilde wrote: post #40
judge2020 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the App Store ads are completely contextual.

Not for long. The search page by default shows one non-contextual app above their ranked list of apps you might like.

Also, these ads along with ones in News and Stocks are targeted ads based on a user targeting profile from your data. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27261273

Re: Apple-Developer Relations

#60

Post by Apocryphon »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #26
post_break wrote: post #13

I used to love browsing the app store looking for cool apps. Now I can't even trust searching for the app by name because sometimes a completely different app shows up, and then there is the case of appstore ads. It's a joke.

It's a bit unfair to state that you are the only option when it comes to ios apps, to then push ads on your captive customers and provide them with a lower quality of service. iPhone is a premium product, ads have always seemed to me to be a symbol of tacky seediness, a cheap alternative for the masses. It's not in line with Apples image. At least it shouldn't be.

Not adding ads to a platform was the whole basis of "A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars is cool."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5fJmkv02is&t=93s

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