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Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

daringfireball.net

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Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#361
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. The practical result of the current situation is that Apple can choose what apps most people can install into the their devices but this needs to be framed correctly because Apple actually targets the developers and not the users when they practically control the app distribution to the devices they sold. Why is it important? Because when described incorrectly, solutions will also be incorrect. Apple doesn’t…

> they want to be able to control the working of the devices so to provide premium experience. Well too fucking bad. They can offer their premium services as a fair competitor in the market and if people want that, they can choose it, and if they don't, they can choose other things.

> They can offer their premium services as a fair competitor in the market and if people want that, they can choose it, and if they don't, they can choose other things.

Yes, that's exactly the situation. If people don't like it, they go buy a Samsung, a Pixel, Xiaomi, a Huawei, a Sony etc. There's no need for Apple be compelled do anything, there are plenty of options when you don't like the Apple offerings.

And those alternatives are not like Bing to Google, these are very viable alternatives where Apple is actually a small minority of the market. It's %50 in the US and much, much less in the rest of the world.

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#362
post #354
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, for a company eagerly (and correctly) removing the headphone jack for phones, it's the least surprising thing to remove GPU options. All that's left is RAM and HDD.

They're also removing it from iPads, which is a nightmare for anyone with small children.

This is definitely inferior to a headphone jack but it works: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35...

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#363

I understand Apple's decision to do this. They want to stick it to Epic. Completely understandable desire on Apple's part. But, sadly, Apple is letting their desire to get vengeance outweigh the interests of their users in having all the games they want to play on their devices. I have been realizing lately that my loyalty to Apple has been waning over the years after having invested heavily in the ecosystem. This is…

> But, sadly, Apple is letting their desire to get vengeance outweigh the interests of their users Of course they are, that's Apple's standard business relationship practice. See also why Mac's still don't have an Nvidia GPU option, because Apple & Nvidia got in some spat a decade ago and Apple has been holding a grudge ever since. The more Apple brings stuff in-house the less this matters to the bottom line, but it…

Apple wouldn't have gpu options regardless. It's not how they market products.

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that it's not. The ruling clearly stated that Apple has to allow other payment providers inside the apps, but obviously anything sold on the App Store can still attract the 30% payment fee. In your example, it's like if you bought a TV from Walmart, took it home, and then any content you wanted to buy on that TV had to have a 30% fee paid to walmart since....that's where you bought it originally? It doesn't ma…

What about in app payments in XBox or PS4? It will not surprise you to know they also take 30%. I can't help but notice that Fortnite is also available in the PS4 store as well. This is simply Epic doing their own money grab against the the platform they can most afford to alienate: >The documents show that from March 2018 to July 2020, the >breakdown of Fortnite revenue by platform was as follows: >PS4: 46.8% >Xbox…

I don't have links handy but Sweeny directly addressed this. Sony and Microsoft are willing to negotiate with Epic. They get to find a middleground that both sides are happy with. Apple does not negotiate, a developer that has $5 in sales get's the same deal as Epic. Sweeny stated that if Apple had been willing to negotiate similar to Microsoft and Sony then we wouldn't be here.

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#365
post #217
post #8

It's interesting to compare the situation Epic got itself into with previous episodes of Facebook & Google breaking Apple's rules. When Facebook and Google misused Developer Enterprise certificates to go beyond internal testing and distribute apps to end-consumers , Apple revoked their accounts. Both Facebook & Google simply admitted they screwed up and Apple reinstated their accounts.[1] No lawsuits. Epic broke Appl…

That quote is by Omar Little in the TV show The Wire. That show was amazing. The actor (Michael?) recently died :(

His name was Michael Kenneth Williams, and he was in many shows.

Boardwalk Empire

The Wire

Community

Trapped in the Closet

The Spoils Before Dying

Hap and Leonard

When We Rise

When They See Us

Lovecraft Country

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This analogy only works if you modify it: There are only two chains of brick and mortar store in the world and one with double digit market share (Apple) has decided to take 30% off the top for all goods sold in all of their stores and have banned products from having any indication on their packaging that they can be purchased elsewhere for different pricing. Entering any store also requires an extremely expensive c…

An App distributed on the immensely popular iOS platform can be used to advertise alternative platforms at different pricing. The “fair” price if this was allowed to happen would be a 0% cut since no one in their right mind would pay any amount extra if given the option. The only real restriction Apple currently has is that apps should do no such advertising of alternative platforms (payment methods). All arguments a…

> An App distributed on the immensely popular iOS platform can be used to advertise alternative platforms at different pricing. The “fair” price if this was allowed to happen would be a 0% cut since no one in their right mind would pay any amount extra if given the option.

Prior to the recent ruling, this was untrue (unless I'm mistaken).

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This analogy only works if you modify it: There are only two chains of brick and mortar store in the world and one with double digit market share (Apple) has decided to take 30% off the top for all goods sold in all of their stores and have banned products from having any indication on their packaging that they can be purchased elsewhere for different pricing. Entering any store also requires an extremely expensive c…

It's even worse than that, because each of the stores are in different cities and if your customers want to patronize the other store they first have to move to the other city.

See my edit regarding "you need an expensive chain-specific device" to enter any store belonging to a chain.

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

s/got in a spat/had years of repeated customer issues because of GPUs shitting the bed/

I think it was a system design issue because of lack of proper cooling from the integrator (Apple). Maybe someone can look it up, I'm going off of memory here..

No multiple laptop manufacturers had this same issue. Toshiba and Sony were two of them. Heat was the cause but it was operating within the specs of the GPU manuafacturer. The issue that soured NVidia with these manufacturer was when it came to fixing the issues they told them to go suck it. Example when Seagate had an entire batch of 2.5 drives dying within a year of manufacturing, they worked with Apple and HP to get them replaced and the cost was shared by both.

Also NVidia has issues with their driver development and refuse to let Apple have a say in it.

Re: Apple Will Not Reinstate Epic’s Fortnite Developer Account

#369
post #36
post #8

It's interesting to compare the situation Epic got itself into with previous episodes of Facebook & Google breaking Apple's rules. When Facebook and Google misused Developer Enterprise certificates to go beyond internal testing and distribute apps to end-consumers , Apple revoked their accounts. Both Facebook & Google simply admitted they screwed up and Apple reinstated their accounts.[1] No lawsuits. Epic broke Appl…

I don’t think Epic intended to win the lawsuit. It’s part of a broader strategy to force lawmakers to change app store rules.

I think you are correct.

Epic has already moved the Overton Window, as 30% is now being considered unfair by more and more people.

These people will then reach out to their representatives for change. Apple will attempt to fight the tide, but it is too late.

Really, Apple is just a monopoly, an illegally bundled system (both with macs and iphones) intending to control the market.

There is no reason why Apple should control the lion's share of profits around mobile apps.

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