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Fear of Apple

elischiff.com

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Re: Fear of Apple

#131

Post by lips »

When I first saw the app store, my initial reaction was that this was the K-martization of software. Numerous low cost products, difficult to distinguish (publishing of specs in differing orders makes direct comparison difficult), leveraging audience for supplier allegiance, and both cost & product range over consumer. Apple managed to add in true vertical integration, and it was pretty obvious it was going to work out well for them, but with side effects.

I hate it as a consumer (I don't code), and I hate it all the more because I know why my options & buying experience are being impacted by their business model, given that I do know developers, and have been buying software since the late 80s.

Re: Fear of Apple

#132

Post by albedoa »

elischiff wrote: post #97
kaolinite wrote: post #59

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was following quite closely when Marco Arment's article was published and the storm erupted around it. Marco's comments have totally been taken out of context here: the reason he regretted publishing the article was not out of fear of Apple primarily but because many publications took it and used it to justify the "Apple is doomed" narrative which Marco personally doesn't agree with. He was quite…

I'm just going to note that the people most frequently mentioning the "Apple is Doomed" narrative are Apple apologists themselves. I discussed this in the previous article: http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/17/critical-sharks-part... Yes the media distorts things. But that does not mean that it is invalid to say 'this wouldn't have happened under Steve.' Jobs had clear differences from the new leadership. Further,…

I'm just going to note that the people most frequently mentioning the "Apple is Doomed" narrative are Apple apologists themselves.

I see the claim mirrored in your article, also stated as fact:

Strangely enough, the people doing the most service to the narrative of Apple’s impending “doom” are Apple apologists themselves.

Is it discussed or supported beyond that? Sorry if I missed it.

Re: Fear of Apple

#133

Post by agumonkey »

Spooky23 wrote: post #103
firloop wrote: post #56

This article summarizes the epitome of my experience as an Apple developer. I'm 17 years old and a developer on the app store. The App Store feels opaque and like a black box where I submit builds with little to no feedback or control. I get paid when Apple decides, and could be eradicated from the App Store at a moment's notice. I realized early on that being featured by Apple was unlikely, and have adopted a sustai…

Your experience is the price of admission to gain access to a global audience. The low barrier to entry is why you're fighting for pennies. Twenty years ago when I was in high school, I worked at CompUSA. They sold a lot of software in their day... in my region of the country, 40% of software sold passed through our store's door. To sell software at CompUSA or similar retailers, you needed to interface with a publish…

It's amazing how things don't change.

Re: Fear of Apple

#134

Post by tomjen3 »

Spooky23 wrote: post #103
firloop wrote: post #56

This article summarizes the epitome of my experience as an Apple developer. I'm 17 years old and a developer on the app store. The App Store feels opaque and like a black box where I submit builds with little to no feedback or control. I get paid when Apple decides, and could be eradicated from the App Store at a moment's notice. I realized early on that being featured by Apple was unlikely, and have adopted a sustai…

Your experience is the price of admission to gain access to a global audience. The low barrier to entry is why you're fighting for pennies. Twenty years ago when I was in high school, I worked at CompUSA. They sold a lot of software in their day... in my region of the country, 40% of software sold passed through our store's door. To sell software at CompUSA or similar retailers, you needed to interface with a publish…

Or, more realistically, he could pay shit all for a domain name (.io, .ly is so last year) 10 usd/month for a VPS, 3% to Stripe (which is criminally high, but there you go) and have access to the global market. He is more likely to get customers and he isn't constrained to change pennies.

Re: Fear of Apple

#135

Post by drzaiusapelord »

firloop wrote: post #56

This article summarizes the epitome of my experience as an Apple developer. I'm 17 years old and a developer on the app store. The App Store feels opaque and like a black box where I submit builds with little to no feedback or control. I get paid when Apple decides, and could be eradicated from the App Store at a moment's notice. I realized early on that being featured by Apple was unlikely, and have adopted a sustai…

>From visibility to app discovery, I feel that Apple has failed me.

As a consumer you've failed me. The store is full of useless apps, lazy clones, and fad garbage that does me no good. Write the next Dropbox and people will come pounding at your door. I'm really getting sick of all the Apple/Google bashing. We live in a time where you can trivially publish software to hundreds of millions people dying for new apps without a publisher, without cutting deals with dozens of stores, and little to no investment out of pocket.

What's so wonderful about your app? Go on, tell us. Why should it be the next success? Who exactly are you being wronged here other than the typical gen-y whining about not being a millionaire by 22.

Re: Fear of Apple

#136

Post by Yhippa »

smackfu wrote: post #15

This is the same Apple who has a published document saying: "If your App is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps." https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/ When this company controls your livelihood, you are wise to take a very broad view of what "trash us" means.

I thought that sentence was a paraphrasing but it is literally in that document. Wow. It seems a bit unprofessional to me.

Re: Fear of Apple

#137

Post by tomjen3 »

ableal wrote: post #129
matheweis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really does echo what Schneier said about us returning to a feudalistic society. https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/feudal_sec.ht... Although his context was for users, I think the same thing applies to developers.

Back in 2003, Tim Bray hit that nail: "Are You a Sharecropper?" https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePl...

It was that mentality that, finally, made me buy a little piece of land in cyberspace (others may call it a domain name) - yeah you can get your blog hosted a million places for free, but by owning your own you can move to a new host.

I think this Neocities blog post(https://neocities.org/blog/neocities-web-sites-now-have-prop...) said it best: You have to have your own domain, otherwise you will be a sharecropper for somebody else.

Re: Fear of Apple

#138

Post by flomo »

albedoa wrote: post #132
elischiff wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just going to note that the people most frequently mentioning the "Apple is Doomed" narrative are Apple apologists themselves. I discussed this in the previous article: http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/17/critical-sharks-part... Yes the media distorts things. But that does not mean that it is invalid to say 'this wouldn't have happened under Steve.' Jobs had clear differences from the new leadership. Further,…

I'm just going to note that the people most frequently mentioning the "Apple is Doomed" narrative are Apple apologists themselves. I see the claim mirrored in your article, also stated as fact: Strangely enough, the people doing the most service to the narrative of Apple’s impending “doom” are Apple apologists themselves. Is it discussed or supported beyond that? Sorry if I missed it.

The article alludes to Guy Kawasaki's 'evanga-list' back in the 1990s which seems to be the source of the "Everyone thinks Apple is doomed" meme. I don't know if anyone has written up the whole story, but it's been discussed on various Mac fora over the years.

Re: Fear of Apple

#139

Post by rwallace »

vinceguidry wrote: post #106

I've learned to adopt the following attitude concerning software and hardware: Use a device for things that the company making the device cares seriously about. My iPhone was absolutely fantastic at music playback. Apple takes a great deal of pride in its relationship to the music community and it shows. Bluetooth happens instantly. Songs sound great. When I switched to a Nexus 5 last year, the difference in software…

> You have to focus your limited resources somewhere, if you don't, you get Google software, which is OK when you look at it in aggregate, but horrible if you're looking for a refined experience in something important.

Google search, e-mail and maps are wonderful refined experiences in things I find important. Of course, that doesn't necessarily contradict your broader point. Maybe those three services are so good because Google also considers them important and gives them a lot of focus. For all I know, the company might also supply a dozen other things that are of much lower quality because they don't get so much focus.

Re: Fear of Apple

#140

Post by pnathan »

philsnow wrote: post #112
nakovet wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. For example, you buy some Sony stuff from Bestbuy, you run into a problem, yes you try to contact Bestbuy first, but they fail to you: "Well you must contact Sony now because yada yada...", you may even think "Alright, that's fair..., it's not their fault" and if Sony doesn't provide customer service nor support, I bet you, you will never buy something from the brand again, but you may buy again from the…

Customers (and people in general) shouldn't let themselves be so easily deflected. Stay on target. When you buy a Sony-branded consumer good from SomeCo, you haven't done business with Sony, you've done it with SomeCo. If SomeCo isn't willing to back the quality of the products they stock, they should. not. stock. those products. If you that argument does not sway whoever takes returns at SomeCo, get your credit card…

should cuts no cheese in business. What happens is what customers really buy, and really do.
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