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You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

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Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#111

Post by pathartl »

693471 wrote: post #98
vbezhenar wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to be forced to trust every company with my credit card information This problem is solved with Paypal.

Why would anyone trust PayPal? They still owe me $900 from 2005 when I was the victim of a reverse scam. (Buyer claimed i scammed and never sent it; they refused to investigate or accept my tracking info as proof)

To me this just verifies that diversity is better than uniformity in these scenarios. That's fine if you don't trust PayPal because of your own experiences, but why should we be forced to use Apple Pay?

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#112

Post by felipelemos »

wheelerwj wrote: post #104
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish game consoles were open, but I don't care as much because they're single purpose. A PS4 is not designed to be your primary computer. An iPhone, by contrast, will be many people's primary or even they're only computer. What does it mean for our society if a single company has control over what that computer can display? I see this issue as broader than just competition—I think it's analogous to free speech.

> What does it mean for our society if a single company has control over what that computer can display? this is literally every major OS right now.... Mac, iOS, Android, Chromium, Windows.... > I think it's analogous to free speech. what? no it isn't. these are proprietary, private sector companies who fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders, not government entities.

It's a bit of stretching saying that Windows and even macOS, and I'm obviously not counting Linux in that, have the same walled garden than iPhone.

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#113

Post by tonyedgecombe »

fhood wrote: post #19

As an end user I approve of the walled garden. I don't mind the limitations on other forms of payment. I think it helps prevent fraud and insecure transactions, and I like the freedom and ease of use that comes with knowing that apps on the ios store went through a fairly substantial review process. As a developer (though it has been a few years since I wrote code for mobile) Apple's tools, documentation and librarie…

The documentation isn’t great, I’m learning Core Data at the moment and it’s unclear and riddled with mistakes. Google’s must be terrible if it’s worse.

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#115

Post by briandear »

vbezhenar wrote: post #43
nerdjon wrote: post #9

>On no other platform would we accept a scenario where the owner of that platform dictated not only the tools developers can use, but restricted the ways they talk about their products and pricing. We would call it unfair, monopolistic, and overbearing. But on our smartphones, it’s just a fact of life. I am pretty sure game consoles have been doing this basically since their existence. None of them allow you to make…

> I don't want to be forced to trust every company with my credit card information This problem is solved with Paypal.

Except who trusts PayPal? They can lock you out for no apparent reason with little recourse. I refuse to buy from sites that use PayPal exclusively.

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#116

Post by naravara »

nerdjon wrote: post #9

>On no other platform would we accept a scenario where the owner of that platform dictated not only the tools developers can use, but restricted the ways they talk about their products and pricing. We would call it unfair, monopolistic, and overbearing. But on our smartphones, it’s just a fact of life. I am pretty sure game consoles have been doing this basically since their existence. None of them allow you to make…

>Also lets not forget that we keep seeing reports that iOS users are more likely to spend money than Android users. I would argue that the increased income from users makes up for the 30% cut.

And arguably, a big reason for this is trust. Users feel more comfortable spending money in iOS specifically because it’s a walled garden and Apple vouches for the trustworthiness of the developers in it.

It’s telling that stories about devs behaving badly within the App Store (like the weird VPNs and parental controls that are basically enterprise MDM tools) get way more traction than stories about this.

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#117

Post by writepub »

nerdjon wrote: post #9

>On no other platform would we accept a scenario where the owner of that platform dictated not only the tools developers can use, but restricted the ways they talk about their products and pricing. We would call it unfair, monopolistic, and overbearing. But on our smartphones, it’s just a fact of life. I am pretty sure game consoles have been doing this basically since their existence. None of them allow you to make…

It's interesting that you cited retail. In retail, there's an actual cost to stocking items, especially in areas visible to the customer. No such cost exists on the app store, in fact Apple makes you pay extra to advertise for what retailers offer for their 30%.

App stores and retailers are different. There's almost no cost to list an app (for Apple, Google) and yet they charge a 30% fee. Apple, especially, is a text book anti competitive, monopoly in their terms and it's enforcement.

Also, the app store would be just as successful if not for their draconian rules, Mac is proof that ecosystems can thrive without Apple's stranglehold. The app store choke hold is all about the money

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#118

Post by mattigames »

nerdjon wrote: post #9

>On no other platform would we accept a scenario where the owner of that platform dictated not only the tools developers can use, but restricted the ways they talk about their products and pricing. We would call it unfair, monopolistic, and overbearing. But on our smartphones, it’s just a fact of life. I am pretty sure game consoles have been doing this basically since their existence. None of them allow you to make…

Most console makers make NO money from selling the console itself, zero, nada, because they count on people buying enough games to make up for it, that's almost the opposite of how Apple works, where the extremely high margin they get for each iPhone is their main source of revenue and on top of that they do this thing of charging 30% for each transaction.

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#119

Post by collyw »

ctrl-j wrote: post #27
jmuguy wrote: post #22

I know its snarky but complaining about Apple's walled garden via a post on Medium makes me chuckle.

It's especially funny to me, since I apparently have exceeded my monthly premium medium article limit - and would need to pay to actually read this.

Does "open in a private window" work?

Re: You’re Paying into a Broken System Whenever You Buy Something on iOS

#120

Post by yepthatsreality »

693471 wrote: post #105
yepthatsreality wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this ignores the fact that there has been spyware and malware on Apple's store. Which perhaps gets removed eventually, but what about services that sell your data to the highest bidder without Apple's knowledge? Apple's offered security is relative to their definition of security. All it takes is your parents to install a malicious app that passed the app review. Deferring to Apple as some sort of security bab…

When Apple is alerted to the problem they remove the app from all devices so I don't have the visit my parents and audit their devices or clean it up for them.

And if Apple never are alerted to the problem? Then your parents still have a malicious app on their phone that no one knew about. Security doesn't start with "I trust Apple" it starts with an understanding of risks.
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