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How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

nytimes.com

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Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#141

Post by Wowfunhappy »

wil421 wrote: post #128
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #14

I'm not saying this isn't a problem, but it seems pretty minor compared to the fact that: 1) Apple's apps come preinstalled on every iPhone. 2) Apple's apps have permission to do things that 3rd party apps cannot. If I search for "Web Browser" on the App Store... well, technically I'll get results from third parties, but every single one is just a UI skin around Apple's own browser. That strikes me as a much larger p…

I had an Android a few years ago and #2 was a big issue. AT&T installed all types of apps including an automatic WiFi connecting app. I had to flash a google image to get rid of it. I’d be driving down the road and my maps or other apps would lose connections. Turns out I was being forced to connect to AT&T stores and Starbucks at red lights (anywhere attwifi was detected). Not to mention all the Samsung bloatware.

Two points:

1. Granting more permissions to third party apps won't cause the iPhone to ship with Samsung bloatware.

2. I'm not necessarily advocating for 3rd party app privileges to be significantly expanded. However, Apple's own apps should mostly play by the same rules. If they can't, that's a sign the rules are too restrictive.

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#142

Post by bluedino »

fitzroy wrote: post #120
frogpelt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it differently. Since Apple makes the hardware and the software I don't have a problem with them preinstalling their own products. However, when a user is clearly searching for alternatives on the app store, it matters how far down you have to scroll to find a 3rd party app. Spotify being the 23rd result for a "music" search is absurd.

For me, Spotify is the 4th app when searching for "music", but it's the first app that doesn't contain the word "music" as the first or second word in the name. It goes: 1. Apple Music 2. Music 3. Music> 4. Spotify New music and podcasts

If I search Google for 'music', Spotify dooesn't come up on the first page either.

  YouTube - Music Channel
  music.youtube.com
  play.google.com/music 
  play.google.com/store/music
  Music - Wikipedia
  MusicChoice.com
  Youtube Music on the App Store
  Mtv.com

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#143

Post by Fnoord »

tombrossman wrote: post #114
Fnoord wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Play Store search is also (still) notoriously bad. Even if it is a 1:1 hit, it does not show that as first entry. And it is full with malware.

The advantage to using Google Play is that apps containing ads are clearly labelled as such. Apple won't tell you this in advance. (This was my biggest surprise, recently switching from Android after the CopperheadOS meltdown)

Honestly I care less about ads and more about trackers.

Google Play says nada about trackers. Exodus project (and therefore F-Droid) does.

If you come from CopperheadOS I can recommend /e/ or LineageOS + microG (/e/ also contains microG). microG does not implement GAds. You will still need to block trackers though.

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#144

Post by simion314 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #72
simion314 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just some question so is clear in my mind what your idea is Why more then 80% ? why not 50% + 1 IS 80% of smartphones ? or smartphones+tablets , or all phones , or 80% of capital/financial of all mobile app stores ? What if I say that Apple has 100% monopoly on the iOS? you would say but what about Android ? I would say if I am Netflix,Spotify,Bank X, etc I have no REAL choice as a developer not to make iOS apps simi…

> What if I say that Apple has 100% monopoly on the iOS? That'd be a silly argument. By that logic, Ford has a 100% monopoly on F-150s. > why not 50% + 1 Because the "mono" in monopoly means "one", not "two". You can accurately say that Apple and Google enjoy an oligopoly in the mobile operating system market. You cannot reasonably say either one holds a monopoly.

>That'd be a silly argument. By that logic, Ford has a 100% monopoly on F-150s.

And if Ford would not allow me who can enter in my Ford, won't allow me to replace the original Ford mirror with a cheap working one then I would also be pissed at Ford and ask the government to fix this.

You can push the bad argument you brought in the other direction, Microsoft does not dominate the PC , what about servers ? but desktop and server users differ? so iOS and Android users differ and it is not about Apple dominating Google is about Apple having a leverage position over developers and abusing it.

>Because the "mono" in monopoly means "one", not "two".

But we were talking about dominating and abusing, but if you missed it, then I will repeat, you do not need to be a monopoly do dominate and abuse, you can have 2 or 3 companies sharing a market and abusing their dominance, so stop posting same comment of "Apple is not a monopoly on smartphones" someone was smart enough to think about more the duopoly case and the laws covder that too.

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#145

Post by PunksATawnyFill »

grzm wrote: post #86
hellomyguys wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the article? If you search for Podcast not only is Apple’s podcast app is first, but so it is follows by their compass app, find my friends, their tips app, their tv app, their watch app, their files app, their iTunes app, Apple Books, their reminders app, their news app, their contacts app, then their voice memos app before any 3rd party podcasts app appears. Meta comment regarding HN community... looki…

Regarding the HN community, the guidelines are pretty specific on the topic of your comment: > Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

So what? That’s a stupid guideline.

A better one would be:

Please don’t comment on whether someone’s comment follows some guidelines.

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#146

Post by DedlySnek »

falcolas wrote: post #63
jasonlotito wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you opened the App Store on an iPhone in May 2018 and typed “podcast” in the search box, you would have seen something like this. "in May 2018" > I just tried to replicate this Unfortunately, you don't have a time machine.

So, we're happily crucifying Apple on a hill based on an unreproducable search done half a year ago? Sounds... less than ideal.

> Spotify complained to European regulators in March that Apple was abusing its role as the gatekeeper of the App Store. By April, all but two of Apple’s apps disappeared from the top results for “music.”

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#147

Post by PunksATawnyFill »

coldtea wrote: post #29
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #14

I'm not saying this isn't a problem, but it seems pretty minor compared to the fact that: 1) Apple's apps come preinstalled on every iPhone. 2) Apple's apps have permission to do things that 3rd party apps cannot. If I search for "Web Browser" on the App Store... well, technically I'll get results from third parties, but every single one is just a UI skin around Apple's own browser. That strikes me as a much larger p…

> Apple's apps come preinstalled on every iPhone. Whose apps should have come preinstalled on iPhones? Samsungs? No apps, let the user install everything from scratch? The whole value proposition from Apple is that you get something that "Just works". It might have issues and bugs, like everything has, but the idea behind "just works" => is more or less ready, no fiddling required for the regular Joe.

Why are you asking? He never said Apple’s apps shouldn’t be preinstalled.

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#148

Post by Wowfunhappy »

gamblor956 wrote: post #107
grzm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the HN community, the guidelines are pretty specific on the topic of your comment: > Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

In this case his comment is appropriate, because the comments here on HN clearly indicate that the commenters had not read the article.

If a strong conviction that others haven't read the article could supersede the guideline, the guideline would be quite useless. Anyone who comments "Did you even read the article?" presumably believes that the parent has not read the article.

(Just for what it's worth, I did read the article in full before commenting, and I don't think the paraphrased portion changes what I wrote.)

Re: How Apple's Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls

#150

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jasonhansel wrote: post #149

Remember when the EU banned MS from shipping a web browser with their OS? Why is iOS allowed to do the same sorts of things?

Supposedly there are other smart phones than the iPhone that have significant market share (even more than the iPhone sometimes) in Europe.

The same wasn’t true for desktop OSes (at the time), Microsoft Windows had an overwhelming chunk of Europe’s market share.

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