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Fear of Apple

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Re: Fear of Apple

#191

Post by cwyers »

Nemcue wrote: post #154
alexashka wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody's really disputing that the App Store needs revision in a number of areas (discovery, refunds, trials, etc) It's a hard problem because curation is a hard problem. It is not unique to the app store - take a look at android's store or frankly, any online store that offers a wide array of products - curation is hard. I'm sure they're working on it. A time of fewer but higher quality apps may be coming - but then…

> Curation is hard. Oh please. They just don't care . Take Steam for instance, I have a thousand times better experience finding new games on there than I have on any mobile app store. I get recommendations from my friends, according to what Steam thinks I would enjoy playing, and they even have curators for apps so people whose reviews I can enjoy can list games with a short review. And those are just a few ways of…

This is the first time I have heard Steam described as a positive example in curation in a long time. They're terrible at it. And as others have pointed out here, they have a MUCH simpler curation problem than Apple or Google have to face. I think even Windows Phone or Blackberry have a bigger app curation problem than Steam has an app curation problem. And Valve's response to this is that they want to move to a model of even LESS curation, because running the disaster pit that's Steam Greenlight is too uncomfortable for them.

Re: Fear of Apple

#192

Post by madeofpalk »

happyscrappy wrote: post #184
Crito wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "To be fair, Apple handles a lot for that 30%. Accounting/Tax records, payment, bandwidth and storage etc." I think people would have a better opinion on that deal if it were optional. Apple offers to take care of billing/bandwidth/storage on iOS for 30% of revenue? Neat! Apple demands to take care of billing/bandwidth/storage on iOS for 30% of revenue? Lame.

It is optional, we use Stripe, Apple gets nothing. I am surprised there are people in software that don't know this.

No you are incorrect: If you want to sell an app for iOS, it needs to go through the App Store, and it needs to go through Apple's payment processor, be hosted by them etc, and Apple will take 30%.

There are 'work arounds' that involve being enrolled in the Enterprise Developer Program, but you're still at Apple's mercy. If they believe you're not sticking 'to the spirit of the program' (e.g. using it just to get around the App Store) they'll terminate.

Re: Fear of Apple

#193

Post by madeofpalk »

ghshephard wrote: post #182
madeofpalk wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Every part of developing for Apple leads me to this conclusion: I do not matter. My app does not matter. Now that I'm doing iOS Development under my own company, I feel your pain. We recently had our iOS Developer P…

Is it reasonable to say you are pretty aware of why Apple terminated your account? Remember, that the hierarchy of interests that Apple follows (according to Gruber), Apple --> User --> Developer.

We have our suspicions on why Apple terminated our account, that they misunderstood some things and never sought to clarify things and just went straight to the permaban.

But they're only suspicions - we can't talk to anyone within Apple to at least get a reason, let alone explain things.

Of course I am biased, but I am 100% confident in that we were not actually doing anything wrong, and especially did not deserve termination of our developer account.

Re: Fear of Apple

#194

Post by engendered »

gbanfalvi wrote: post #167
engendered wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but because many publications took it and used it to justify the "Apple is doomed" narrative which Marco personally doesn't agree with Show me one. Just one single example. I'll wait. EDIT: Chuckle. A mod bomb on this benign post. Cool. ... You're not going to find one. The hit piece/exaggerated/"doomed" noise is a defensive fiction. Nothing was taken out of context (does anyone actually disagree with the observation…

Computerworld http://www.computerworld.com/article/2866456/marco-arment-sp... Fortune http://fortune.com/2015/01/05/how-bad-are-the-bugs-in-apples... BGR http://bgr.com/2015/01/05/marco-arment-mac-ios-software-qual... Economic times/india times http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/progra... WSJ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/05/programmer-ignites-de... ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-so…

Sure, it's not literally "apple is doomed" right in the title, but exactly the same kind of FUD

BUT IT ISN'T FUD AT ALL. To make it even more comical, several of those posts are from serious Apple boosters (Philip Elmer-DeWitt might as well wear pom-poms while he writes about Apple). Apple software has had serious quality issues, and it is "FUD" to talk about it?

This is just broken thinking. You, in this conversation, are the problem. This notion that any criticism of Apple (such as the fact that they've let quality seriously decline) becomes "FUD" because there is so much defensiveness about Apple.

Not one of those demonstrate what he is talking about. None of them are attacks on Apple. None posit that Apple is doomed. They're tech articles, appealing to a tech crowd, that note that software quality has wavered, which is something that is utterly indisputable.

Re: Fear of Apple

#195

Post by tw04 »

threeseed wrote: post #168
chrramirez wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could also publish on Android or the web and have access to a "the global audience". Comparing the App Store with 20 years old methods is a fallacy. To be realistic you should compare using the Android/Mozilla/Windows/Web distribution methods.

The Android model i.e. the Google model is now the same as Apple's. Only it has the ability to sideload applications which let's be honest as primarily been used for installing pirated applications.

I kind of resent that comment. I sideload apps all the time, none of them are pirated. That stereotype just re-inforces companies attempts to lock down our devices and it kind of pisses me off to hear it constantly regurgitated.

Re: Fear of Apple

#196

Post by drawkbox »

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…

Apple is providing one of the widest most open distribution markets ever available besides the internet/web, but here the expectations of gaining revenues is easier with one touch buying, no guarantee, but less hurdles.

For the price of that we are all sharecroppers in a feudal market where Apple is the King.

Re: Fear of Apple

#197

Post by chubs »

happyscrappy wrote: post #184
Crito wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "To be fair, Apple handles a lot for that 30%. Accounting/Tax records, payment, bandwidth and storage etc." I think people would have a better opinion on that deal if it were optional. Apple offers to take care of billing/bandwidth/storage on iOS for 30% of revenue? Neat! Apple demands to take care of billing/bandwidth/storage on iOS for 30% of revenue? Lame.

It is optional, we use Stripe, Apple gets nothing. I am surprised there are people in software that don't know this.

I can confirm this, it is true.

Basically, your app is not allowed to have any links to sign up, or to your website, and you can do this for eg a SaaS app.

The idea is that then you're not using the app store for marketing, it's only for servicing your existing users.

Re: Fear of Apple

#198

Post by spiralpolitik »

ghshephard wrote: post #180
Spooky23 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Good point - but one correction, there aren't thousands but millions of developers, 6mm+ to be precise. http://www.phonearena.com/news/6M-developers-in-Apple-ecosys... Paradoxically, I think the power of the tools, resulting in the ease of development, and the democracy of the Apple Store is a major contributor to the difficulty of competing for user mindshare, and the resulting low prices.

Isn't this economics 101 ? The easier it is to enter the market the more supply there is, and when supply outweighs demand prices fall ?

I'd even add that this was what the internet promised. A reduction of the barriers between creator and consumer. No more would those pesky publishers/editors/distributors get in the way. Sadly I think we forgot that Sturgeons law still holds.

Re: Fear of Apple

#199

Post by matheweis »

arrrg wrote: post #164
matheweis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all of us feel that way... I've having such a rotten time finding the digital music that I actually want that I'm quite ready to go back to CDs.

That’s just you getting old, I think? Also, I’m not really sure what the medium has to do with that.

Nope, we're talking fairly modern things, I think. Film scores from 5-10-year old blockbusters? Countless unavailable on streaming services, many unavailable on iTunes/Amazon. Still can be found on CD no problem.

Not just audio either. It's 2015, where can I buy a legal digital download of any episode of Star Wars? Nowhere.

Re: Fear of Apple

#200

Post by [deleted] »

BashiBazouk wrote: post #110
jasode wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Still, it makes sense that Apple would continue to deprioritize developer relations (either implicitly or explicitly.) Yes. I think it also makes sense to remind ourselves of how Apple and Microsoft started in the 1970s. They have very different origin stories. When Bill Gates and Paul Allen were burning the midnight oil for their first successful Microsoft product, it was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer…

Are you sure of your history? The Apple I was just an assembled logic board, you had to provide the power supply, monitor, keyboard, case, et. Hardly a consumer aimed product. It was mainly meant for the computer hobbyist. Steve Wozniak wrote his own version of BASIC and it was fairly innovative for the time as I remember. Apple may have gone the direction you mention but it did not start off that way. Your argument…

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