211–220 of 228 posts
Apple's marketplace, Apple's T&Cs. If you can't do business using Apple's marketplace change your business model or change your marketplace. If enough people do the latter then Apple will have fewer quality suppliers.
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I think you missed my point: I'm not feigning outrage at the fact that I can't transfer everything I bought for phone A onto phone B. I'm saying that shutting out apps because they don't cough up Apple's ransom only hurts the customer and that customers won't necessarily vote with their wallet and move somewhere else because they have already invested in their current platform/device.
If they won't do anything about being hurt, then the question is surely how hurt are they?
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Your argument only works in the context of someone like Rhapsody, who is a pretty bare-bones wrapper on top of content. But consider services like last.fm, Netflix, or Pandora - where there is a significant value-add on top of merely distributing content. They are providing consumers a valuable service but yet also cannot afford the steep cut that Apple is now demanding. The "they're distributors and deserve to get c…
If last.fm, etc. are providing so much value why are their margins so thin? Are they providing value less than 30% of the cost of the base product?
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I think you missed my point: I'm not feigning outrage at the fact that I can't transfer everything I bought for phone A onto phone B. I'm saying that shutting out apps because they don't cough up Apple's ransom only hurts the customer and that customers won't necessarily vote with their wallet and move somewhere else because they have already invested in their current platform/device.
If they won't do anything about being hurt, then the question is surely how hurt are they?
Still, in this case, I think Apple is engaging in a weird sort of brinkmanship with distributors, and I'm not sure they're in a position to dictate such terms.
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In the sense that if you are unhappy with your iPad, your next tablet will be something else. New customers won't buy an iPad if it doesn't do what they want. True, some users might have some switching pain, but that's true for most things. Windows to Mac, Xbox to PS3, Kindle to Nook. Lock in is real, but rarely determinative. Consumers vote with their wallets. The free market is a powerful thing.
People who own an iPhone or iPad bought it because they perceived it as their best option. Whether they buy something else, or just grit their teeth and bear it because there's still nothing better, they're being hurt when their best option gets worse.
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Yeah, this confused me a lot. The press release [1] says quite clearly: > Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which…
So under the new guidelines, can Amazon distribute an app that lets you read Kindle books you’ve already purchased in other ways, with a note “we can’t actually make a clicky link here, but open up Safari and go to amazon.com to buy more books”?
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I recall reading that Android was shipped on more phones in Q4 than iOS. If true, how can you consider Apple a monopoly if they aren't even the most popular mobile OS out there?
Android was shipped on three times as many phones as iOS in Q4 (in the US). You might be confusing it with the fact that installed base of Android is now equal to iOS on smartphones. (It's not yet caught up with iOS across phones, pods and pads)
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I think you're grossly underestimating how much 30% of revenues means. Let's look at how this could actually affect you. Lets forget for a second that Amazon is even part of this issue. Let's stick to straight software development, what HN knows best. Let's look at the profit margins of some of the best software companies: http://www.google.com/finance?catid=us-54399928&sort=ANI... Look at what percentage of revenue…
But most of those companies are not dependent on direct-to-consumer sales for their revenue. You’re never going to see “Oracle Database, Standard Edition One—$6,000” on the App Store directory. I suspect that even Microsoft gets most of its software revenue from either OEM deals or big-business hundred-seat license packs, rather than from over-the-counter sales.
Even then, not all of those businesses are enterprise focused like Oracle. I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of people (myself included) who would love to have MS Office on the iPad instead of what's out there.
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That's not how people's brains work. When Mom first sees a smartphone, it's a cool new thing. Yeah, there's a learning curve, but it's new, so that's obvious. She'll deal. Fast forward three years. Mom has developed a lot of habits and expectations. Time for a new smartphone. When Mom buys a new smartphone, if it works differently than the one she had before, it is confusing and you just can't do anything with this p…
I do not find the Mom argument particularly compelling. Humans are some of the best things at learning on the planet. (From reading HN, I'm starting to believe that I must be one of the blessed few with a Mom who is not a complete jackass). If she wants to switch (and she will if she can no longer get the things that she wants), it will get bitched about for 2 weeks, then she will figure it out and you'll never hear…
In my experience, it takes more than two weeks before they stop missing the other way of doing things. The violation of their expectations bothers them to such a degree that it interrupts the part of their brain that would otherwise help them learn the system. They might learn eventually, but they will have to be dragged there kicking and screaming.