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Rethinking the App Store

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Re: Rethinking the App Store

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The developer chooses if the price should be different or not. In that case, Youtube decided that the users should pay the 30 percent Apple tax.

Yes - and YT is still losing money on that transaction. $16 will become $11.20 after apple takes their cut.

Unless Google has a sweetheart deal like Amazon.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#272
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly what Epic was doing. They were allowing people to make purchases at a 20% discount through a web app of digital content that could appear in iPhone App. And Apple took their app down. It's not the pricing that Apple opposed, its that you could buy it through another method. How can you have the pricing changes you propose if Apple forbids selling interactive content for their platform through any othe…

This is where the situation gets complicated. Apple's position is that you can't use their devices to sell digital goods not via them. It would be as if a bottle of shampoo at Target had on the label "Buy it online instead of Target for 30% off." If you can get your customers to buy your stuff on your own with your own marketing not using Apple's devices then you win and get to keep the 30% but if you use your app to…

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Re: Rethinking the App Store

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the kind of software. Should games be required to be accessible? I don't think so. Should banking apps be required to be accessible? That probably depends on the size of the bank. Should software used for accessing government services be accessible? Of course. I don't think a law forcing all software to be accessible makes any kind of sense.

No one is asking for a law forcing all software to be accessible — just commercial and public (in the “government operated” sense) software. A bank’s size should not determine whether or not they have to support e.g. blind customers.

All software that's sold is commercial. So that means all software except software no-one pays for anyway.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look MacOS They do block "unidentified" apps by default but you still have the option to run it anyway (after a series of warnings maybe) But you can still run them And I think it can be a start

And that worked out really well for Vista and UAC. People have become blindly accustomed to just clicking ok.

It seems to have worked out at least semi-well? A lot less software on Windows requires admin permissions than did pre-Vista?

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the kind of software. Should games be required to be accessible? I don't think so. Should banking apps be required to be accessible? That probably depends on the size of the bank. Should software used for accessing government services be accessible? Of course. I don't think a law forcing all software to be accessible makes any kind of sense.

> I don't think a law forcing all software to be accessible makes any kind of sense. Easy to say when you don't have disabilities Now imagine that the only content you can consume are government's websites to pay taxes...

Now imagine the only software you are allowed to write is the one that can meet all accessibility requirements.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#276
Why do we need 3rd party stores? Why not just have a standard for an app endpoint url that iOS knows how to interact with. So I could publish an app on a private domain and then iOS would know how to download the app and check for updates from that end point? While there is value in a centralized store to search for apps (and that can certainly stick around), I don't understand why apps are forced to be hosted centrally in a store, Apple or third party.

Ex: To install the "Pepsi" app just go to pepsi.com and click the install app button. Then iOS could take over from there.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#277
post #234

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> on Google, where other app stores are allowed but the vast majority of people just use Google... no one would ever force you to use another app store. Google implemented several hurdles to drive users away from competitive app stores. They're all but forcing people to use the Play Store.

How so? I can open my web browser right now and install F-Droid in a matter of a minute. I assume the same holds true for Amazon's app store.

By having Android limit the ability to do things like auto-update an app or install an app without additional prompts. If you've ever used F-Droid with say 10 apps that need updates, you're going to have to click through update on each one 10 times.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#278

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I don't see how 3rd party stores can possibly work in a system that relies on rigid permissions. HN fetishises root access as if it's some kind of magic panacea, but in reality most users don't care about root access at all - they want apps that work, they have zero interest in tinkering with software for its own sake, and root access will not make apps more reliable or more secure. The main problems with the App Sto…

Maybe think of it differently: what if there were third party app stores that had the same TECHNICAL requirements, but not the same business/policy requirements. Feels like this is (should be?) as much about USER freedom and choice as it is about DEVELOPERS. While cost precipitated the current set of issues, it's really about the role Apple plays in arbitrarily mediating between customer and service. So basically, yo…

> Each "app store" would have it's own ability to set those policies for apps it carries - but (crucially) users would have the OPTION.

> For users that don't care - stick with Apple.

As an Apple user, to me this is the opposite of having "options".

As an individual, I cannot fight any remotely large company let alone FB or Google. If they hold my messaging or email hostage, I would be forced to use their secondary iOS app stores with their custom rules, etc.

As a group, all Apple users, we have a unified choice. It puts the power dynamic back into users hands. Users that don't like the choices of Apple should buy other phones, and if enough people buy other phones the Apple ecosystem will change with the market.

Users that do want to be part of the collective bargaining power of the Apple ecosystem, like me, should have that choice!

One very important question to ask is, why do users spend more money on iOS apps than on Android apps[1]? For 6 years, while I owned an Android I never made a single purchase. My last 4 years on iOS, I buy apps, I start subscriptions, I use Apple Pay, etc. I can tell you it is entirely because of my trust in Apple as a company. A large part of that trust is earned through the regulations they put on developers and their emphasis on my privacy.

I can guarantee you, as soon as Apple is no longer able to earn that trust, the entire ecosystem will be significantly less lucrative for developers and this whole exercise will have been in vain, hurting everyone (users and developers).

[1] https://www.techaheadcorp.com/blog/android-vs-ios/

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#279
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why any stores at all? Just allow software to be installed like a PC. There are millions of PCs running just fine without a "store". No one is making any extra money, but that's OK, because they shouldn't be.

The BredoLab botnet was 30M PCs strong.

"Stores" doesn't solve that problem. The TikTok virus is 300M strong. There are solutions to minimizing malware installs that don't involve a middle-man taking a cut.

Re: Rethinking the App Store

#280

Why do we need 3rd party stores? Why not just have a standard for an app endpoint url that iOS knows how to interact with. So I could publish an app on a private domain and then iOS would know how to download the app and check for updates from that end point? While there is value in a centralized store to search for apps (and that can certainly stick around), I don't understand why apps are forced to be hosted centra…

because they don't get the margin they're currently getting :)
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