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Tim Sweeney may be a wonderful man who loves open platforms, apple pie, and kittens, but: - Android is clearly more open than iOS, but Epic is also suing Google. So is this really about sideloading? From that suit, it sure doesn't sound like it. - When you do sideload Fortnite on your Android device, from what I understand, you can't actually sideload Fortnite directly. Instead you have sideload... the Epic Games Sto…
> Instead you have sideload... the Epic Games Store! I remember when Valve did that with HL2 and Steam. The outrage was similar [1]. Look how it turned out for Valve. [1] https://games.slashdot.org/story/04/10/23/0812224/half-life-...
Valve was not fighting an existing store using "stores are bad" as an argument, only to introduce another store. Which is exactly what Epic is doing here.
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And how much “effort” is it in selling virtual goods with zero marginal costs?
I am not following. Are you saying apps development is free? That the only cost is delivering the bytes?
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> Epic is not allowed to recoup its own costs for the higher App Store cost by increasing their product cost by 30% What are you talking about? Epic can price their product however they want. Why do you think Youtube Premium costs more on iOS than on any other platform?
Did they change this? They used to disallow charging more on iOS.
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You can't uninstall Safari from iOS. In fact you can't even browse the web without it as Apple prohibits any other browsing engine (Chrome, FF, etc, are using WKWebView). I don't know the numbers but I imagine there are more iOS devices now than there were Windows PCs back in the 90s.
Fair point but that’s largely due to security not Apple’s desire to lockout other browsers.
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You can't uninstall Safari from iOS. In fact you can't even browse the web without it as Apple prohibits any other browsing engine (Chrome, FF, etc, are using WKWebView). I don't know the numbers but I imagine there are more iOS devices now than there were Windows PCs back in the 90s.
Fair point but that’s largely due to security not Apple’s desire to lockout other browsers.
I don't think Apple has demonstrated more commitment to "building secure devices" than to "building a tightly walled garden to maximize leverage over developers and users".
Edit: grammar
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> people familiar with Tim Sweeny’s life and ideology know that it is an actual important issues to him that platforms be open. I get that, but I admit to finding it hard to square with his statements[1] that he is fine with game consoles not being open. Seems a strange dichotomy. [1]: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oglnAi...
I really not going to be surprised that in case Epic manage to win over Apple they'll put pressure on console manufacturers next.
[1]: hard to image game consoles being sold at a loss if they couldn't make it up in fees on the other side.
Can someone who's on Apple's side here elaborate on why they think the outcome for consumers would be worse if they're forced to loosen some of their restrictions? It's very unlikely that app developers choose to forgo the AppStore since it will be driving the majority of app installs even in a completely open world for years to come. And if they do choose to forgo that distribution channel that should be seen as a v…
I don’t see why this is relevant. Apple runs a business. If you force it to walk away from income sources, you could just as well force any other company to do the same. So even if consumers would win, how would it justify the enforcement?
I win if I get your car. Now what?
(I’m on neither side.)
Can someone who's on Apple's side here elaborate on why they think the outcome for consumers would be worse if they're forced to loosen some of their restrictions? It's very unlikely that app developers choose to forgo the AppStore since it will be driving the majority of app installs even in a completely open world for years to come. And if they do choose to forgo that distribution channel that should be seen as a v…
If there are alternate app stores, I am sure others would make their apps exclusive there and demand you download them through these stores:
1. Facebook will want a store that allows them to build an app that has no ad or data collection restrictions. 2. Epic will want a store that allows them to directly charge for in-app purchases. 3. Google will want a store that allows them to track your location in the background regardless of your consent. 4. The New York Times will want a store where you cannot find a way to cancel your subscription.
And so on... I end up having to download 5 or 10 stores, and end up with a poor user experience.
And what do I get in return? As a consumer, I see no value for me.
I spend a small fraction of what I spend to buy my iPhone on apps per year. If their developers want to charge more to recoup their 30%, I am fine with that.
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> Instead you have sideload... the Epic Games Store! I remember when Valve did that with HL2 and Steam. The outrage was similar [1]. Look how it turned out for Valve. [1] https://games.slashdot.org/story/04/10/23/0812224/half-life-...
Valve was introducing a new kind of an experience with their store, because there were no digital stores for games before that (that were actually used; because no doubt someone in the comments will point out to some obscure digital game store that existed at that time, but no one has heard of or used). Valve was not fighting an existing store using "stores are bad" as an argument, only to introduce another store. Wh…