Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says

#371

Post by lynx23 » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:16 AM UTC

lupusreal wrote: post #140

lynx23 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barring temptation, the "feature" will hopefully not directly affect me. But since I am not an egoist, I tend to also think about other people...

Personally I think other people should be welded into their homes to protect them from all the dangers they might face outside. If they opened their doors they would be subjected to all manner of hazards and risks like crime or being hit by a bus, and I'm not an egoist so.. weld them in!

Very constructive comment, thanks you!

So, me liking the AppStore checks as an extra security measure leads to you suggesting people should be welded into their homes. That is totally sane and absolutely not childish.

Re: Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says

#372

Post by anileated » Tue, May 07, 2024, 9:59 AM UTC

_aavaa_ wrote: post #242

gtufano wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the point I was trying to make, said in another way is that the initial success of App Store (iOS, in particular) was driven that the fact that , suddenly, users thought that was OK to pay for the software. I think that the (relative) lack of piracy and difficulty for ordinary users to install pirated software has been a key factor in the success of it: "there's an app for that, and I can't easily find it for f…

> suddenly, users thought that was OK to pay for the software I would argue almost the opposite way. Users are now conditioned to expect the software to be free with ads of 99 cents. Both greatly lowering the cap on what people can charge for software due to expectations. Instead we've seen the rise of subscription services apps that have no business needing one.

Not sure in which world you’re living. Remember shareware and cracked versions of it? Remember having to jump through hoops to get paid for software (or indeed to pay, if you were a user)? Especially if user and developer lived in different countries.

Apple created a new reality where you pay 99 cents and buy to own. It made so very compelling, through general ease of payment flow that just works worldwide and through a large ecosystem of compelling hardware.

Then, subscription behemoths like Epic started crying how it’s all unfair. Of course, it is to them, but there is no way kowtowing to them is beneficial to small app developers.

Re: Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says

#373

Post by anileated » Tue, May 07, 2024, 10:11 AM UTC

Adverblessly wrote: post #219

gtufano wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Piracy is not-impactful is not true. The disappearance of indie software that do not depend on a remote server (or that's not software on a remote server) is basically due to the inability to monetize with sales native, stand-alone, software. And that's for the piracy. In some way, the success of the App Store towards indie/solo developers is because there was a way to sell things without the piracy easily steal your…

There have been various efforts to estimate the effect piracy has on revenue like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15319476 or http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracy So depending on product category it might be a large drop (EU study finds -38% displacement rate for books) but it might also be a boost (EU study finds +24% for video games), and it is hard to say in general, since even a 90% pi…

Remember that we are talking about small developers.

Yes, Adobe, Microsoft or makers of viral AAA games absolutely benefit from piracy (that’s why they have actually tolerated it for decades): it helps their software penetrate the market and get more users hooked up on their ecosystem. However, to John Doe’s lifestyle business of a couple small niche or utility apps each lost sale is bread off the table.

In addition, piracy on iOS is great for major providers who do subscription services (a device where you can pirate means a device with more users, and more users means more monthly revenue).

Again, the people hit the most are the above-mentioned small time John Does.