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Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#581

Post by zeta0134 »

hellcow wrote: post #195

This is likely my last iPhone. Apple’s behavior in opposing their own customers is unacceptable. I’ll switch to a Pixel running GrapheneOS, where I can run “real Firefox” and any other software I choose.

The inability to run a real web browser (with extensions!) has been holding me back on the switch to iOS for a long time now. Reviewing Apple's behavior in the EU, I'm not really expecting that to change any time soon. Android is annoying in a lot of its own ways, but at the very least I can run whatever software I want on the thing, and that's too valuable to give up.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#582

Post by hgomersall »

adventured wrote: post #518
AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IOS would be cool... IMessage? Basically everything? That would be a strict improvement for humanity over the current state of affairs.

> Basically everything? Anything large and successful in the US economy should be forced into the public domain. /s When do we break up ASML and Taiwan Semiconductor and force them to give all of their technology to the US with no compensation? They're large, successful, de facto monopolies. All of their IP should be forced into the public domain across the board. The US needs to start hitting ASML with massive fines…

All IP is a deal with society. If it's not serving society, the rules should be changed. In trademarks, the benefit is very clear - consumers do no do well from an entity passing off their product as someone else's.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#583

Post by elevatedastalt »

lgeorget wrote: post #478
pg_1234 wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU should make a public service announcement. Something along the lines of: "We urge all EU citizens with Apple devices to have an alternate means of accessing critical internet services like banking, to protect themselves in the event we are forced to block all Apple services EU-wide for legal non-compliance." ... then watch AAPL stock drop below NVDA ... ... and Apple come crawling back, suitably obedient.

That sounds awfully like market manipulation. We need something a tad more subtle.

It is, but all regulation is market manipulation (like, literally. It forces the market equivalent away from the free market). We have decided it's ok to vest that power in governments.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#584

Post by dns_snek »

YetAnotherNick wrote: post #295
Etheryte wrote: post #84

The terms and conditions for web distribution [0] are concerning to say the least. In short, you have to have at least one million first installs annually on iOS to even qualify, in addition to other terms such as "good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more". I doubt Epic and the like would be considered in good standing as far as Apple is concerned. Also, quote unquote, developers…

> The gears of EU turn slowly, but grind finely. What would happen if big companies simply refuse to pay? Will EU put the European employees in jail? Would they put Americans in their jail? Will they do DNS block? Credit card block? Remove apple products from physical store? Many of the EU countries like Germany are export driven and certainly they don't want to close the market.

What happens when any company fails to pay the government? Their bank accounts are frozen and assets are seized, at a minimum.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#585

Post by kennywinker »

capitainenemo wrote: post #562
robocat wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> license to print money They don't split out their profitability for the App store. Last time I tried to calculate it it was less than you might assume. Anyone have a good article/analysis of what % of Apple's profit comes from the App store tax? Ideally also with foremarket versus aftermarket?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/08/apples-app-store-had-gross-s... "There are some exceptions to Apple's 30% cut of digital sales, and Apple's figures are rough, which means that Apple's App Store total sales is likely even higher. Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm, estimates that the App Store did $72.3 billion in sales 2020." So... 72 billion in 2020.. probably even more now.

$72.3B in sales, but given they get less than 30% of that, their cut is less than 21.7B. Put that in perspective of their total revenue of 294B that year the app store represents only ~7% of their total revenue. And I suspect the app store is actually a fairly costly business to run - a lot of effort goes into the decor of the walls around garden. I'm thinking app review, even content serving.

Not arguing that it's not a profit center - but in perspective, I suspect apple's reasons for defending it are not primarily the direct financial benefits of it - it's probably mostly about the indirect benefits.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#586

Post by cynicalsecurity »

samatman wrote: post #544
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are some cult-like requirements. The term "good standing" comes not from business, it comes directly from the domain of authoritarian-destructive cults.

Nonsense. The term "customer in good standing" has a well-established legal tradition in contract law. You're just making stuff up. https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/customer-in-good-stand...

No business is using this term in real life, but it's heavily used by cults.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#588

Post by jwells89 »

kmeisthax wrote: post #542
jwells89 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having tracked API changes fairly closely on macOS and iOS for many years now, I can’t think of too many that were just pointless furniture shuffling. Nearly all of them were to enable addition of new features or to improve developer QoL in some way — dropping 32-bit support for example allowed them to make long desired improvements in AppKit that were impractical prior due to quirks in the way Objective-C works. Tha…

Windows on ARM will never materialize because Qualcomm can't make compelling hardware for it to run on. Keep in mind that the M1 at launch was as fast as a lot of Intel's lineup running emulated x86 apps . That's what Qualcomm needs to be able to pull off. If the performance is there then people will buy the laptops. That changes the developer story from "please recompile and retest your apps so they'll run on laptop…

Proficiency in emulating x86 is just one piece of the puzzle, though. It helped drive M1 adoption to be sure, but users also had a lot of confidence that developers would pull through and provide native binaries in a timely manner, catapulting the capabilities and battery life of their shiny new laptops even further. Apple and third party Mac devs had pulled it off twice already, so there was good reason to believe that they’d do it again.

If the new Qualcomm chips have good performance, it’ll drive sales initially, but enthusiasm will fizzle if 2-3 years down the road developers aren’t making meaningful efforts to port their Windows versions to ARM, because a Windows on ARM device running mostly emulated processes is almost certainly going to fall behind M-series Macs running mostly native in performance and battery life. If Qualcomm can’t keep up substantial performance improvements on a yearly cadence, they also risk getting lapped by traditional x86 machines.

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#589

Post by hyperthesis »

Etheryte wrote: post #84

The terms and conditions for web distribution [0] are concerning to say the least. In short, you have to have at least one million first installs annually on iOS to even qualify, in addition to other terms such as "good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more". I doubt Epic and the like would be considered in good standing as far as Apple is concerned. Also, quote unquote, developers…

Apple legal's playbook is contempt:

> "So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad." - https://filklore.com/wordpress/2012/10/are-apple-in-contempt...

Re: Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

#590

Post by [deleted] »

lapcat wrote: post #3

This is just more malicious compliance by Apple. Indie developers are completely locked out of web distribution, and it applies only to developers who are already paying the Apple tax. > To be eligible for Web Distribution, you must: > Be a member of good standing in the Apple Developer Program for two continuous years or more, and have an app that had more than one million first annual installs on iOS in the EU in t…

[deleted]
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