Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

macrumors.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

621–630 of 1001 posts

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

#621

Post by judge2020 »

jijijijij wrote: post #26
klaustopher wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> provides developers through ongoing investments in the tools, technologies, and services that enable them to build and share innovative apps with users around the world. That's what the 99$ fee for the developer program is for. The 50ct Core Technology Fee is just Apple showing the middle finger to successful developers. I hope the EU goes after this fee first. The whole reason for the DMA is that developers do not…

Maybe Apple's goal is to become irrelevant enough to not be subjected to the DMA. I mean, making developers despise you is a brilliant first step towards such an end!

Why is size a question here? If apple is subject now, but then dropped to 1/10th the number of users, could they suddenly no longer be required to adhere to the DMA? Why is the size of the provider suddenly a test to determine if consumer protections are in order?

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

#622

Post by sunshowers »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #596
sunshowers wrote: post #576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important for platforms to support works of art indefinitely. It is not reasonable to expect, say, decade-old games to be updated (something that can involve weeks or months of work because underlying toolkits may need to be updated as well). This was a huge issue when Apple killed 32-bit support. Moves like this destroy trust within communities.

That's how platforms are killed by neglect. They become locked into their old forms and become replaced wholesale instead of evolving piece by deprecated piece.

I think there are many other solutions, such as producing a Wine-like layer in between. But that requires active effort and commitment.

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

#623

Post by alacritas0 »

ho_schi wrote: post #599
crotchfire wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> allowed them to split up (Baby Bells) That's some pretty baldfaced revisionism you've got going on there. They were ordered to do this by a court: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=120938923478579...

Thanks for your comment. Maybe I’m wrong in that part. Your link sadly doesn’t work and shows an 404. I’m a little confused because the Wikipedia says: AT&T itself recommended a divestiture structure in which it would be broken up into regional subsidiaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._AT%26T_(1982)

the link is working for me. it's showing a court opinion

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

#624

Post by judge2020 »

dig1 wrote: post #609
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…

> That said I also don’t think it’s a reasonable expectation for old binaries to continue to work indefinitely. Maintenance is a reality of life of a software developer, and personally speaking There is a fine difference between keeping old binaries running and maintaining your application. I don't expect certain applications to be maintained, but I expect them to run on newer versions of OS for many years. If you th…

16 bit support got dropped from Windows over a decade ago. It's not like macOS drops things at random, Monumental architecture changes are good reasons to break any apps that hadn't been touched in x years.

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

#625

Post by deergomoo »

verticalscaler wrote: post #340
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~20% of Apple's total earnings (not revenue) could come from the App Store: https://deepwatermgmt.com/apples-app-store-is-an-important-p... When you look at the multiple on services - the App Store could easily be >40% of Apple's total market cap. They're going to stick their fingers in their ears as long as they can to defend that. You don't give up the golden goose. You defend it.

That's a bit of an exaggeration financially. I think Apple is afraid 100% of their market cap depends on the App Store, just not so directly. Phones are "done". Geese don't live forever. Switching away is hard. In the not too distant future a $99 no brand phone will be equivalent to the iPhone experience for 80% of use cases, modulo the camera. If apps are just web apps and run on whatever hardware, Apple will need t…

> In the not too distant future a $99 no brand phone will be equivalent to the iPhone experience for 80% of use cases, modulo the camera

I'm not so sure, for the same reason people still buy MacBooks when cheap Windows laptops are available, and luxury cars when there is no shortage of lightly used Kias.

Laptops and cars have been around substantially longer than smartphones, but it's still very easy to see the difference between cheap and expensive. While technically yes all of them do "the same thing", people are willing to pay for premium, and I suspect (due to relative affordability if nothing else) that the market of people able and willing to pay for a nicer phone is and will remain quite large.

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

#626

Post by askonomm »

judge2020 wrote: post #618

I'm willing to make a new phone that only runs code i approve, since iPhones can no longer support this maximum security use case. You must be a journalist or have production access to a F500 company's database (containing PII/PHI) to qualify to purchase the device; I'm sorry if you don't qualify, but I fear the EU might come and force me to break the device security simply if 'too many people' begin to use my device…

Yeah, I don't get it either. All the Android fanboys seem to be wanting iOS to turn into Android for some reason (what, the blue bubble is so bad?) and I also don't understand how a company that isn't a monopoly (because there is in fact choice in the market) can be dictated to how they run their app distribution. That's akin to telling me, a software consultant, how I should do my software consulting. Maybe the EU will soon tell me what IDE I have to use or I will get fined. Maybe I have to start offering my services on some public forum where everybody can bid on my time equally.

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

#627

Post by [deleted] »

judge2020 wrote: post #618

I'm willing to make a new phone that only runs code i approve, since iPhones can no longer support this maximum security use case. You must be a journalist or have production access to a F500 company's database (containing PII/PHI) to qualify to purchase the device; I'm sorry if you don't qualify, but I fear the EU might come and force me to break the device security simply if 'too many people' begin to use my device…

[deleted]

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

#628

Post by BenFranklin100 »

deergomoo wrote: post #614
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit of the app store isn’t money. It’s the security of the ecosystem. 3rd party apps will begin a race to the bottom of fly-by-night iOS developers in it for a fast buck with no qualms about advertising and data trafficking. Before long we end up with what is seen in the Android system.

I mean...is the situation on Android you describe anything to do with third-party app stores and sideloading? Because my understanding was that, despite there being very few hoops to jump through, the only time the vast majority of users even consider stepping out of the Play Store is to install apps to let them stream pirated movies. Moreover, Apple's App Store is already filled with race-to-the-bottom, shady shit.…

Developers outside the official store will price undercut those within the store. Legit developers will be forced to leave, fold, and/or adopt the shady data practices of the fly-by-nighters. Eventually the official store will be shadow of its former self.

Well heeled consumers will respond by being reluctant to put sensitive personal information on their phones. The entire ecosystem suffers, and phones, instead of becoming trusted personal devices, remain the purview of games, emails, and fart apps. Everyone suffers, especially developers.

You guys, above all others, want people to put more personal info on their phones, not less.

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

#629

Post by tonfa »

judge2020 wrote: post #620
dbbk wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this is what I really don't understand. They say they have to be compensated for their R&D work and for providing the APIs and cloud services etc. Okay. ...but the program fee already does that??

I think you'd be hard pressed to take the $99/yr they make from the dev program fee and use it to cover the salaries for the engineers implementing and maintaining all of iOS' developer-facing APIs.

Isn't having good apps/api a selling point for apple hardware (where they already make massive amount of money), why can't that be a motivation by itself?

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

#630

Post by bdcravens »

ho_schi wrote: post #599
crotchfire wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> allowed them to split up (Baby Bells) That's some pretty baldfaced revisionism you've got going on there. They were ordered to do this by a court: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=120938923478579...

Thanks for your comment. Maybe I’m wrong in that part. Your link sadly doesn’t work and shows an 404. I’m a little confused because the Wikipedia says: AT&T itself recommended a divestiture structure in which it would be broken up into regional subsidiaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._AT%26T_(1982)

This is getting caught by your parents and responding when they ask you to name your punishment. It was hardly voluntary.
Post reply on HN