Am I the only one who is fed up with every Apple pundit slamming them for the app store policy and still wanting their cut? Apple wants the best experience for its customers. That’s me and all of you.
Here’s the deal, if the primary way I use your service is on my phone or Mac, I want to see that subscription in one place in my settings and be able to turn it off with one click. I am not interested in giving my credit card information away to random websites and trying to recall where to go to manage my subscription.
If you are a developer, I think you should at least offer IAP through Apple. Hell, you can even charge me the 15-30% on top if you feel it is owed to you. What I won’t do anymore is sign up for most new services if you don’t offer that option. I’m sure there are many more like me. I wonder how much that is worth to you?
Apple is a corporation that makes great hardware, and is primarily interested in extracting the maximum amount of revenue per customer possible. Here’s what Brent Simmons has to say on the subject.
"Apple doesn’t care about you personally in the least tiny bit, and if you were in their way somehow, they would do whatever their might — effectively infinite compared to your own — enables them to deal with you. . . .
We’ve been through this before recently. Some folks agree with you. I’m of the opinion that Apple is dominant enough in the smartphone duopoly to warrant antitrust action. At a minimum, Apple should be required to permit owners of iPhones and iPads to sideload and use alternative app stores, just as we can on our Macs.
Even if that happens, you won’t be forced to use them. You’ll still be free to carry on exactly as you are now and make purchases and payments exclusively through Apple’s App Store.
I’ve read it and thanks for sharing. I have no dissolutions. I know Apple does not care about me. But I do believe that they care about the customer experience as a top priority. The fact is powerful when compared to say Google or Facebook who are work for advertisers.
I appears they believe in maximizing revenue as the top priority. If user experience aligns with that then they will certainly tout it. As a counter example I give you Apple News with the very intrusive ads.
I am not a lawyer, and perhaps one of the lawyers on this forum (@MacSparky or @iPersuade) could chime in with some insight into why Apple should be compelled to open up the App Store.
And wether or not Apple is compelled to do this, I’m of the opinion that they should.
I look forward to a future where there are multiple sources for applications, just as I enjoy the completion between stores in the physical realm.
As long as iOS devices are locked behind an appstore, its devs are nothing more than contract employees that can be fired at anytime by apple simply kicking their app out of the appstore. this is corrupt and my biggest issue with apple…
so to answer your question, no I am not fed up with pundits shining the light on this.
I do believe that my phone is my device and I love the freedom to download apps for my Mac. But I point to the current streaming experience when I worry. We went from cable to a split system. Trying to figure out which app I needed to watch football this year was a nightmare for someone like me who didn’t have local cable. That could be the future of iPhone which is why I’m cautious about it being totally open.
It is not clear that this is a valid analogy. But perhaps I am misunderstanding.
Are you comparing having to subscribe to multiple streaming services to having to visit multiple app stores? Do you have problems finding software for your Mac?
I don’t have problems finding all the software for my Mac. but knowing where I’m subscribed to what can be a challenge. Hence my preference is to keep all of my active subscriptions with Apple for software. A thin alalogy I’ll admit
I understand why some people want to sideload, but I am in favour of Apple not making it easy (I’m not saying it should be impossible, just that it shouldn’t be easy. In the same way that jailbreaking isn’t easy). We are not Apple’s primary user. Their primary user are the millions of people who have an iPhone because it’s “simple” and because their more tech-savvy family members made them. As someone who provides tech support for a network of family and friends, I advocate for iPhones because it’s hard for people to break them and because no matter what they do they are probably safe. A huge part of that is knowing that they are only downloading apps via the App Store, that some form of screening has taken place to get into the App Store, that the UI is how Apple thinks it should be, and that nobody should be typing their card details anywhere they shouldn’t.
And for what it’s worth, as a tired subscription payer myself I specifically didn’t take out a subscription on a website this week because it wasn’t possible to do it via the app and I wanted the payment to be under my Apple account where I can control it and where Apple will resolve a dispute if needed.
I think more is possible than the current proposals. Apple and App Store operators could come up with functional definitions of safe software that any of them could review, moderate, and share data. The tradeoffs to limit Apple’s editorial or strategic control don’t need to be as stark as both sides and their media outlets currently represent.
While I’m ready for some reasonable changes in the App Store, I don’t disagree that iPhones are probably the safest choice for most people - as long as they keep their phones updated.
Apple patched at least 19 zero day exploits in 2023 (most/all in webkit), and has just patched another one this week.
I think this myth of Apple as the benevolent father is over played. And Apple needs to meet my needs as a user as well as everyone else’s. If I do not want training wheels I should not have to jump through jailbreaking level hoops to do so. One toggle switch with a “are you sure” warning would be sufficient.
As others have pointed out, Apple has technologies such as Gatekeeper and Sandboxing that would allow the “unwashed masses” to be just fine. And most people would continue to use the default Apple App Store.
And people need to take some responsibility for what they do. Including safeguarding passwords and credit card info.
I hope you are right, and I hope that would prevent companies like Netflix from moving out of the regular store.
I could not agree more, but after helping elderly parents and family members navigate passwords and credit card recurring charges this is way easier said than done. I for one am grateful that I am smart about this stuff.
Then tell me why you (or any of the others who are complaining) still use an Apple iPhone when you could make another buying choice that would give you everything that you supposedly want?
