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>This is long overdue and I'm hopeful that it extends beyond app stores. The primary leverage here will (inevitably?) be an SDK that allows all apps that are me

>This is long overdue and I'm hopeful that it extends beyond app stores. The primary leverage here will (inevitably?) be an SDK that allows all apps that are members of the union to be disabled remotely by vote should companies overstep. And then Apple can issue refunds for non functioning apps and ban developers forever. Also, if these apps are popular, expect class action lawsuits. In the US law there's a thing which is called a promissory estoppel (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/promissory_estoppel.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/promissory_estoppel.asp) and it can be argued that if you buy an app, you expect that it keeps working. P.S. I am not a lawyer

zackmorris 8y ago
That's their (Apple's) prerogative yes, but typically when a workforce unionize, everyone unionizes. So the threat of lawsuits is more Apple's concern than developers'. Of course if it gets to that point, then arguably the app store itself is going to be in trouble and everyone could find themselves out of a job, which has certainly happened in the past. I'd also like to point out that there's some antitrust stuff at work here too, because the app store probably shouldn't be coupled to a specific company/device in the first place. The idea that every app developer everywhere is beholden to Apple, Microsoft (and now Google and Amazon) is just as much of a problem today as 30 years ago. 30% (this might be 15% now?) or more is being skimmed off everyone's profit margin, which is stifling innovation across the board. I think that's what we're really talking about here, and why it's threatening to the status quo. I'm not saying any of this is good or bad, just that, there are many ways to structure the economy of the future and we're in one that favors multinational corporations with a trillion dollars of combined wealth. Meanwhile individual workers have almost no solidarity, which leaves them with little or no recourse for handling grievances. I'm just surprised that with the unprecedented concentration of intelligence on forums like these that any thought of organizing seems completely out of the question. That's quite a code smell and a rather large untapped market when you stop and think about it.

zackmorris 8y ago

That's their (Apple's) prerogative yes, but typically when a workforce unionize, everyone unionizes. So the threat of lawsuits is more Apple's concern than developers'. Of course if it gets to that point, then arguably the app store itself is going to be in trouble and everyone could find themselves out of a job, which has certainly happened in the past. I'd also like to point out that there's some antitrust stuff at work here too, because the app store probably shouldn't be coupled to a specific company/device in the first place. The idea that every app developer everywhere is beholden to Apple, Microsoft (and now Google and Amazon) is just as much of a problem today as 30 years ago. 30% (this might be 15% now?) or more is being skimmed off everyone's profit margin, which is stifling innovation across the board. I think that's what we're really talking about here, and why it's threatening to the status quo. I'm not saying any of this is good or bad, just that, there are many ways to structure the economy of the future and we're in one that favors multinational corporations with a trillion dollars of combined wealth. Meanwhile individual workers have almost no solidarity, which leaves them with little or no recourse for handling grievances. I'm just surprised that with the unprecedented concentration of intelligence on forums like these that any thought of organizing seems completely out of the question. That's quite a code smell and a rather large untapped market when you stop and think about it.