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You're completely ignoring the hit to both the brand and experience that something like that would cause. There's a big reason why iOS users tend to spend more

You're completely ignoring the hit to both the brand and experience that something like that would cause. There's a big reason why iOS users tend to spend more money on the platform than Android users do on the Google platform and a huge part of that is the trust built by Apple with their users. You can go into the Google Play store (which most people would think was the "official" and "safe" method of getting apps) and still get malware and/or a virus on your Android phone. Now imagine that Google offered both an official Play store and an alternative open Play store. Which do you think the majority of users would use and have a positive opinion of?

cgriswald 8y ago
You seem to be suggesting the only alternative to the App Store is a janky Apple-run Open App Store. All Apple has to do to offer an alternative is let people install Apps on their phones outside the App Store just like they can do on their Macs. People will still trust the App Store, but maybe a competitor comes along and maybe Netflix/Amazon etc use them or maybe they don’t.
- dkonofalski 8y ago
  I didn't suggest that at all. I suggested that it was a possible alternative simply because that's the only way something like that would be considered "official" still while allowing for any apps to be published. There's no reason for Apple to offer that on their phones since it dilutes the customer experience. Anyone that would care about doing that can still do that via XCode by side-loading the apps. Case in point - where's the competitor for the Mac App Store on macOS? There's not. Users have to do all the legwork themselves. That's literally no different than side-loading your own apps.
  - throwaway917100 8y ago
    Wait What. Steam is a "competitor" to Mac App Store. Homebrew is a sort of competitor to app store. Heck any website which has more that 1 Mac OS "app" is a sort of an "app store ".
  - kyle-rb 8y ago
    >Case in point - where's the competitor for the Mac App Store on macOS? There's not. Users have to do all the legwork themselves. Yeah, double-clicking that DMG and dragging the .app 30 pixels to the Applications shortcut is a lot of work. >That's literally no different than side-loading your own apps. Yup, clicking and dragging is the same as configuring a different machine to properly build and provision.
    - dkonofalski 8y ago
      Stop being obtuse. People have to find the software they want first and then download the DMG from somewhere which usually involves ignoring a billion fake "DOWNLOAD NOW" buttons. The App Store is a trusted platform with literally one click find an app and one click to install. You're being purposely disingenuous.
      - kyle-rb 8y ago
        What? First of all my main argument was that installing outside the App Store is much easier on MacOS than it is on iOS. Second: many, many sites host their own DMG downloads, with zero fake download buttons. I don't think searching for an app's website on Google is significantly harder than searching for an app in the App Store (also I'm not sure typing in search terms is "one click", but whatever). I'll admit that using the App Store is slightly less work to install stuff, and somewhat more secure. But from a user standpoint (I use a Mac with one or two App Store apps and dozens of DMG-installer-based apps) it's not a huge difference. And from a developer standpoint, that's not worth 30% of my revenue.
- jsjohnst 8y ago
  > All Apple has to do to offer an alternative is let people install Apps on their phones outside the App Store This exists now and is free. I’m not saying it’s a good user experience (especially the one week limitation), but it’s definitely possible and legit / legal / free.
  - paulddraper 8y ago
    > not saying it’s a good user experience Why do you think that is?
    - jsjohnst 8y ago
      I apologize, but I don’t understand your question. Can you clarify?
  - jjeaff 8y ago
    Sideloading on iOS is a bad enough user experience to be effectively useless.
    - jsjohnst 8y ago
      Depends on the use case. For the intended purpose it’s not useless, but far from great either.

cgriswald 8y ago

You seem to be suggesting the only alternative to the App Store is a janky Apple-run Open App Store. All Apple has to do to offer an alternative is let people install Apps on their phones outside the App Store just like they can do on their Macs. People will still trust the App Store, but maybe a competitor comes along and maybe Netflix/Amazon etc use them or maybe they don’t.

dkonofalski 8y ago
I didn't suggest that at all. I suggested that it was a possible alternative simply because that's the only way something like that would be considered "official" still while allowing for any apps to be published. There's no reason for Apple to offer that on their phones since it dilutes the customer experience. Anyone that would care about doing that can still do that via XCode by side-loading the apps. Case in point - where's the competitor for the Mac App Store on macOS? There's not. Users have to do all the legwork themselves. That's literally no different than side-loading your own apps.
- throwaway917100 8y ago
  Wait What. Steam is a "competitor" to Mac App Store. Homebrew is a sort of competitor to app store. Heck any website which has more that 1 Mac OS "app" is a sort of an "app store ".
- kyle-rb 8y ago
  >Case in point - where's the competitor for the Mac App Store on macOS? There's not. Users have to do all the legwork themselves. Yeah, double-clicking that DMG and dragging the .app 30 pixels to the Applications shortcut is a lot of work. >That's literally no different than side-loading your own apps. Yup, clicking and dragging is the same as configuring a different machine to properly build and provision.
  - dkonofalski 8y ago
    Stop being obtuse. People have to find the software they want first and then download the DMG from somewhere which usually involves ignoring a billion fake "DOWNLOAD NOW" buttons. The App Store is a trusted platform with literally one click find an app and one click to install. You're being purposely disingenuous.
    - kyle-rb 8y ago
      What? First of all my main argument was that installing outside the App Store is much easier on MacOS than it is on iOS. Second: many, many sites host their own DMG downloads, with zero fake download buttons. I don't think searching for an app's website on Google is significantly harder than searching for an app in the App Store (also I'm not sure typing in search terms is "one click", but whatever). I'll admit that using the App Store is slightly less work to install stuff, and somewhat more secure. But from a user standpoint (I use a Mac with one or two App Store apps and dozens of DMG-installer-based apps) it's not a huge difference. And from a developer standpoint, that's not worth 30% of my revenue.
jsjohnst 8y ago
> All Apple has to do to offer an alternative is let people install Apps on their phones outside the App Store This exists now and is free. I’m not saying it’s a good user experience (especially the one week limitation), but it’s definitely possible and legit / legal / free.
- paulddraper 8y ago
  > not saying it’s a good user experience Why do you think that is?
  - jsjohnst 8y ago
    I apologize, but I don’t understand your question. Can you clarify?
- jjeaff 8y ago
  Sideloading on iOS is a bad enough user experience to be effectively useless.
  - jsjohnst 8y ago
    Depends on the use case. For the intended purpose it’s not useless, but far from great either.