4 ms·

How does making app store apps slower increase apple's revenue?

• thought_alarm 16y ago
  That's the beauty of conspiracy theories: they don't have to make any sense.
  • statictype 16y ago
    Missing the point. Apple doesn't and can't control web apps that are outside the App Store. They can control what goes into the App Store. Preventing web apps from performing on par with native apps will discourage development outside their controlled app store. I'm not saying that Apple is doing this, just that the conspiracy theory does make sense and even has prior art (see Microsoft and IE6)
  • alperakgun 16y ago
    web apps on home page and apps wrapped web components which still use html, js etc are punished. so it is not a conspiracy, it is a bug but if it is intentional by apple; it is a faux pas. welcome to ie6 in ios; intentional punishment of web apps to cut itunes cannibalization.
• jrockway 16y ago
  It makes web apps (that work with any platform) slower, while native apps are not penalized. That increases Apple's revenue because it will encourage people to make native apps instead of web apps, which has a two-fold effect: one, they get 30% of the app's revenue, and two, you have to buy an iPhone to use it. I'm sure it's a bug, but if it's not, it's not really a bad thing for Apple.
  • alextgordon 16y ago
    The issue affects UIWebView, which means it affects native apps too. Not quite to the same extent, naturally, but the issue is there. Perhaps Apple crippled UIWebView as some kind of plausible deniability, so that they could go about their evil ways. /s
    • jrockway 16y ago
      Does Apple really want "native apps" that are really wrappers around web content they don't control?
      • yaix 16y ago
        That sort of app would be called a "web browser".
        • cookiecaper 16y ago
          Right, and does Apple allow alternate web browsers? Last I knew they disapproved anything that competed with an iPhone built-in app, like Google Voice, which duplicated phone functionality.
          • paxswill 16y ago
            Yep. A couple I know off the top of my head are iCab and Opera.
            • ZeroGravitas 16y ago
              iCab and all other "browsers" on iOS are skins round the built in webkit. (It would be interesting to see if and how they are effected by this bug). Opera hasn't released its actual browser for iOS since doing so is banned by Apple's policies. Same for Mozilla. What they have released is Opera Mini which displays pages rendered by what is effectively a server-side browser.
              • jankassens 16y ago
                Apple took a long time to approve Opera, but they finally did: http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/opera-mini-web-browser/id363729560 http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/opera-mini-web-browser/id3637...
                • 16y ago
  • jeremychone 16y ago
    Well, not really. Web Apps are faster, it is the "packaged apps" using a UIWebView that did not gain anything, and Apple is getting 30% of those as well. So, it would not have make sense to slowdown UIWebView and accelerate Web Pages only for revenue point of view. I think it is, as often, a interlaced tech-business issue: 1) Security: There might a genuin security concern the way the JIT works. 2) Exclusivity: I think Apple exec saw #1 as an opportunity to keep the performance gain as an exclusivity benefit for a while (Safari vs other browsers). 3) Developers: Apple's exec are probably realizing that there is a momentum starting to build around "Universal HTML5 Packaged apps," which would allow developers to decouple production from distribution. So, while they probably do not want to completely stop this momentum, slowing it a little might be seen as a good compromise for them. Now, do not get me wrong, I am really disappointed at this news, and hope Apple will bring Nitro to UIWEbView soon.