> There's no way Epic has gotten $175 million dollars of value This feels pretty subjective. My point was that you were suggesting the App Store is just a card

> There's no way Epic has gotten $175 million dollars of value This feels pretty subjective. My point was that you were suggesting the App Store is just a card processing gateway. It's significantly more than that. > Installer infrastructure used to be nearly free. And viruses and malware were everywhere, and many folks hated using their computers. People forget how far we've come since the days of malfunctioning and virus-riddled PCs being the butt of jokes. > I absolutely disagree that Apple or Google are providing significant value here Eh? App review? Literally a general purpose computing platform with close to zero malware / spyware? User satisfaction for iPhone amongst the highest for any consumer product in history. > The review processes might benefit users Ah. Yes. That's the core of this I think: Apple cares about Apple, then Apple customers, then developers. Developers seem to care most about developers. Customers seem to care most about customers. > developers who aren't guaranteed the ability to distribute apps they've invested in What? If your app conforms to the rules of Apple's app store, you are absolutely able to distribute the app. > Steve Ballmer wasn't stupid for laughing at the App Store. He just wildly underestimated the stupidity of the average developer. Tough gig to argue that every single app developer on the app store is stupid and you and Steve Ballmer are the smart ones. > No one would have taken the App Store deal in the 90s I want to write this in capital letters: every. Single. Consumer. Would. The app store is better for consumers. It's better to have one trustworthy company (Apple) with my credit card information. It's better to have a simple hardware-based authentication for payments like TouchID or FaceID. It's better to have no malware and spyware. It's better to have apps which don't crash or have showstopping bugs. It's better to have refunds controlled by one predictable entity. All of those things are made possible or significantly easier by the App Store. > It's absolutely crazy Crazy might look like dismissing all the huge benefits consumers love because one developer was unwilling to either accept the commission one of their marketplaces charges, or increase their prices to offset it.