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Other companies would not be able to run an appstore, but they would be able to list their work on 3rd-party appstores (and maybe have their own direct distribu

Other companies would not be able to run an appstore, but they would be able to list their work on 3rd-party appstores (and maybe have their own direct distribution channel like a website?). The point is to allow competition. One thing that would enable is narrow appstores with active curation—sort of what Apple promises but, if the store is fully of scammy games, doesn't quite deliver. A company could run a game-specific store with much stricter requirements than Apple's store.

_qulr 6y ago
It really depends on what "app store" means. Is an indie Mac developers's web store an app store? I'd say yes. They just sell their own apps, not the apps of other developers. I'm not sure why legally this would be restricted to only app stores that contain the apps of multiple developers.
threeseed 6y ago
So your idea is that the world should revolve around developers. As a user instead of going to one private, trusted and secure store I now have to visit dozens. All of which are going to be competing on price which means they will look to sell my user data to make money. And what makes anyone think that the App Stores will simply not be dominated by Amazon, Epic, Valve etc like most gaming is today. In which case this is all about transferring money from one large corporation to another.
- gridlockd 6y ago
  You don't "have" to do anything. If I don't want to sell my product on the App Store, or if I have to make you pay more for it, I risk losing you as a customer. That's a trade-off every developer is aware of. Most apps that can publish on the App Store, will still publish on the App Store. On the PC, Epic sometimes has to shell out a lot of money to get an exclusive release, because a lot of people just use Steam. However, a lot of apps can't publish on the App Store, because of the strict anti-competitive rules.
- graeme 6y ago
  > All of which are going to be competing on price which means they will look to sell my user data to make money. Didn’t even occur to me. It’s the obvious way app stores can earn money if there was some legislated effort to cut the commission fee and force multiple stores.
- smichel17 6y ago
  On my Linux desktop, I install sodtware from multiple different locations, administered from a single tool. I do the same on my Android phone, with F-Droid. The repository model is basically the best of both worlds, from my perspective.
yibg 6y ago
Having a bunch of app stores to choose from sounds like a way worse experience for the end user. I'd have to jump between different app stores to see where a particular app exists and also probably compare the different prices. On top of that I'd have to decide which app store is trust worthy.
- zachm0 6y ago
  If I'm reading this right, you are saying that competition would be worse for consumers? Can you name a scenario where opening up a market to competitors has been a net negative to consumers? I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I haven't thought about it for very long. Yes going around to different stores to find the best price is annoying, but you are under no obligation to do it. You can't say shopping around is a worse experience for the end user because it is a problem entirely of their own making. If shopping around is that much of a hassle you could always just stick to the Apple App Store.
  - arugulum 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    As a user it’s annoying. On a PC in order to access every game you need to have Steam, the Epic store, the Microsoft store, all these stores... argh! You want game X? Only on Store A. Game Y? Only on Store B! What a pain for no reason! I just want one store that has everything in it. Why do we always have to have a dozen competing versions of everything?! Same with Netflix, and Hulu, and Prime, and Disney, and HBOgo, and on and on and on. As a user it’s on my shoulders to navigate all this complexity. Yuck! This whole “single AppStore” thing is only a big problem to developers. That’s why it gets so much attention and air time here because only developers whine about it and we are all developers. As an end user I just want one app distribution system to worry about.
    - mdoms 6y ago

_qulr 6y ago

It really depends on what "app store" means. Is an indie Mac developers's web store an app store? I'd say yes. They just sell their own apps, not the apps of other developers. I'm not sure why legally this would be restricted to only app stores that contain the apps of multiple developers.

threeseed 6y ago

So your idea is that the world should revolve around developers. As a user instead of going to one private, trusted and secure store I now have to visit dozens. All of which are going to be competing on price which means they will look to sell my user data to make money. And what makes anyone think that the App Stores will simply not be dominated by Amazon, Epic, Valve etc like most gaming is today. In which case this is all about transferring money from one large corporation to another.

gridlockd 6y ago
You don't "have" to do anything. If I don't want to sell my product on the App Store, or if I have to make you pay more for it, I risk losing you as a customer. That's a trade-off every developer is aware of. Most apps that can publish on the App Store, will still publish on the App Store. On the PC, Epic sometimes has to shell out a lot of money to get an exclusive release, because a lot of people just use Steam. However, a lot of apps can't publish on the App Store, because of the strict anti-competitive rules.
graeme 6y ago
> All of which are going to be competing on price which means they will look to sell my user data to make money. Didn’t even occur to me. It’s the obvious way app stores can earn money if there was some legislated effort to cut the commission fee and force multiple stores.
smichel17 6y ago
On my Linux desktop, I install sodtware from multiple different locations, administered from a single tool. I do the same on my Android phone, with F-Droid. The repository model is basically the best of both worlds, from my perspective.

yibg 6y ago

Having a bunch of app stores to choose from sounds like a way worse experience for the end user. I'd have to jump between different app stores to see where a particular app exists and also probably compare the different prices. On top of that I'd have to decide which app store is trust worthy.

zachm0 6y ago
If I'm reading this right, you are saying that competition would be worse for consumers? Can you name a scenario where opening up a market to competitors has been a net negative to consumers? I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I haven't thought about it for very long. Yes going around to different stores to find the best price is annoying, but you are under no obligation to do it. You can't say shopping around is a worse experience for the end user because it is a problem entirely of their own making. If shopping around is that much of a hassle you could always just stick to the Apple App Store.
- arugulum 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
- ryandrake 6y ago
  As a user it’s annoying. On a PC in order to access every game you need to have Steam, the Epic store, the Microsoft store, all these stores... argh! You want game X? Only on Store A. Game Y? Only on Store B! What a pain for no reason! I just want one store that has everything in it. Why do we always have to have a dozen competing versions of everything?! Same with Netflix, and Hulu, and Prime, and Disney, and HBOgo, and on and on and on. As a user it’s on my shoulders to navigate all this complexity. Yuck! This whole “single AppStore” thing is only a big problem to developers. That’s why it gets so much attention and air time here because only developers whine about it and we are all developers. As an end user I just want one app distribution system to worry about.
  - mdoms 6y ago