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The question is this: Do you want to build within a certain set of categories Apple unambiguously supports? If you're building a to-do app supported by a month

The question is this: Do you want to build within a certain set of categories Apple unambiguously supports? If you're building a to-do app supported by a monthly subscription, there's no shifting foundation there. If you're building a free-to-play game whose in-app purchases consist of "handful of gems," "bag of gems," and "trunk of gems," you have nothing to worry about from App Review. If you're building something without obvious precedent, however, trying to break new ground in the spirit of tech entrepreneurship – the answer is no longer so clear-cut. And so the App Store has in many ways self-selected developers for "safe" categories over the past decade, and yes, many of these have found great success (even if that half-trillion dollars tends to follow a power law with most of it going to the top earners in each category). What the App Store is definitively not, however, is conducive to innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking. There are outliers, of course, who have managed to do something novel within the constraints set down by Apple. But the biggest risk you take when building your business on the App Store is not that your product will fail in the market, but that Apple will prevent it from ever reaching the market.

colechristensen 6y ago
No, your biggest risk when building your business on iOS will be selling nothing, which is the most common result. So many people try and the expected outcome is nothing. People tend to like iOS better because the app ecosystem is better and it is that way because of restrictions. The restrictions aren't necessarily the exactly correct set to achieve the quality and profit apple seeks, but if they were all that terrible, the iOS experience would be terrible and it isn't. It'll essentially keep staying just bad enough that it doesn't get regulated to hell or abandoned by users... and no better. People are generally upset because the barrier for entry to create an app is low and the profit for winners can be very high, which means there are an enormous number of people trying and regulating that is hard.
- xnyan 6y ago
  > People tend to like iOS better because the app ecosystem is better and it is that way I can’t speak for you but I know that I am prone (as most humans are I think) to project myself on others. I use iOS because it’s the only OS that runs on Apple-designed mobile silicon, which is extremely good in terms of performance. Also (and this is not a joke) my partner hates green bubbles. You may be surprised how many people feel that way, which I personally think is kind of a shallow opinion, but it’s a real reason more than one person has stuck with iOS. Some people buy it as a status symbol because it is a fairly expensive phone, beautiful (imo) and apple advertises well. Some people can’t buy it because Apple has a great and widespread repair network. I know for a fact that a great many people share your opinion and buy iOS phones because of the App Store, that said I don’t think it’s safe to assume it’s the only or even the primary reason people do it.
  - colechristensen 6y ago
    Well you listed several things which are proxies for the quality of the iOS experience, a significant amount of which is a direct result of the more curated app store. It's popular and a status signalling object - but it wouldn't be if the core experience was bad. Many people just follow tastemakers and don't know at all why the thing they "like" is better or worse than anything else, that's fine, but they're still doing so ultimately because of quality. The app store moderation isn't the only dimension of the quality of the ecosystem, but it has a significant effect. I have a mild preference for android, but it was more or less just luck which landed me on an iPhone for my current phone. It literally came down to which one I could acquire quicker after I destroyed my old phone before an extended out of state trip. The Pixel I bought is still in its sealed box because the shipping was delayed while I literally picked up an iPhone from the Apple campus store at the last minute before my flight.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  I do think the iOS app ecosystem is pretty terrible. I buy Apple because the overall security and privacy is better and of course the ecosystem ties. But I have mostly given up on shopping for apps. The app store is flooded with me too games with in-app purchases and knockoffs of legit apps. To make it worse, Apple puts advertisements before actual search results when you search for an app. Innovative new apps are rare or just get drowned in the app store.
petra 6y ago
//What the App Store is definitively not, however, is conducive to innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking. Are there any signs that iOS is significantly worse than Android with regards to innovative apps?
- silly-silly 6y ago
  You're looking at it.
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  Off the top of my head? Google Photos is actually usable, there are many options for game streaming and emulation, PWAs work, Termux (think iSH but significantly faster) works, transparently proxying phone calls through Google Voice or other services works, browser extensions work, on-device system-wide ad-blocking is available, and there are multiple options for driving infotainment (including Android Auto) without a head unit in the car. It is enough of a gap that I have never considered using an iOS device even though they're offered to me for free. Some major pieces that are missing from both are the ability for user-installed apps to auto-update without using the system app stores and the ability for a user-installed app to process call audio.

colechristensen 6y ago

No, your biggest risk when building your business on iOS will be selling nothing, which is the most common result. So many people try and the expected outcome is nothing. People tend to like iOS better because the app ecosystem is better and it is that way because of restrictions. The restrictions aren't necessarily the exactly correct set to achieve the quality and profit apple seeks, but if they were all that terrible, the iOS experience would be terrible and it isn't. It'll essentially keep staying just bad enough that it doesn't get regulated to hell or abandoned by users... and no better. People are generally upset because the barrier for entry to create an app is low and the profit for winners can be very high, which means there are an enormous number of people trying and regulating that is hard.

xnyan 6y ago
> People tend to like iOS better because the app ecosystem is better and it is that way I can’t speak for you but I know that I am prone (as most humans are I think) to project myself on others. I use iOS because it’s the only OS that runs on Apple-designed mobile silicon, which is extremely good in terms of performance. Also (and this is not a joke) my partner hates green bubbles. You may be surprised how many people feel that way, which I personally think is kind of a shallow opinion, but it’s a real reason more than one person has stuck with iOS. Some people buy it as a status symbol because it is a fairly expensive phone, beautiful (imo) and apple advertises well. Some people can’t buy it because Apple has a great and widespread repair network. I know for a fact that a great many people share your opinion and buy iOS phones because of the App Store, that said I don’t think it’s safe to assume it’s the only or even the primary reason people do it.
- colechristensen 6y ago
  Well you listed several things which are proxies for the quality of the iOS experience, a significant amount of which is a direct result of the more curated app store. It's popular and a status signalling object - but it wouldn't be if the core experience was bad. Many people just follow tastemakers and don't know at all why the thing they "like" is better or worse than anything else, that's fine, but they're still doing so ultimately because of quality. The app store moderation isn't the only dimension of the quality of the ecosystem, but it has a significant effect. I have a mild preference for android, but it was more or less just luck which landed me on an iPhone for my current phone. It literally came down to which one I could acquire quicker after I destroyed my old phone before an extended out of state trip. The Pixel I bought is still in its sealed box because the shipping was delayed while I literally picked up an iPhone from the Apple campus store at the last minute before my flight.
_ph_ 6y ago
I do think the iOS app ecosystem is pretty terrible. I buy Apple because the overall security and privacy is better and of course the ecosystem ties. But I have mostly given up on shopping for apps. The app store is flooded with me too games with in-app purchases and knockoffs of legit apps. To make it worse, Apple puts advertisements before actual search results when you search for an app. Innovative new apps are rare or just get drowned in the app store.

petra 6y ago

//What the App Store is definitively not, however, is conducive to innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking. Are there any signs that iOS is significantly worse than Android with regards to innovative apps?

silly-silly 6y ago
You're looking at it.
lern_too_spel 6y ago
Off the top of my head? Google Photos is actually usable, there are many options for game streaming and emulation, PWAs work, Termux (think iSH but significantly faster) works, transparently proxying phone calls through Google Voice or other services works, browser extensions work, on-device system-wide ad-blocking is available, and there are multiple options for driving infotainment (including Android Auto) without a head unit in the car. It is enough of a gap that I have never considered using an iOS device even though they're offered to me for free. Some major pieces that are missing from both are the ability for user-installed apps to auto-update without using the system app stores and the ability for a user-installed app to process call audio.