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They really don’t care if people make money through web apps. They aren’t interested in capturing a percentage of that. What they do care about is that they m

• Brian_K_White 6y ago
  How do you explain this theory that they care about the store and don't care about web apps, if web apps allow both developers and users to skip the store? They care about the store primarily for some other other reason, and the fee is just incidental they don't care about? I say, "Unlikely". If that was the case, then why did they ever create the store in the first place? They started out with no public store and all installed apps were fully internally owned and controlled. If they only cared about that, they already had that before creating the store. If they only created the public store to allow a wider range of other apps to exist for the users, many years of prior examples of external apps that a device/os vendor could support without caring about controlling or extracting a fee from existed already from PalmOS and WinCE etc. They didn't need any store, or they could have allowed a 3rd party to operate a curated convenient store, or they could have just maintained a directory that had listings that pointed to all the random apps on their own websites etc and the end user experience could be exactly as smooth as today. The os and the app package format could provide all the same user protections and procedural consistency. No, they only care about the app store for 2 main reasons: 1 - Because other platforms were already more useful to users like Palm which already had thousands of unpredicable random special purpose apps for many years, and so they were simply required to provide some sort of equivalent facility whether they wanted to or not. 2 - To extract a fee from all of that activity. Once web apps allow both developers and users to skip the store... then what? Apple still doesn't care? No way. Come on.
  • zepto 6y ago
    Apple created the store because it sells iOS devices. It sells iOS devices because it’s a curated and environment where people feel safe to buy software, and because Apple can deliver apis for new hardware as they release it rather than moving at the speed of web standards. Apps also can be engineered for privacy and security in ways that web apps cannot. The store will always be a differentiator from the open web in this way. It is in Apple’s interest to have both the best browser and the best native platform and store.
    • tracker1 6y ago
      Apple makes more money on store sales than device sales... I'm certain that investors and the board would not appreciate losing that.
      • zepto 6y ago
        “Apple makes more money on store sales than device sales“ This statement is complete bullshit. But in any case, that’s exactly why they want the browser to be successful too. Otherwise there might be an antitrust case which would cause them to lose the store.
        • tracker1 6y ago
          Looks like you're right... $61b in store sales vs $413b in device sales, but not sure where the raw profits stack up... that said, I still think investors would be upset to drop $61b in what is likely high margins.
          • zepto 6y ago
            What has ‘dropping’ the store revenue got to do with any of this?
            • Brian_K_White 6y ago
              Everything. That's all this thread is about is exactly that. My comment reacts to a comment claiming Apple doesn't care about collecting a fee from web apps. Web apps theoretically allow both developers and users to skip the app store, and thus it's fees.
              • zepto 6y ago
                Sure, but it’s a completely unsubstantiated leap to suggest that this means the store revenue will be ‘dropped’. Both users and many developers benefit from the store for reasons already outlined in ways that the web can’t replicate. It’s not going to be ‘dropped’ just because streaming games don’t fit the model.