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While some worry that Apple's the only organization defending privacy, others are attacking it for trying to control its ecosystem (in part so it can defend the

by slver 5y ago

While some worry that Apple's the only organization defending privacy, others are attacking it for trying to control its ecosystem (in part so it can defend their users' privacy). That's the world right now.

t-writescode 5y ago
For what it's worth, I'm one of the people that's doing both. I want the store monopolies to be greatly reduced for my benefit as the consumer - and yes, I will continue to acquire and purchase things through the app store, in general, because I trust their system a lot; BUT, I also applaud them and primarily purchase their hardware because I appreciate their privacy. It's possible to have nuance in these positions.
- slver 5y ago
  The mistake that many people do is requesting a systematic change, and then ignoring the systematic effects of it. Maybe in theory "more stores" sounds like "more good" to you as a consumer. But the large mass of consumers are not in a position to judge things like safety, performance, reliability, sustainability. They're only in position to judge things like "$3 is less than $4". So the systematic effect of multiple stores will be that everyone will flock to the cheapest stores, which won't have the means or motivation to do what Apple does. Many of those stores will also be offering pirated applications. So this will destroy many developers who will lose a lot more than 15% or 30% of their potential revenue to piracy, and it will also end up destroying Apple's own store. This is what "be careful what you wish for" means. Eating fast food every day is cheaper and tastes better than whole foods, for you as a consumer. By the time your body is destroyed, it'll be too late to have some important realizations.
  - emptysongglass 5y ago
    Except that we already know what that landscape looks like on Android and... it's fine. Everyone still uses the Play Store.
    - slver 5y ago
      App Store has double the revenue of Play Store despite Play Store serving a much bigger audience (more Android phones) and having the same 15%/30% cut as the App Store. This directly means the Play Store is a lot less used by its users. They buy way less from it relative to App Store. You can attribute this to less trust, or more piracy, more likely both. In part because of this, Play Store is less funded, and less regulated and has way more malware than the App Store. Also, despite 13% of known app installs come outside the Play Store, 33% of known malware comes outside the Play Store, clearly confirming that non-Play Store installs are way more likely to be malware than Play Store apps. So in short, Play Stores gets way less sales, gets way more malware, and there's EVEN MORE malware outside the Play Store. The situation is not fine at all. All of the effects I mentioned are exhibited by Android's ecosystem. Of course, we probably have different tolerance for what "fine" is. Maybe you don't care that developers do several times less sales per user on Android than on iOS. Maybe you don't care about the malware, and think you can teach everyone you care about to just "be careful" or something. But if Android is fine, then Android is all yours. It's the majority of phones. So use that. Why do we HAVE to destroy everything that's different and make it like the rest? Why should iOS be Android? Let Apple do Apple. They're clearly doing something right if their parameters are way better than the Play Store.
      - naresh_xai 5y ago
        If revenue was more in a non-Apple ecosystem, would it not be the case that devs would all move to a non-Apple ecosystem. Android also has the problem that users are far less likely to be as educated (since target audience is not white collar but blue collar) and far less likely to report problems, issues or malware. So I'd even take the reported values to be lower than what the actual case is.
      - procombo 5y ago
        As a consumer and shareholder I expect Apple to provide both security and choice. Apple regularly uses security to justify eliminating choice. Which if you're paying attention isn't always true in every circumstance --so then I'd assert the motivation isn't coming from a place wholesome to the consumer. Apple says I bought their device so I should follow their patterns. I disagree. Think Different. Having additional marketplaces available for me doesn't affect you.
- procombo 5y ago
  I've seen this approach go over people's heads far too many times over the years. I'm a huge Apple fan/advocate. I'm also a huge critic. It's not even nuance --it's just the way it needs to be.

by slver 5y ago

t-writescode 5y ago

For what it's worth, I'm one of the people that's doing both. I want the store monopolies to be greatly reduced for my benefit as the consumer - and yes, I will continue to acquire and purchase things through the app store, in general, because I trust their system a lot; BUT, I also applaud them and primarily purchase their hardware because I appreciate their privacy. It's possible to have nuance in these positions.

slver 5y ago
The mistake that many people do is requesting a systematic change, and then ignoring the systematic effects of it. Maybe in theory "more stores" sounds like "more good" to you as a consumer. But the large mass of consumers are not in a position to judge things like safety, performance, reliability, sustainability. They're only in position to judge things like "$3 is less than $4". So the systematic effect of multiple stores will be that everyone will flock to the cheapest stores, which won't have the means or motivation to do what Apple does. Many of those stores will also be offering pirated applications. So this will destroy many developers who will lose a lot more than 15% or 30% of their potential revenue to piracy, and it will also end up destroying Apple's own store. This is what "be careful what you wish for" means. Eating fast food every day is cheaper and tastes better than whole foods, for you as a consumer. By the time your body is destroyed, it'll be too late to have some important realizations.
- emptysongglass 5y ago
  Except that we already know what that landscape looks like on Android and... it's fine. Everyone still uses the Play Store.
  - slver 5y ago
    App Store has double the revenue of Play Store despite Play Store serving a much bigger audience (more Android phones) and having the same 15%/30% cut as the App Store. This directly means the Play Store is a lot less used by its users. They buy way less from it relative to App Store. You can attribute this to less trust, or more piracy, more likely both. In part because of this, Play Store is less funded, and less regulated and has way more malware than the App Store. Also, despite 13% of known app installs come outside the Play Store, 33% of known malware comes outside the Play Store, clearly confirming that non-Play Store installs are way more likely to be malware than Play Store apps. So in short, Play Stores gets way less sales, gets way more malware, and there's EVEN MORE malware outside the Play Store. The situation is not fine at all. All of the effects I mentioned are exhibited by Android's ecosystem. Of course, we probably have different tolerance for what "fine" is. Maybe you don't care that developers do several times less sales per user on Android than on iOS. Maybe you don't care about the malware, and think you can teach everyone you care about to just "be careful" or something. But if Android is fine, then Android is all yours. It's the majority of phones. So use that. Why do we HAVE to destroy everything that's different and make it like the rest? Why should iOS be Android? Let Apple do Apple. They're clearly doing something right if their parameters are way better than the Play Store.
    - naresh_xai 5y ago
      If revenue was more in a non-Apple ecosystem, would it not be the case that devs would all move to a non-Apple ecosystem. Android also has the problem that users are far less likely to be as educated (since target audience is not white collar but blue collar) and far less likely to report problems, issues or malware. So I'd even take the reported values to be lower than what the actual case is.
    - procombo 5y ago
      As a consumer and shareholder I expect Apple to provide both security and choice. Apple regularly uses security to justify eliminating choice. Which if you're paying attention isn't always true in every circumstance --so then I'd assert the motivation isn't coming from a place wholesome to the consumer. Apple says I bought their device so I should follow their patterns. I disagree. Think Different. Having additional marketplaces available for me doesn't affect you.
procombo 5y ago
I've seen this approach go over people's heads far too many times over the years. I'm a huge Apple fan/advocate. I'm also a huge critic. It's not even nuance --it's just the way it needs to be.