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It is such a welcome thing. Big platforms like Netflix, Spotify don't owe any revenue share to Apple, Microsoft or others. They made their own brand and have be

It is such a welcome thing. Big platforms like Netflix, Spotify don't owe any revenue share to Apple, Microsoft or others. They made their own brand and have been responsible for their own success. These big OS/device companies in fact compete with them with unfair advantages like pre installed apps, prominent product placement on AppStore and closed/early integrations.

askonomm 5y ago
Alright. So if Netflix wants their app to be hosted and indexed by the App Store, Apple should just provide the costs related to that because of charity? The bandwidth alone I imagine carries a pretty hefty price for an app like Netflix. By your logic, this should all be given free - which actually is negative profit for Apple .. why? Would you create an App Store, dedicate resources on moderation and app curation, as well as infrastructure, and then just give it away free? Would your stakeholders still back you if you did that? I never understand this line of logic, and the idea that for-profit entities somehow _should_ do lots of charity.
- javchz 5y ago
  You could give Devs two options A) Give me X% of revenue, and I will give you free hosting of your app, and some form of promotion. B) No commission, but you host your own binaries. To be a valid installable app, you need to give me a hash of the binary valid to install, that I have approved before. Each audit of binaries cost X. No promotion for free in the app store.
  - themacguffinman 5y ago
    The main problem with Option B is the potential for bad/inconsistent app download experiences. Many companies may cheap out on binary hosting and have very slow or broken downloads (especially in certain countries), which results in a kind of random "never know if this will work well" patchy UX for iOS/Android users at large. This isn't an insurmountable problem of course. Perhaps Apple/Google could charge fixed bandwidth rates and host it themselves, or they could contractually set SLA requirements that could be verified regularly with an uptime service.
- actuator 5y ago
  > The bandwidth alone I imagine carries a pretty hefty price for an app like Netflix. Apple doesn't pay for Netflix's server costs. They just host the app, there are ways to mitigate the cost of hosting the app as the other reply also mentions. > Would you create an App Store, dedicate resources on moderation and app curation, as well as infrastructure, and then just give it away free? Apple is not doing Netlfix any favour here, people signed up for Netflix way before iOS existed. Netflix was a brand in itself before iPhone was. Also, let us not pretend that the success of iOS has nothing to do with the likes of Netflix, Spotify, YouTube etc. providing first class apps for the platform. Windows Phone died because of app situation despite having a fresh OS with compelling devices. Apple has more than 40% net margins on iPhone. If they can bundle the cost of their Maps effort with iPhone, even App Store can be taken from that amount. 30% from a business just for gatekeeping is just disgusting and abuse of the duopoly situation we are in.
  - ksec 5y ago
    Thank You for your claim explanation without any rage. >If they can bundle the cost of their Maps effort with iPhone..... And just want to add. Apple currently put around ~$3B / year for all of their OS, iCloud, Siri and Map development which are already included in the Net Margin calculation.

askonomm 5y ago

Alright. So if Netflix wants their app to be hosted and indexed by the App Store, Apple should just provide the costs related to that because of charity? The bandwidth alone I imagine carries a pretty hefty price for an app like Netflix. By your logic, this should all be given free - which actually is negative profit for Apple .. why? Would you create an App Store, dedicate resources on moderation and app curation, as well as infrastructure, and then just give it away free? Would your stakeholders still back you if you did that? I never understand this line of logic, and the idea that for-profit entities somehow _should_ do lots of charity.

javchz 5y ago
You could give Devs two options A) Give me X% of revenue, and I will give you free hosting of your app, and some form of promotion. B) No commission, but you host your own binaries. To be a valid installable app, you need to give me a hash of the binary valid to install, that I have approved before. Each audit of binaries cost X. No promotion for free in the app store.
- themacguffinman 5y ago
  The main problem with Option B is the potential for bad/inconsistent app download experiences. Many companies may cheap out on binary hosting and have very slow or broken downloads (especially in certain countries), which results in a kind of random "never know if this will work well" patchy UX for iOS/Android users at large. This isn't an insurmountable problem of course. Perhaps Apple/Google could charge fixed bandwidth rates and host it themselves, or they could contractually set SLA requirements that could be verified regularly with an uptime service.
actuator 5y ago
> The bandwidth alone I imagine carries a pretty hefty price for an app like Netflix. Apple doesn't pay for Netflix's server costs. They just host the app, there are ways to mitigate the cost of hosting the app as the other reply also mentions. > Would you create an App Store, dedicate resources on moderation and app curation, as well as infrastructure, and then just give it away free? Apple is not doing Netlfix any favour here, people signed up for Netflix way before iOS existed. Netflix was a brand in itself before iPhone was. Also, let us not pretend that the success of iOS has nothing to do with the likes of Netflix, Spotify, YouTube etc. providing first class apps for the platform. Windows Phone died because of app situation despite having a fresh OS with compelling devices. Apple has more than 40% net margins on iPhone. If they can bundle the cost of their Maps effort with iPhone, even App Store can be taken from that amount. 30% from a business just for gatekeeping is just disgusting and abuse of the duopoly situation we are in.
- ksec 5y ago
  Thank You for your claim explanation without any rage. >If they can bundle the cost of their Maps effort with iPhone..... And just want to add. Apple currently put around ~$3B / year for all of their OS, iCloud, Siri and Map development which are already included in the Net Margin calculation.