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> Apple provides them access to, literally, nearly a billion potential customers Are they providing them access or are the not denying them access?

• JohnBooty 5y ago
  There are a lot of things I hate about Apple's App Store, but it provides some significant services. It is not a simple "pipe" between developers and users. For developers it provides seamless and secure payments, SDKs, APIs, an IDE, and app distribution and updates to roughly a billion customers. For end-users, it provides a mostly seamless experience, and (unlike other app stores) a nearly airtight guarantee that an app won't be fraudulent, won't install spyware, won't fuck up your machine, and can be easily uninstalled if you don't like it. There are myriad flaws, and we can choose hate the overarching concept of folks needing an "app store" instead of simply running apt-get or whatever like Real Computer Users™. We can certainly choose to hate many things about it, like Apple's gatekeeping w.r.t. adult/controversial apps or their maddening review process. But the things they do provide are significant and clearly have value to many. So yes, I think it's appropriate to think of them as "providing access" and not merely "not denying it."
  • ls15 5y ago
    The services are significant, but at the same time, Apple commoditizes the users, which only works, because they are gatekeeping all software installations. If users were free to install alternative app stores after a big fat security warning, I doubt that Apple's 30% share would work as today.