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You and anyone else can continue to purchase or install apps exclusively through the App Store, even if Apple's App Store is not the only way to get apps on iOS

You and anyone else can continue to purchase or install apps exclusively through the App Store, even if Apple's App Store is not the only way to get apps on iOS. People who prefer to purchase or install iOS apps through other means are the ones harmed by Apple's anti-competitive restrictions, and that is why countries around the world are gradually introducing new regulations that curb Apple's ability to limit consumer choice.

ericmay 5y ago
Who is this anti-competitive for? If Apple cedes control over the App Store I lose all of the benefits. Who will implement anonymous Sign In with Apple when you can just, create an alternative App Store and bypass this? No more Apple Pay. No more privacy fact sheets and enforcements. You name it. Apple collectively bargains on behalf of users against predatory developers. I honestly cannot comprehend why people can’t just buy an Android phone if they want the Amazon Prime App Store or the Meta App Store of whatever. Leave us alone. We like the iPhone this way. I’d rather developers stop writing new software than to give up these controls. If apple is this big bad monopoly or whatever seriously just don’t buy their products. When you go to buy your next phone say “I want multiple app stores. Therefore iPhone is not the device for me” and then just buy the Android phone that supports the features you want. Only having one App Store is the feature I want, which is why I buy the iPhone. If this feature is a big deal to customers than they will start buying other products and then apple may have to change how it does things. But we both know that won’t happen because Apple’s way is the superior model. There’s just a minority of developers who complain loudly and then other mega corps who want to increase their margins. Again. There’s absolutely 0, and I mean 0 benefit to me as a customer to change this, and instead I lose lots of benefits that I enjoy.
- commoner 5y ago
  Apple's restrictions are anti-competitive for all iOS users, and have a negative effect on iOS users who have different preferences than you. You don't speak for all iOS users, and it is not your place to demand iOS users who want to obtain iOS apps from alternative app stores to go out of their way and switch ecosystems to satisfy your preferences, if a more convenient option is available for them to obtain what they want. Allowing alternative app stores does not prevent Apple from setting arbitrary fees and restrictions (like Apple Pay and Apple sign-in) on apps published through Apple's App Store. You are still free to exclusively use Apple's App Store, regardless of where other iOS users choose to get their apps from if Apple's anti-competitive restrictions on iOS app installation were removed.
  - ericmay 5y ago
    > Apple's restrictions are anti-competitive for all iOS users, and have a negative effect on iOS users who have different preferences than you. You don't speak for all iOS users, and it is not your place to demand iOS users who want to obtain iOS apps from alternative app stores to go out of their way and switch ecosystems to satisfy your preferences, if a more convenient option is available for them to obtain what they want. Ok. Now just reverse everything here. You don’t speak for iOS users. It’s not your place to demand changes that satisfy your preferences. Etc. And honestly you can just buy an Android phone with the features you want. Why is this so difficult for people? > Allowing alternative app stores does not prevent Apple from setting arbitrary fees and restrictions (like Apple Pay and Apple sign-in) on apps published through Apple's App Store. You are still free to exclusively use Apple's App Store, regardless of where other iOS users choose to get their apps from if Apple's anti-competitive restrictions on iOS app installation were removed. What your suggesting degrades the ecosystem (privacy, payments, etc.) and does not provide value to users. If anybody at all gave a damn it would be affecting sales. Literally nobody cares. Walk down the street in idk, Indianapolis and ask people if they care that they have one App Store on Apple. It’ll be crickets. It’s literally just figuring out whether Facebook or Netflix have better margins or if Apple does. That’s it. There’s no cost savings to customers. 90%+ of apps are junk, and these changes mean that Apple is no longer able to collectively bargain against developers on behalf of users. When you add another App Store what will happen is the big companies will create new app stores. These stores won’t have things like privacy protection. You might say “apple should compete on privacy protection” sure just like people who advocate for bike lanes should compete with car owners. The overall product of, say, Facebook being on another marketplace will cause users to switch. And now Facebook (again just picking on them here) gets to collect invasive data, skirt ethical privacy policies, and just do whatever they want. With Apple you get the best of both worlds. Facebook has to provide their product and they have to do it in a way that protects privacy. Also it would be great if you and others would consider not using “anti-competitive” here because what Apple is doing isn’t anti-competitive. If you want to suggest that it is, then the term loses meaning. Kroger can’t sell Kroger brand products at Wal-Mart. I can’t sell custom game skins on the Epic store. Apple competes fiercely with an all-in experience against numerous competitors. That they’re crushing the competition is proving what the market actually wants.

ericmay 5y ago

Who is this anti-competitive for? If Apple cedes control over the App Store I lose all of the benefits. Who will implement anonymous Sign In with Apple when you can just, create an alternative App Store and bypass this? No more Apple Pay. No more privacy fact sheets and enforcements. You name it. Apple collectively bargains on behalf of users against predatory developers. I honestly cannot comprehend why people can’t just buy an Android phone if they want the Amazon Prime App Store or the Meta App Store of whatever. Leave us alone. We like the iPhone this way. I’d rather developers stop writing new software than to give up these controls. If apple is this big bad monopoly or whatever seriously just don’t buy their products. When you go to buy your next phone say “I want multiple app stores. Therefore iPhone is not the device for me” and then just buy the Android phone that supports the features you want. Only having one App Store is the feature I want, which is why I buy the iPhone. If this feature is a big deal to customers than they will start buying other products and then apple may have to change how it does things. But we both know that won’t happen because Apple’s way is the superior model. There’s just a minority of developers who complain loudly and then other mega corps who want to increase their margins. Again. There’s absolutely 0, and I mean 0 benefit to me as a customer to change this, and instead I lose lots of benefits that I enjoy.

commoner 5y ago
Apple's restrictions are anti-competitive for all iOS users, and have a negative effect on iOS users who have different preferences than you. You don't speak for all iOS users, and it is not your place to demand iOS users who want to obtain iOS apps from alternative app stores to go out of their way and switch ecosystems to satisfy your preferences, if a more convenient option is available for them to obtain what they want. Allowing alternative app stores does not prevent Apple from setting arbitrary fees and restrictions (like Apple Pay and Apple sign-in) on apps published through Apple's App Store. You are still free to exclusively use Apple's App Store, regardless of where other iOS users choose to get their apps from if Apple's anti-competitive restrictions on iOS app installation were removed.
- ericmay 5y ago
  > Apple's restrictions are anti-competitive for all iOS users, and have a negative effect on iOS users who have different preferences than you. You don't speak for all iOS users, and it is not your place to demand iOS users who want to obtain iOS apps from alternative app stores to go out of their way and switch ecosystems to satisfy your preferences, if a more convenient option is available for them to obtain what they want. Ok. Now just reverse everything here. You don’t speak for iOS users. It’s not your place to demand changes that satisfy your preferences. Etc. And honestly you can just buy an Android phone with the features you want. Why is this so difficult for people? > Allowing alternative app stores does not prevent Apple from setting arbitrary fees and restrictions (like Apple Pay and Apple sign-in) on apps published through Apple's App Store. You are still free to exclusively use Apple's App Store, regardless of where other iOS users choose to get their apps from if Apple's anti-competitive restrictions on iOS app installation were removed. What your suggesting degrades the ecosystem (privacy, payments, etc.) and does not provide value to users. If anybody at all gave a damn it would be affecting sales. Literally nobody cares. Walk down the street in idk, Indianapolis and ask people if they care that they have one App Store on Apple. It’ll be crickets. It’s literally just figuring out whether Facebook or Netflix have better margins or if Apple does. That’s it. There’s no cost savings to customers. 90%+ of apps are junk, and these changes mean that Apple is no longer able to collectively bargain against developers on behalf of users. When you add another App Store what will happen is the big companies will create new app stores. These stores won’t have things like privacy protection. You might say “apple should compete on privacy protection” sure just like people who advocate for bike lanes should compete with car owners. The overall product of, say, Facebook being on another marketplace will cause users to switch. And now Facebook (again just picking on them here) gets to collect invasive data, skirt ethical privacy policies, and just do whatever they want. With Apple you get the best of both worlds. Facebook has to provide their product and they have to do it in a way that protects privacy. Also it would be great if you and others would consider not using “anti-competitive” here because what Apple is doing isn’t anti-competitive. If you want to suggest that it is, then the term loses meaning. Kroger can’t sell Kroger brand products at Wal-Mart. I can’t sell custom game skins on the Epic store. Apple competes fiercely with an all-in experience against numerous competitors. That they’re crushing the competition is proving what the market actually wants.