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agreed. both of these companies --google and apple-- have leadership that see this as a hill to die on. Apple looks ready to go to the guillotine for the righ

agreed. both of these companies --google and apple-- have leadership that see this as a hill to die on. Apple looks ready to go to the guillotine for the right to gouge startups, while Google seems more amicable to try obfuscation tactics to keep their hand in the cookie jar. my opinion: a couple million dollars invested in F-Droid might do the world a whole lot of good. if you were say, epic, you might consider an anonymous donation.

vertis 5y ago
The difference between iOS and Android though is you absolutely can avoid the Google Play app store and install items directly (or through stores like f-droid). I'm not a fan of either ecosystem really, but Apple is definitely worse on this one metric because there is no ability to NOT pay them.
- enos_feedler 5y ago
  Well - Apple makes everything. From my point of view, they are more similar to a game console platform where a completely verically integrated product experience, including marketing spend and everything sort of justifies a partner-like split of revenue. Google is really just hobbling together a pretty shitty phone platform, with terrible OEM support and drivers OEMs do all the work that Apple does but Google slides in there with the app store and takes a cut. To me Google is much worse
  - gondo 5y ago
    Google also makes Pixel phones, arguably this is a tiny fraction of Android market.
    - enos_feedler 5y ago
      And I support Google copying Apple’s revenue sharing model on Pixel devices only. Other OEMs should be receiving more share.
charcircuit 5y ago
Fdroid is too strict in being against proprietary software to be invested in. Your entire app has to be open source and you can't use any proprietary libraries (including proprietary dependencies needed to build your app). Fdroid has to build your app which can delay releasing updates. Fdroid thinks it's bad to track its users so you will not even know how many people have downloaded your app. Fdroid would not be a good investment for Epic. Why would you invested in a store that you can't even put your own games in?
cglong 5y ago
I keep wondering why Epic (and Valve for that matter) haven't tried bringing their own stores to Android.
- goosedragons 5y ago
  Epic sort of tried. They have three games in the Epic Games App for Android and for a while the only way to play Fortnite on Android was through their app or Samsung's.

vertis 5y ago

The difference between iOS and Android though is you absolutely can avoid the Google Play app store and install items directly (or through stores like f-droid). I'm not a fan of either ecosystem really, but Apple is definitely worse on this one metric because there is no ability to NOT pay them.

enos_feedler 5y ago
Well - Apple makes everything. From my point of view, they are more similar to a game console platform where a completely verically integrated product experience, including marketing spend and everything sort of justifies a partner-like split of revenue. Google is really just hobbling together a pretty shitty phone platform, with terrible OEM support and drivers OEMs do all the work that Apple does but Google slides in there with the app store and takes a cut. To me Google is much worse
- gondo 5y ago
  Google also makes Pixel phones, arguably this is a tiny fraction of Android market.
  - enos_feedler 5y ago
    And I support Google copying Apple’s revenue sharing model on Pixel devices only. Other OEMs should be receiving more share.

charcircuit 5y ago

Fdroid is too strict in being against proprietary software to be invested in. Your entire app has to be open source and you can't use any proprietary libraries (including proprietary dependencies needed to build your app). Fdroid has to build your app which can delay releasing updates. Fdroid thinks it's bad to track its users so you will not even know how many people have downloaded your app. Fdroid would not be a good investment for Epic. Why would you invested in a store that you can't even put your own games in?

cglong 5y ago

I keep wondering why Epic (and Valve for that matter) haven't tried bringing their own stores to Android.

goosedragons 5y ago
Epic sort of tried. They have three games in the Epic Games App for Android and for a while the only way to play Fortnite on Android was through their app or Samsung's.