5 ms·

Apple only nominally cares about the web. They would rather all interactions go through apps and the app store where they get their cut.

enos_feedler 5y ago
Glad you’ve talked with leadership there and can confirm what many suspect but can’t prove
- nixass 5y ago
  Is it brown in there?
- admax88qqq 5y ago
  Fine, allow me to rephrase Based upon their actions I don't believe that Apple cares about the web beyond the bare minimum they have to to provide a tolerable browser experience for their users until everything happens via Apps.
  - enos_feedler 5y ago
    What have other browser makers done, beyond the status quo that has demonstrated a browser experience that is beyond tolerable, perhaps even good?
- pid-1 5y ago
  Understanding how a company makes money will tell you a lot more than talking with any leader That's even more true for publicly traded companies
  - scarface74 5y ago
    Apple makes money on games with in app purchases. Not random apps that don’t charge users on the phone.
toper-centage 5y ago
It's funny because if you go watch the iPhone launch presentation, Jobs was all about the web, and having web apps on your phone. Fast forward and PWA are just recently possible, barely supported, and Apple would really prefer you not to use them. The incentives are clear, but it's still a sad story.
- _jal 5y ago
  > Jobs was all about the web That was just the best answer he had to questions about third-party apps until they had the infra in place for it. Apple will never tell you ahead of time about changes like that. So, while I wouldn't exactly call it lying, you'll get answers like the above.
  - soperj 5y ago
    Why wouldn't you call it lying?
    - glatisaint 5y ago
      Because it was the truth at the time.
- hbn 5y ago
  It's not so much that Jobs was "all about the web," it's just that he didn't want people writing bad software for the iPhone so he was against allowing third-party apps on it until after much convincing.
lupire 5y ago
For news, the common AMP use case, Apple uses Apple News news.apple.com as their version of AMP hijacking websites. It's not a paid app, just part of the walled garden experience.
scarface74 5y ago
Apple “cares about the web” and wants people to use the web because Google pays them $12 billion+ a year to be the default search engine. Most of the money Apple gets from the App Store is from pay to win games - north of 80%. It came out in the Epic Trial. Apple doesn’t really care if your banking app is a website or an app. They don’t make money either way. Most apps on the App Store that could be a web app don’t charge users.
- lern_too_spel 5y ago
  Apple gets at least $99 per year plus device sales and usage data if it's an app. They also get to sell App Store ads to competing banks.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    $99 a year is a nothingburger. It wouldn’t even move the needle enough to motivate them. That’s not even pure profit. But the money they make on ads in the App Store has to pale in comparison to how much they get from Google
    - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
      > nothingburger What the heck is a nothingburger?
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - searchableguy 5y ago
      Apple said there are 20 million registered developers in 2018. Now there must be more but $99 * 20 million is not nothing in annual revenue which is mostly profit.
      - scarface74 5y ago
        App review, XCode, each app gets a certain amount of iCloud storage outside of what the user pays, bandwidth, etc. A “registered developer” is not necessarily a “paying developer”, you can register as a developer to get documentation etc. If you are working for a company creating an app, not all developers need to pay to publish an app. Also Mac developers don’t pay to distribute an app.

enos_feedler 5y ago

Glad you’ve talked with leadership there and can confirm what many suspect but can’t prove

nixass 5y ago
Is it brown in there?
admax88qqq 5y ago
Fine, allow me to rephrase Based upon their actions I don't believe that Apple cares about the web beyond the bare minimum they have to to provide a tolerable browser experience for their users until everything happens via Apps.
- enos_feedler 5y ago
  What have other browser makers done, beyond the status quo that has demonstrated a browser experience that is beyond tolerable, perhaps even good?
pid-1 5y ago
Understanding how a company makes money will tell you a lot more than talking with any leader That's even more true for publicly traded companies
- scarface74 5y ago
  Apple makes money on games with in app purchases. Not random apps that don’t charge users on the phone.

toper-centage 5y ago

It's funny because if you go watch the iPhone launch presentation, Jobs was all about the web, and having web apps on your phone. Fast forward and PWA are just recently possible, barely supported, and Apple would really prefer you not to use them. The incentives are clear, but it's still a sad story.

_jal 5y ago
> Jobs was all about the web That was just the best answer he had to questions about third-party apps until they had the infra in place for it. Apple will never tell you ahead of time about changes like that. So, while I wouldn't exactly call it lying, you'll get answers like the above.
- soperj 5y ago
  Why wouldn't you call it lying?
  - glatisaint 5y ago
    Because it was the truth at the time.
hbn 5y ago
It's not so much that Jobs was "all about the web," it's just that he didn't want people writing bad software for the iPhone so he was against allowing third-party apps on it until after much convincing.

lupire 5y ago

For news, the common AMP use case, Apple uses Apple News news.apple.com as their version of AMP hijacking websites. It's not a paid app, just part of the walled garden experience.

scarface74 5y ago

Apple “cares about the web” and wants people to use the web because Google pays them $12 billion+ a year to be the default search engine. Most of the money Apple gets from the App Store is from pay to win games - north of 80%. It came out in the Epic Trial. Apple doesn’t really care if your banking app is a website or an app. They don’t make money either way. Most apps on the App Store that could be a web app don’t charge users.

lern_too_spel 5y ago
Apple gets at least $99 per year plus device sales and usage data if it's an app. They also get to sell App Store ads to competing banks.
- scarface74 5y ago
  $99 a year is a nothingburger. It wouldn’t even move the needle enough to motivate them. That’s not even pure profit. But the money they make on ads in the App Store has to pale in comparison to how much they get from Google
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    > nothingburger What the heck is a nothingburger?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - searchableguy 5y ago
    Apple said there are 20 million registered developers in 2018. Now there must be more but $99 * 20 million is not nothing in annual revenue which is mostly profit.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      App review, XCode, each app gets a certain amount of iCloud storage outside of what the user pays, bandwidth, etc. A “registered developer” is not necessarily a “paying developer”, you can register as a developer to get documentation etc. If you are working for a company creating an app, not all developers need to pay to publish an app. Also Mac developers don’t pay to distribute an app.