4 ms·

Do somethings provide value? Yes? If I want to write an app for my own phone (and provide it to no one else) I need to pay them $100 a year. That turns my $1

by ProAm 4y ago

Do somethings provide value? Yes? If I want to write an app for my own phone (and provide it to no one else) I need to pay them $100 a year. That turns my $1000 phone into a $1100 phone the first year, 10% increase. Is it providing me value? Services are rent seeking because its MRR and ARR, some worth it, some definitely not (an SD card slot would crush and kill iCloud)

dymk 4y ago
You haven't needed to pay Apple to write your own apps and load them on your device for years now. Since iOS 9. You have to pay them if you want to put it on their app store. iCloud increasing the effective storage of the phone is about 10% of the value prop. Your point is like "dropbox is just rsync + a VPS".
- ProAm 4y ago
  I dont believe you get access to all features and functionality if you do not pay for the developer subscription (maybe it has changed?) but things like push notifications, third party libraries....? Regardless their services strategy is rent seeking for one of the most profitable companies on the planet. (ex: making 5+ billion selling charger bricks after not including them when you buy a phone)
  - dymk 4y ago
    Here's the capabilities list of what you can do with a free account: https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6 https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6 No push notifications (this is unsurprising, Apple runs the push notification servers, and those cost money). I don't see anything about linking against third party libraries. --- More to the point, you keep using this term "rent seeking" to describe Apple selling optional services. Nobody is forcing an iPhone owner to pay Apple for services. Rent seeking implies once you have the thing, you have to pay rent on it. That's just not true for iPhones.
    - ProAm 4y ago
      Oh its definitely rent seeking. They are trying to eek out more money from customers without adding additional value. Headphone jacks, no SD card for storage, no charger blocks, no ability to add music to your device without a windows or Mac computer, etc.... We can go on and on and won't agree so we do not need to continue to discuss this. No they are not forcing you, but they are absolutely rent seeking. (everyone is these days).

by ProAm 4y ago

dymk 4y ago

You haven't needed to pay Apple to write your own apps and load them on your device for years now. Since iOS 9. You have to pay them if you want to put it on their app store. iCloud increasing the effective storage of the phone is about 10% of the value prop. Your point is like "dropbox is just rsync + a VPS".

ProAm 4y ago
I dont believe you get access to all features and functionality if you do not pay for the developer subscription (maybe it has changed?) but things like push notifications, third party libraries....? Regardless their services strategy is rent seeking for one of the most profitable companies on the planet. (ex: making 5+ billion selling charger bricks after not including them when you buy a phone)
- dymk 4y ago
  Here's the capabilities list of what you can do with a free account: https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6 https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6 No push notifications (this is unsurprising, Apple runs the push notification servers, and those cost money). I don't see anything about linking against third party libraries. --- More to the point, you keep using this term "rent seeking" to describe Apple selling optional services. Nobody is forcing an iPhone owner to pay Apple for services. Rent seeking implies once you have the thing, you have to pay rent on it. That's just not true for iPhones.
  - ProAm 4y ago
    Oh its definitely rent seeking. They are trying to eek out more money from customers without adding additional value. Headphone jacks, no SD card for storage, no charger blocks, no ability to add music to your device without a windows or Mac computer, etc.... We can go on and on and won't agree so we do not need to continue to discuss this. No they are not forcing you, but they are absolutely rent seeking. (everyone is these days).