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I would think it would be obvious why consumers should care about a handful of corporations acting like feudal lords and controlling what smaller developers can

I would think it would be obvious why consumers should care about a handful of corporations acting like feudal lords and controlling what smaller developers can do, technically or economically. To spell it out: because you are affected. In the best case scenario, only the Apple tax is passed on to you. In the worst case, the app you get will be discreetly censored at Apple's whims [1,2,3]. But of course you can rely on altruistic developers willing to forego half of the mobile market to get uncensored apps. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/7/20903613/apple-hiding-taiwan-flag-emoji-hong-kong-macau-china https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/7/20903613/apple-hiding-tai... [2] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/apple-china-tv-protesters-hong-kong-tim-cook https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/apple-ch... [3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-pulls-hong-kong-cop-tracking-map-app-after-china-uproar-11570681464 https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-pulls-hong-kong-cop-track...

bzzzt 3y ago
Of course there's ample evidence Apple is not on the brink of bankruptcy, but we've settled for current IP laws which permit companies to own stuff and charge consumers for it. If the price is too high consumers won't buy but given the current state of the app store it doesn't look like there's a lack of people and companies building apps despite the "Apple tax". I'm not entirely against opening up the app store but it remains to be seen if that would change things for the better. Apple may censor a flag, but they also repel a lot of attempts by companies to get my personal data. I'm much more concerned about the latter and would gladly pay a bit more to have less tracking.