6 ms·

It's going to be interesting watching Apple's strategy unfold over the next few years. If third party stores prove wildly popular in the EU, then what? If peopl

by cglong 3y ago

It's going to be interesting watching Apple's strategy unfold over the next few years. If third party stores prove wildly popular in the EU, then what? If people worldwide start demanding parity, how will Apple respond? Will they oblige or dig their heels further into the sand?

tiltowait 3y ago
Given Apple’s recent history, I’m betting dig in their heels—which I think is a bad strategy, so I hope I’m wrong. They’ve brought this regulation on themselves with their unnecessarily ham-handed actions. People—even big Apple fans—have been calling it for years. It’s been frustrating to see so many unforced errors.
- lancesells 3y ago
  Dig in their heels and watch other parts of the business get even more agressive. More ads in iOS settings and the App Store. More notifications for their products and ecosystem. I can see it in them making the TV app the only way to watch your media. Now I'm subject to their TV+ advertisements whenever I want to watch my iTunes purchases. I can look up a comedy show in their store and the "related" shows are TV+ before everything else. It's like they're hiring from Amazon Prime TV or something. I honestly don't update my tvOS because it seems to be gets worse in content and having strange UX choices.
thejohnconway 3y ago
I hope they give up on the App Store as a significant income stream. It's a terrible strategy tax, and pretty gross and un-apple-like (the old Apple anyway). Everything is "free" except for predatory in-app purchases, so you can't tell how much anything really costs. It's full of gambling type games that kids play. The apps at the top of searches are often just garbage, and the truly capable apps are very few and far between, or don't exist because of sandboxing. What I want from apple if they are going to have an App Store is a curated collection of Apps that are good, and aren't scummy, and yes, often expensive. You can chose to use it or not, but if you want the best app, go there.
quitit 3y ago
Just a few thoughts: 1. Are 3rd party stores popular on Android? How about preinstalled vendor-run stores such as the Samsung Galaxy Store? 2. Small developers are the primary beneficiary of unified stores. On the desktop Steam is a good example of that, while large developers can afford the costs of generating direct sales via ATL marketing and support, small developers largely rely on in-store discovery/visibility to reach a larger audience. 3. However a Steam-like store hasn't eventuated on Android likely because Google's store is already good enough. Steam largely benefits from being early and maintains that position despite the numerous copycat stores having compelling offers (e.g. the Epic store is largely a dud despite regularly giving away popular gaming titles.) 4. If the final legislated position for Apple's App Store is simply to be a Steam-esque add-on store, i.e. merely a place of convenience but not at all necessary, Apple will no longer be beholden to accomodating hostile competitors. 5. The EU is still discovering how they can balance strict control versus existing commercial freedoms, and we're about to see this play out with Facebook. Since the EU has suggested that Facebook cannot charge for an Ad-free tier. Which has a few obvious run on implications, i.e. that a company cannot set the price of their own product and ad-supported "free" services (such as Google, etc.) are not in compliance. 6. Don't expect any of the "gatekeepers" to self-regulate their actions, because they can't read the mind of the EU. Instead they'll now sit and wait to be told what to do. All of these thoughts obviously point in different directions, but there are some themes that apply to all of them. 1. Large software developers are pushing for independent stores because it benefits them, and protects them from disruption from emergent competitors. 2. Small developers will still need to rely on hive/halo visibility (i.e. Steam, Google Play, Apple App Store). Even though this costs them more than direct sales. 3. Either Apple has no control and thus no responsibility, or they have full control and can wield that against hostile competitors. There is no scenario where Apple has no control and full responsibility. 4. People don't like that last point, and that mental disconnect is on display - but that's where all of this takes us. It's a case of careful what you wish for.
- cglong 3y ago
  Remember the DMA is also targeting Google. I find it interesting that Epic didn't even bother with an Android store until now.

by cglong 3y ago

tiltowait 3y ago

Given Apple’s recent history, I’m betting dig in their heels—which I think is a bad strategy, so I hope I’m wrong. They’ve brought this regulation on themselves with their unnecessarily ham-handed actions. People—even big Apple fans—have been calling it for years. It’s been frustrating to see so many unforced errors.

lancesells 3y ago
Dig in their heels and watch other parts of the business get even more agressive. More ads in iOS settings and the App Store. More notifications for their products and ecosystem. I can see it in them making the TV app the only way to watch your media. Now I'm subject to their TV+ advertisements whenever I want to watch my iTunes purchases. I can look up a comedy show in their store and the "related" shows are TV+ before everything else. It's like they're hiring from Amazon Prime TV or something. I honestly don't update my tvOS because it seems to be gets worse in content and having strange UX choices.

thejohnconway 3y ago

I hope they give up on the App Store as a significant income stream. It's a terrible strategy tax, and pretty gross and un-apple-like (the old Apple anyway). Everything is "free" except for predatory in-app purchases, so you can't tell how much anything really costs. It's full of gambling type games that kids play. The apps at the top of searches are often just garbage, and the truly capable apps are very few and far between, or don't exist because of sandboxing. What I want from apple if they are going to have an App Store is a curated collection of Apps that are good, and aren't scummy, and yes, often expensive. You can chose to use it or not, but if you want the best app, go there.

quitit 3y ago

Just a few thoughts: 1. Are 3rd party stores popular on Android? How about preinstalled vendor-run stores such as the Samsung Galaxy Store? 2. Small developers are the primary beneficiary of unified stores. On the desktop Steam is a good example of that, while large developers can afford the costs of generating direct sales via ATL marketing and support, small developers largely rely on in-store discovery/visibility to reach a larger audience. 3. However a Steam-like store hasn't eventuated on Android likely because Google's store is already good enough. Steam largely benefits from being early and maintains that position despite the numerous copycat stores having compelling offers (e.g. the Epic store is largely a dud despite regularly giving away popular gaming titles.) 4. If the final legislated position for Apple's App Store is simply to be a Steam-esque add-on store, i.e. merely a place of convenience but not at all necessary, Apple will no longer be beholden to accomodating hostile competitors. 5. The EU is still discovering how they can balance strict control versus existing commercial freedoms, and we're about to see this play out with Facebook. Since the EU has suggested that Facebook cannot charge for an Ad-free tier. Which has a few obvious run on implications, i.e. that a company cannot set the price of their own product and ad-supported "free" services (such as Google, etc.) are not in compliance. 6. Don't expect any of the "gatekeepers" to self-regulate their actions, because they can't read the mind of the EU. Instead they'll now sit and wait to be told what to do. All of these thoughts obviously point in different directions, but there are some themes that apply to all of them. 1. Large software developers are pushing for independent stores because it benefits them, and protects them from disruption from emergent competitors. 2. Small developers will still need to rely on hive/halo visibility (i.e. Steam, Google Play, Apple App Store). Even though this costs them more than direct sales. 3. Either Apple has no control and thus no responsibility, or they have full control and can wield that against hostile competitors. There is no scenario where Apple has no control and full responsibility. 4. People don't like that last point, and that mental disconnect is on display - but that's where all of this takes us. It's a case of careful what you wish for.

cglong 3y ago
Remember the DMA is also targeting Google. I find it interesting that Epic didn't even bother with an Android store until now.