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The app ecosystem is the lock-in, and creates a very high bar to entry for other players outside the Apple-Google duopoly. Note that Google has created a depen

by pornel 2y ago

The app ecosystem is the lock-in, and creates a very high bar to entry for other players outside the Apple-Google duopoly. Note that Google has created a dependency on proprietary Google Play Services, and owns the Play Store, so even leveraging AOSP is not sufficient to overcome the barrier to entry. There are two established players. Apple can charge whatever they want, and Google can copy their strategy, because they know users have nowhere else to go (the number of people who will permanently switch to independent degoogled phones is too small to affect the duopolists' business)

detourdog 2y ago
Customer satisfaction is high and there are other platforms with lower bars. The high bar is the product differentiation that Apple is using.
- pornel 2y ago
  The phones do lots of things, and a lot of them well, so overall satisfaction doesn't mean that App Store pricing is satisfactory, nor fair. Apple forbids developers from itemizing pricing and telling users how much Apple takes, interfering with informed consumer choice. The cut is well known on HN, but I'm not sure that most users are fully aware that they're overpaying 10x on transaction fees, and the major consequences that it's a cut of revenue and not profit — the developer takes all the risk, and needs to cover all the development costs from their part, and can be even in the red, while Apple has a guaranteed profit with a guaranteed margin from every sale. Apple can be easily making more profit than the developers themselves.
  - detourdog 2y ago
    We all know what Apple's take is. People complain about it all the time. The perforative terms you use to describe customers you can't seem to attain are related. If you describe your desired customer as a cult than you may hold them in too much disdain to achieve a quality product. Demonizing Apple does not improve product quality in anyway.

by pornel 2y ago

detourdog 2y ago

Customer satisfaction is high and there are other platforms with lower bars. The high bar is the product differentiation that Apple is using.

pornel 2y ago
The phones do lots of things, and a lot of them well, so overall satisfaction doesn't mean that App Store pricing is satisfactory, nor fair. Apple forbids developers from itemizing pricing and telling users how much Apple takes, interfering with informed consumer choice. The cut is well known on HN, but I'm not sure that most users are fully aware that they're overpaying 10x on transaction fees, and the major consequences that it's a cut of revenue and not profit — the developer takes all the risk, and needs to cover all the development costs from their part, and can be even in the red, while Apple has a guaranteed profit with a guaranteed margin from every sale. Apple can be easily making more profit than the developers themselves.
- detourdog 2y ago
  We all know what Apple's take is. People complain about it all the time. The perforative terms you use to describe customers you can't seem to attain are related. If you describe your desired customer as a cult than you may hold them in too much disdain to achieve a quality product. Demonizing Apple does not improve product quality in anyway.