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Comment by pdonis | Hacker News Reader

> it's not like the platform could exist without the ecosystem around it

We developers would like to believe this is true, but I'm not sure it is. I don't think Apple would care if the third party developer ecosystem went away. They don't depend on it to sell their products.

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I think it's fair to say that early on, third party developers added a lot of functionality that was lacking in the OS. Apple has steadily incorporated the more popular features so that is probably less true today, but there are still lots of bespoke tools that they are never going to provide. To use a personal example -- if only Android had a Tesla app, it would definitely be a factor in my choice for my next phone. If they ended the ecosystem altogether I'd probably switch. Whether that also applies to regular people is of course debatable.

There's a huge difference between indie developer apps and corporate apps.

I need my bank's app (well, all four of my banks' apps actually), my email provider's app, a few games, etc. I might have a couple of "indie" apps, maybe. But I could certainly live without them.

How can you say that when the 16" MBP brought back the 'Escape' key? Why would you minimize your (our?) voice in this manner? To what end?

I'm a very loyal Apple customer, but if they turned off all third-party apps, I'd switch to Android right away. Just flat-out.

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