Hacker News Reader

Apple is positioned in a way that if people leave the platform because they've been squelched by Apple, they can easily loosen their policy. The lack of a real competitor who offers the hardware/software integration (leading to the awesome user experience) is why they may still have some time to milk the platform for profit without risk of a mass exodus.

View on HN

Quite true, but sad that a company like Apple would even entertain this path considering their roots and seemingly pure beginnings. A business is a business, but sometimes it behoves one to be better than the rest and not just financially (which Apple is as well). It isn't like they wouldn't stop making money if they chose to not do stuff like this.

True. The real question is what is the cost of not opening the platform vs. opening the platform, considering their humble beginnings and cult following that powers a lot of their revenue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com