How is this different than "if developers are happy and willingly develop for iOS then [the fees] are not a rip-off"?
If you're a programmer who has years of experience, who wants to make money in the field you have years of experience in, the field you likely enjoy doing and are good at, then YES you are forced to make an app on iOS because that's where the majority of the paying customers are.
It's a bogus excuse to say "don't make an iOS app then". That's akin to telling a programmer "just learn to eat a little less".
And yes, let's side with the company that became worth a trillion dollars by virtue of providing billions of people with devices and services that enrich their lives enough for them to shell over often times their last dollars. Not the company that peddles digital skins to children that only further glues them to their screens.
You’re right again, Apple has no part at all in kids being glued to screens.
Apple may get away with it because they can afford to spend millions on both lobbying and finding every way to avoid paying taxes that people without the same resources would otherwise pay, but that doesn't make it okay.
We don't have to side with either of these incredibly wealthy corporations having a money fight. They can both be criticized and we can demand better.
Personally I love my iPhone/iPad because I truly feel they are the best mobile hardware available. For the same reason, I have 0 interest in the Mac ecosystem because it's objectively not the best hardware on the market. (Especially as a cost-conscious person). The wheels they sell for the Mac Pro are more expensive than the iPhone I bought from them (iPhone SE 2nd Gen). Absurd.
I would like an officially sanctioned way to sideload onto my iPhone. I am in favor of court decision that would force them to allow you to bypass the walled garden. I think it's a very simple answer to the overall issue at hand. I doubt the majority of iOS users are going to bother with it if the functionality was there, and it solves the walled garden monopoly issue.
They're on the App Store because they have no choice and they need to make money to pay for things like food, rent, etc.
I'll bet you dollars to donuts if some regulation required Apple to allow App Stores from other companies, most developers would dump Apple's in a heartbeat.
That's crazy how before 2008 no developer was able to pay for food and rent. Sounds dreadful. Too bad there's no alternative that has an even bigger share of the total mobile market. Come on, dude.
>I'll bet you dollars to donuts if some regulation required Apple to allow App Stores from other companies, most developers would dump Apple's in a heartbeat.
Right, the same way that most car companies would abandon emissions standards if the EPA no longer forced them to (see: Volkswagen emissions scandal). That doesn't make it a good thing for consumers.
The market is.
You can not afford not to publish something on iOS, if iOS were a niche platform used only by 1% of users maybe, but it is a mainstream platform used by more than 40% of users in the US.
It's nothing more than greed, just like the greed you supposedly fight against.
Denying business to your customers just because they're hostages of a greedy actor is not the best way to conduct a business.
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/app-revenues/
> Apple Users More Willing to Pay for Apps
https://www.statista.com/chart/14590/app-downloads-and-consu...
> The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40% more than the median Android phone user with an annual income of $61,000. [...] The average in-app shopping check is four times higher for an iOS user! [...] iPhone owners are also more likely to make purchases on their phones on a regular basis. These are important considerations for both retail app developers and those seeking to monetize via paid apps or in-app purchase. Mobile ads are the main source of revenue generation in Android apps.
https://buildfire.com/ios-android-users/
> Distribution of free and paid apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play as of June 2020
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263797/number-of-applica...