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Comment by makerofthings | Hacker News Reader

As a consumer, I really like how the AppStore works and I buy iPhones for me and for my family specifically because there is only one store and one way of subscribing and one way of using in-app purchases. I really, really hope Apple win this. I just don't want to have to deal with the possibility that every app is going to have its own in-app-purchase dark patterns.

If everyone that wants to be able to side-load alternate app-stores could move to Android land and leave iOS alone, that would be great.

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So you like having only 1 app store for convince. I get that.

But there is an legitimate argument to be made by those who do want it. The lack of competition is probably hurting you too, in the form of higher prices for everything.

If there were alternatives you wouldn't be forecd to use them.

What if apple starts trying to monetize in ways you don't like? (like trying even more aggressively to get appleTV/ AppleMusic subscriptions) You are putting a lot of trust in a company that may change its ways. If they change, where are you going to go?

I like that Apple forces app developers to use a system that is convenient and safe for me as the device owner. I don't think it would be a case of "ignore the alternatives", I expect many apps would abandon apple to save a few dollars and I would have to put my credit card into half the apps I currently use. I buy the phone and the apps for my benefit, not the benefit of Epic.

I have to be honest, I subscribe to a lot more services through Apple than I would outside because I trust their cancellation mechanism. Developers may lose 30% on my purchases but they might not get anything outside of the walled garden.

Also, I have a Sony Xperia running Sailfish, sat over there-->, for when I feel the need to tinker.

Wouldn't it be nice to use old iPhones for tinkering instead? the hardware is pretty amazing.

I guess I've decided the last few years to forsake some safety/connivance to ensure the right to use my hardware the way I want. Its harder. I have a linux notebook which is great, but requires a little more attention.

As apple moves more into services its become less of a systems company, I'm not completely trusting of them.

> If there were alternatives you wouldn't be forecd to use them.

That's just not true. If App Developers choose to only release their app on one store then i am forced to use that store.

Say this Apple loses this battle and are forced to let companies run their own Stores on iOS. What's to stop a company like Facebook moving their suite of apps to exclusively be distributed through their own Store, which conveniently bypasses the App Review process, severely undermining user privacy. If i wanted to keep using these popular apps to communicate with my friends I'd have no choice but to use their alternative Store.

> You are putting a lot of trust in a company that may change its ways. If they change, where are you going to go?

Then I'll switch to Android

> That's just not true. If App Developers choose to only release their app on one store then i am forced to use that store.

Which store they would use is obviously the developer's decision. Do you complain that you have to go to website X or the Steam Store to get some program instead of the Windows Store as well? Also nobody forces you to use that one app. You don't have a right to use the app, with a possible exception for you having bought the app in the past on that other store.

Not a fan of Apple here, but my parents clearly prefer the Apple experience with IOS, even though they started with Android. I prefer Android, because I'm a developer and I don't need to buy a Mac, get a dev license and use specific IDE and compiler X or Z to develop and deploy an app on my Android device. But common people don't care about that.

It's great but I think being charged 30% on every single app purchase (and yes, you pay that -- not the developers) after paying thousands of dollars for a device is crazy. I know Apple fans aren't particularly price sensitive -- it's a trillion dollar company for a reason.

How many apps do we use that don't have an identical counterpart on another platform? I have an android phone and looking at it, I think the only app I have installed myself that isn't available on the iPhone is an app that lets you write a shader to use as your background.

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