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Comment by colpabar | Hacker News Reader

next: dev mode will require a $100/yr subscription and verification

Honestly, if that happened they'd be ceding territory to Apple. One of the reasons I develop for Android and not iOS is I can do it on my personal computer with no buy-in from Google and no developer license I'm charged for.

It certainly isn't because the APIs are better.

Given that it's a duopoly out there, they might choose to do this. But it's not a free option; there's market-share risk involved.

who would they lose market share to? you said it yourself that apple does the same thing... there's no other market to share

China is forcing it's manufacturers off Official Android domestically. Perhaps HarmonyOs or similar ends up with most of the developing world since Android for export phones won't be the best bang for the buck. That would put a dent in Google's ability to push API updates and further deteriorate their ability to push Google services instead of common AOSP interfaces with developers targeting a wide market.

He also stated that he chose the current platform based on pricing, and hinted that costs being equal might have made him choose otherwise.

You answered your own question.

I guess I'm dense, because I don't understand why someone would switch to apple from android because they become priced equally? why would a price driven person make a completely lateral move?

it does not matter if op ends up switching and I did not imply that.

if enough people think like op then some of them will be among new generations of developers.

plenty of people, im sure, started out on android because it was free

ah ok, I did not understand the context switch... thanks for clarifying!

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