Apple

I am small time indie dev, that has published an open source app on the store. The 100 USD developer fee per year is really annoying me, since I hardly make any revenue with my niche type app. I hope they could stop charging Devs so much. Kind of like google.

I left Apple iPhone the first time since iPhone 1. I need two things, easy side loading and one physical SIM slot and at least 1 eSim. It looks like the physical SIM is not coming back but side loading will bring me back.

Yeah?

And I...am Iron Man. Snaps

Honestly even so I’m not gonna migrate to other dodgy AppStore.

Click-bait headline is click-bait, Apple has admitted no such thing.

That’ll be horrible. Right now I can trust the App Store without question.

I'm not buying it. Apple wants to be in control of EVERYTHING and doesn't want to actually compete. I'm all for giving options and freedom to the consumer, user and developers.

Third party app stores have their uses. Their are some app stores like F-Droid that only allow free open-sourced apps, some 3rd party app stores won't have as tight as rules as Apple app store and could let devs offer their own payment structure in-app which the Apple app store does not allow. Or some 3rd party app stores may not allow or have to require Apple's proprietary frameworks in order for the app to function. This is similar to Aurora store for Android.

More competition. Less apple control.

apple will probably make more subscriptions for their App Store much like they did for gaming.

Oh cool, I wonder if someone will port windowserver to iPad and make it more macOS like.

The age of the shitty spammy store is upon us. It’s going to be a fucking nightmare for the unofficial family IT support crew. It’s hard enough keeping my parents phones and Macs clean and working. But, as they still use things like printers they are about to have to install a shitty HP store just to print a train ticket.

Even worse, they’ll be googling how to fix their printer and end up installing some virus-laden store full of fake apps.

We’ll just swap one safe monopoly for lots of terrible little monopolies. Want to play a game? Install our shitty store. Want to watch a movie? Install our shitty store? Want to buy a light bulb? Install our store. Want heated car seats? Install our store.

Grrrrr.

I don’t know anyone with an Android that uses a third-party app store. This will be the same for iOS. This is a niche feature, but something that makes sense. No major OS should be “store-locked”.

Hah. Get Rekt Apple. Where's the world's smallest violin, let me play you a eulogy for your cash cow

Apple argues that its opposition to 3rd party App Stores is that with only one App Store offering approved-only apps, it better serves customer's needs because Apple can oversee security and quality control. That sounds altruistic enough, but if that were genuinely true, Apple could minimise their fees to only cover these costs and no more. Instead, Apple takes a whopping 30% bite of not just the initial app purchase price, but every purchase made in the app. Apple are learning the hard way that the EU Commissioners weren't born yesterday.

I'm not installing third party app stores.

why can't we vote against it?

I just want sideloading. Plz EU

Third party app stores might even be ok if and only if the software manufacturers would be required to also offer their software in the official apple app store so users can chose between walled garden or a bit cheaper insecure shithole

Knowing Apple, they will still abide by the law, but in the most minimal way possible.

IMHO the new side loading feature will probably be hidden somewhere, disabled by default, and if you enable it other related features that you may need or like, will no longer be available to you. Or you'll get warning nag screens every time you open a non-App Store app.

I hope this will increase competition and decrease Apple's power over the platform, but me personally will never use side loading. I care about the privacy and security implications. Just look at the amount of scam and malware apps on Android and you'll see where you might be going.

some of these comments defending a trillion dollar company saying EU is bad... *smh*

I wonder what this would do to app quality. How much does Apple currently check in the App Store quality checks (manual or automated) to make sure certain misuse of apis is avoided?

Next to that, I would personally prefer not to use multiple apps to search for exclusives, or different versions of apps. Streaming video apps (Netflix, Disney, Apple, prime, etc), and gaming stores (steam, epic, ea, etc.) provide a really bad experience in terms of consistency, search, and quality expectations.

This is made painfully clear in aggregator apps like the TV app, which does not other apps well, and GeForce now, which provides an (imho) dreadful UX with coupling games from stores, looking for discounts, and launching games. You could argue that this is a minor inconvenience, but for me it’s a big annoyance.

Best case for me is that Apple allows certain app categories in the App Store that it now blocks (game streaming), and reduces fees. Regarding the latter, I think fees are ok, in proportion, as Apple does give you access and tools (!) to reach millions of devices with little effort.

I hope we can avoid a Frankenstein experience, and also make sure we get quality guarantees.

That's good news for iPhone hope it's world wide and allows me to install any non approved app I want. If so I would switch to iPhone

Awesome. I'm a big fan of Apple's ecosystem, if it had some competition, it would be even better.

It’s kinda shameful they have to be strong armed by a government to not rip off their customers.

What I’m really curious about is whether if iOS users’ higher tendency to pay for apps which translates into higher quality apps will apply to other app stores or not.

I’m also curious about what Apple is going to do about APIs and practices that are accessible during development/testing but are immediately rejected by Apple during the review process. Are they going to remove such things at API level or are they going to “laissez-faire” other app stores?

It might even be a good idea for Apple to do that, which would immediately make 3rd party app stores gain reputation for being insecure consumer-unfriendly.

So we can now expect third party stores on the games consoles too, right?

So when will I be able to get the PlayStation App Store on my Nintendo Switch?

I want to play Xbox games on my smart fridge too

Opening up iOS to more things can’t be a bad thing can it? It would be nice to have other choices instead of being locked into what Apple wants.

Yes plz

Ew.