You forgot at least one additional cost...
Pay license fees to Apple for using their intellectual property, e.g. APIs, etc.
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Setapp Planning to Launch Alternative App Store for iOS in Europe
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Pay license fees to Apple for using their intellectual property, e.g. APIs, etc.
Read the article. It's about European Union's Digital Markets Act. Last time I checked you were not in the EU.
The Mac didn't get an App Store of it's own until macOS Lion in 2011. Before then all apps were obtained over the internet or DVD ROMs. The iPhone was the exact opposite, never having the ability to download apps outside of an app store until recently with the new mandates, always using an app store. Mobile users are more acclimated to an app store.
Plus it's not like people are opposed to App Stores. Just look at Steam, the biggest app store on Windows, Mac, and Linux. People love Steam so much they'd rather buy games on Steam than get them for free from competitors because Steam offers so much convenience and features others don't. The problem people have with the Mac App Store is it's not convenient and lacks so much that competition offers, on top of being so expensive.
Competition breeds innovation, and the same will be true for iOS. People already share their grievances with the iOS App Store, so with alternative app stores coming next year Apple will need to make improvements to make their App Store more enticing, or be left behind in favor of a better alternative.
This will be interesting going forward and not just for Apple products. I can't see them making a special exception for the UK though.
I think most companies will make products to suit the 'Extended EU'.
Presumably the U.K will be excluded from this, so it sounds like there is finally one benefit to Brexit.
As much money as they spend protecting the Mac maybe? Given the similarities between the two OS it sounds like they may already have done half the hard work?
Sigh. You are assuming there won't be a reverse bum-rush of developers out of Apple's app store. Developers want to maximise profit at the expense of security.
Brexit has NO benefits. The Uk will tow the EU line or be forced to become obsolete along witjh their stupid UKCA standard.
The EU is a net benefit to all members.
Thanks for that. I agree. You forgot the "forcing USB-C will save the planet" myth. I want USB-C everywhere (for conveniency) but it's a lie to say it's going to save the planet by having less adapters in the dump. Short term, we'll buy even more USB-C to Lightning adapters. And one day, not too far away, there'll be another and better technology that will force us to buy even more adapters. Unless everything becomes wireless... which won't happen soon.
The EU is focusing too much on Apple but look at all the other proprietary technologies across the globe... there are thousands and thousands other companies that we should be focusing on. I'm all for less adapters... but please they should stop lying about their motivations. IT'S ALL POLITICS. They know **** about tech and they lack vision. The 1st thing to acknowledge is that they, legislators, don't know sh*t about almost anything. At least I can admit that I know sh*t about it. It's just my opinion and wouldn't want to be in their pants because it became too complicated.
Have a nice everybody 😃
I partly agree with you. I don't think developers will leave the App Store at first and they'll offer a cheaper alternative on the other stores since the dev fees will decrease.
Just saying that people are underestimating fraudsters and evil hackers. We'll see. Anyway an alternative app store is inevitable now.
I just don't like seeing the politicians lying about the reasons they're forcing sideloading and companies, like the GAFAM, are pumping so much money from our pockets all the time. Nobody tries to be reasonable. Greed and power.
Because there won't. What benefit would developers have to bum-rush out of the App Store? They already have established customers on the App Store. If they suddenly pulled out, then they lose their established customers, established customers who most of which only use App Stores. It's the same case on Android. Fortnite tried to bum-rush out of the Google Play Store, and the result was hardly anyone used the .apk version of Fortnite over the Google Play Store version.
So no, they ain't gonna leave. They'd have too much to lose to just up and leave the app store.
Do you think if a product adheres to EU safety standards they make it deliberately more dangerous outside the EU? Just because the UK is outside the EU does not mean they won't be included in this change. Of course they also might not be included. But the fact that it's a result of EU law doesn't make a difference.
Yes it's more likely to benefit big companies like Valve and Epic, and this whole thing about banning Fortnite from iOS was always stupid.
Nice in theory, until someone like Epic comes along and makes an app exclusive to their platform with a bag of cash, just as they’ve done on PC.
Sideloading is not some perfect outcome without flaws, we’re inevitably going to see some platform fragmentation because of this, even in countries where it may not actually take effect.
This is stupid. I will not trust any third party AppStore. Myself IT pro, i look at my family and friends and the walled garden always worked. My mom or my wife for example do everything on their iPads and macs, online banking, shopping, safe and without issues. Now they open Pandora’s box. Who is responsible when average joes download malware or other stuff and damage to the device occurs or they get their credentials stolen? They treat adult people as if they were kids, someone deciding for the apple eco system is a decision for a safe system, knowing the restrictions but also the benefits. open up this garden exposes lot of average users to risks, question is not if but when first abuse will happen. Solutions in search for their problem.
Is it though? Sure, you can try to only download apps from the App Store and don’t bother with everything else, but I’d bet my right hand that Meta, Google, Microsoft and a bunch of others sooner or later drop their own store and take their apps with them. I’m a bit torn because on the one hand, I’d love an easy, non-jailbreak and non-altstore way to have a Game Boy emulator on my iPhone, but I don’t want to download seven other app stores just to get Instagram, Word, YouTube, Twi… I mean X etc. including leaving my personal information and maybe even my payment info. Sure, Apple is not perfect, but for some reason I have more faith in Tim Cook than in Zuck or Musk.
Funny you mention that because every Epic Games Store exclusivity deal they've done had backfired tremendously. Notice how the exclusivity deals happen less and less now? Because they didn't work. People just waited for the exclusivity to end so they could buy the game on a better alternative. Case in point: Borderlands 3. Borderlands 3 was EGS exclusive for 6 months, then within a week of launching on Steam the Steam version outsold the EGS version's lifetime sales.
In discovery from Apple vs Epic it was discovered that Epic Games was losing half a billion a year from the Epic Games Store, and it was all because of the exclusivity deals since they weren't making a return on those deals. Those deals did nothing but damage PR and cause a permanent black mark on the EGS, or as I call it the Cursed Fortnite Launcher, since most people use EGS for Fortnite and Fortnite only, as well as redeeming the free games.
Also would love to mention Epic Games tried to leave the Google Play Store and just release Fortnite for Android from their website. Hardly anyone downloaded the .apk, so their experiment backfired tremendously, forcing them to return to the Google Play Store (only to shortly afterwards leave again because of Sweeney's Project Liberty shenanigans looooooool)
I don't think you know what platform fragmentation means. Android is fragmented because it comes in different flavors due to the OS being open source. Samsung's version of Android is vastly different from Google's because of the changes they made to the OS. Same with OneNote's, or ASUS's, or Sony's, or Xiaomi's, and even Nothing.
iOS is closed source and only comes in three flavors: iOS, iPadOS, and next year visionOS. Adding new ways to get apps on these OSs does not fragment them, especially when said apps still run in sandboxes.
I wish I could understand the shared psychosis some folks here are experiencing surrounding the fear of totally optional third party App Stores that they can simply choose to not use. If you're worried about getting malware from a third party app store, only use the official iOS App Store. Why is this so difficult? Do people expect SetApp to come to their house and force them to install their software?
It's the same reason a lot of them are opposed to the idea of the iPhone getting a USB-C port: Because Android has it and Android bad. And also because Timothy Cookothy told them it was bad so they trust Daddy Tim.
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Why is that a bad thing when Apple have decided Fortnite can’t be on their mobile devices at all? Although presumably it’s perfectly possible to play fortnite on a Mac.
Do you think developers will actually make their apps cheaper or do you think they will just keep the 30% extra for themselves?
Mac has this open ecosystem too, or did you forget that? You're not limited to a single app store on macOS and no one has a problem there...except Apple. Now why would Apple have such a problem over the fact that macOS allows you to get apps from outside of their App Store? 🤔
Is there a Microsoft App Store on macOS? No
Is there a Meta App Store on macOS? No, their App Store is only for their Quest VR HMDs (which btw, they allow sideloading on that, even directly investing in alterative app stores and encouraging them.)
Is there a Google Play Store on Windows or macOS? Also no
The mere existence of Android puts that fear to rest. Android since it's inception has had sideloading, and do you see major apps only available on third party app stores? No, the majority sticks with the Google Play Store.
You have nothing to worry about. The Apple App Store is too established that pulling out overnight would be suicide.