Naiyas

Rayz2016 said:

However, I do have a problem with this:

Cook denied that certain larger developers are favored over others.

If Amazon didn't have to pay a 30% cut in its first year on the app store, then that sounds a lot like favouring a larger developer over a smaller one.

I don't take issue with that when you take into consideration the terms fo the agreement.

Amazon Prime Video (which is what I gather this deal was about) provided a feed of their entire content library to the Apple TV service as a condition of obtaining a 15% fee rather than 30%. If I recall from the keynote that this service was originally announced no pricing was announced or implied and so the "deal" sits outside of the general 30% App Store terms.

Effectively, Apple was prepared to pay (or rebate) Amazon 50% of the 30% fee in the first year to get the Amazon Prime Video content on their TV service. What developer can claim a volume of content like that as a negotiation point? On a financial point, I'll bet that in Apple's accounts, Amazon's fee was accrued at 30% with the 50% rebate in the associated rebates line, in much the same way as happens across almost every business.

muthuk_vanalingam said:

Are you so sure about the point bolded by me?????? Are you really, really serious???? You are fine with NO third party apps like uber/facebook/google maps/twitter/banking/food delivery apps etc???? And do you believe that almost ALL of the 1 billion users of iOS devices think likewise???

Lets just take my use case as an example to feedback on this point. While I do not think my use case reflects anyone else's it is a direct counter to your questions:

1. If I look at my screen time usage statistics, well over 80% of my iPhone usage is for only Apple's applications. Of the less than 20% not on Apple's applications 40% is because I prefer Overcast to the Podcasts app, 30% is for Plex, and all other apps account for the remaining 30%. Of these, almost all of them I could do via Safari if desired.
2. Yes, I'm serious.
3. If I HAD to live without third party apps, then yes. Of the app examples you have listed, the only app type I actually use is banking. I don't use Uber, Facebook, Google Maps, or Twitter at all. Food Delivery is actually only for our weekly shop and this can be done just as well, if not better, via their website. In fact, during the COVID lockdown, the app has been turned off with a redirection to their website so the app is no longer of benefit. I don't do any other food delivery as its both cheaper and quicker to cook anything myself - not to mention a whole lot healthier.
4. No, I do not believe that for a minute. But as another poster has pointed out, I would guess a large number of those people would find that their app usage is mainly for "free" apps where the 30% cut is an irrelevant argument. One thing to point out here though is those apps that do charge are effectively paying for the cost of hosting, curating, and marketing those apps that are free.

Whilst I agree that today a 30% cut may seem high, it was only around a decade ago that these apps would be losing anywhere from 60-80% of the price in distribution & marketing costs. My view is that 10-15% is probably about the right level today - which is what a subscription app pays after the first year.

Interested to know when it will hit the UK stores. Only issue from my point of view is the lack of USB C ports for peripherals - I personally have only 1 peripheral that uses USB A.

I recall that first iPhone announcement. My only Apple product was the 2005 iPod at the time tied to iTunes on Windows. I was no fan of iTunes as a music manager, I'm still not, but the announcement peeked my interest because I was in the market for a new phone at the time. In the end, version 1 wasn't my cup of tea... it couldn't replace my iPod (storage limit), my camera (I had a decent compact camera), or my phone (lacked SMS amongst other things), but I could clearly see that a future version would replace it all and more.

As it turns out my first iPhone was the 4S. But in the period between 2007 and 2011 I had shifted from Windows to my first MacBook (a 15" Pro in 2008), and an iPod touch (64GB in 2009). In 2011 the 4S was the iPhone that had advanced enough in hardware specifications and software for me to to a benefit as it was able to replace all three of my existing portable devices: mobile phone, compact camera, and iPod touch. As it happens, the AT&T network across my commute area was improving greatly at the time as an exchangeable SIM card was also a critical need as I travelled between the US and UK every few months.

I've since had an iPhone 4S, 5S, 6S, and 11 Pro as my path up to now, having sold my 6S 6 months ago for a surprising decent amount of money. There have been occasions where I've considered switching to Android at times, but the lack of long term software support on older devices has always given me pause for consideration as I expect it to increase my overall cost of ownership. Whilst cost isn't everything, my expectation is borne out by looking at my own company's asset records, where Android phones cost my company anywhere from 1.6-2.3 times more than the most expensive iPhone over their respective useful lives.

I also have a lot invested in the ecosystem but, frankly, it boils down to the simple fact that the iPhone has done everything I want or need it to do for me since I got the 4S back in 2011.

GeorgeBMac said:

I would love to see a router that could function as a Homekit hub.   Right now I'm using an old iPad for that -- but I have to be careful to keep it charged.  And, I simply can't justify buying an AppleTV or HomePod simply so they could serve as a hub.   A router would be ideal

Completely agree on the router as a Homekit hub point. It would also appear to be a far better location to apply battery backup at the router level only rather than across a plethora of other locations.

Fortunately I've recently done a full renovation. Having now kitted it out with Cat7 ethernet cable and a limited number of battery backup power sockets I have a few options available to me. I do leverage POE for WiFi access points and the various smart home hubs which makes my provision of UPS back-up power much easier to deploy to my network as its all connected in one location - hence a Homekit hub router and POE access points would be fantastic to have as options. In the interim I use the battery backup sockets I do have to power my Apple TVs to maintain full home control even when there is a power cut.