temperor

humbug1873 said:

Stoptheinsanity said:

I chose apple iPhones because of the security and ease of handling any issues in one spot.  If a consumer doesn’t want the security then they shouldn’t buy an iPhone.  These countries are greedy with their outrageous fines.  

Let's face it, the way Apple works is quite anticompetitive. Quite often they do allow external payment systems to be used sometimes even exclusively (Netflix, 1Password come to mind), sometimes it doesn't (as in the case Epic, DatingApps).  It's not even consistent in when they apply things and when not.
The overall quality of the Appstore and it's App Review is quite absymal and seems more motivated on Apple's side by greed (case in point adverts you have to scroll over for the 'real' results instead of cheap rip-offs) than by 'wanting to deliver a good customer experience'.
You can see that more and more with Apple digital services, their quality has deteriorated since Tim became Chief Excel Operator. Great for shareholder value, very bad for customers and I'm sure in the medium to long term this will be a leading cause for Apple's eventual decline. I've been holding Apple shares since way before the iPhone days (with my buying price of less thatn $2 that has been VERY profitable I admit), but right now Apple's future hasn't been looking that dark since the early 90's, the way management is currently behaving.
They are living off their substance and definitely lost their edge from the '00s. After the 'maker' generation in leadership (Jony, Steve), we're currently running the 'preserving' generation (less innovation, while milking every little drop of the existing products, while wasting billions on 'innovations' that don't materialize), I'm pretty sure the 'next' generation will destroy it all ... and Tim pretty much said he'll probably leave within the decade. I'm not sure when 'Peak Apple' will be, but my guess is, within the next 5 years.

dantheman827 said:

The thing is though, Apple is the sole provider of apps, there is no competing stores like there is in the retail space.

Walmart has Target and numerous other stores they compete with... The App Store has none...

Some may argue that the Play Store is competition, but how can you really say that when you need a completely different device in order to access it?

iOS competes with Android, the App Store does not compete with the Play Store, and that's where the comparison to retail falls apart.

Walmart can't tell Target "You can't build your store here because we have one of ours in the city already.", but Apple is doing exactly that with the App Store.

libertymatters said:

'Side loading' also known, prior to 2007, as installing an application on your computer.  The key phrase here being 'your computer'.  Who does Apple think they are to deny people the right to install any application they want on THEIR iPhone?  Apple's entire case falls apart when you realize the Macintosh can still 'side load' applications to this day.  Right-click, open.  Annoyed by that?  Disable Gatekeeper completely with a command in the Terminal.  Why does this 'side loading' persist on the Macintosh? Simple, their customers would not tolerate such computer tyranny. Remember, Gatekeeper was added in to the Macintosh in Snow Leopard. iPhone customers should start to speak up about Apple's heavy handedness on their iPhones.  The iPhone's walled garden should be optional just like it is on the Macintosh.  Heck, most times I'd choose to stay in the walled garden for security, but when Apple gets heavy handed, like they are today with their outrageous censorship on the App Store and Podcasts, we need an opt out.

Bottom-line, this is about maintaining 30% profit on apps and control of people's devices.  It is as simple as that.