I was listening to the ATP podcast. All three hosts are big fans of Apple, they use and promote Apple products, and make all or some of their living selling apps. They all think Apple is making a huge mistake here.
Is there anybody who thinks Apple’s recent moves are going to be good for them long term? When even your biggest fans think you are being petulant and foolish, maybe it’s time to reevaluate?
> I was listening to the ATP podcast. All three hosts are big fans of Apple, they use and promote Apple products, and make all or some of their living selling apps. They all think Apple is making a huge mistake here.
There’s more than one way to interpret that. As people who have made significant investments in the platform, they want it to stay strong and fear that Apple’s inflexibility will ultimately hurt the platform. They are thinking about years into the future rather than the next quarter or two.
They were fans of Apple before they ever started building in the ecosystem.
Marco Arment has repeated time and time again that he doesn't care about changing his payment system. He wants Apple to see the regulatory Armageddon it is facing.
It may be an obvious interpretation, but it isn't very charitable.
Are you trying to make the argument that Apple's rules make sense and those who want to see change likely have a conflict of interest? If so, then you may be the person I didn't think existed. Do you think Apple's doing the right thing?
> Apple can charge whatever they feel is appropriate.
I think you are answering a slightly different question than I’m asking. You might think they should be allowed to run their platform however they want but the reality is that because of their size and power, they can’t. Regulators will at least force them to allow alternate payment providers and if Apple keeps pushing back, they will eventually be forced to allow side loading or alternate app stores (which I would think would be a disaster).
So given the regulatory environment they exist in, they only way their current strategy is smart is if they can defeat the EU. I don’t think they can and I think we will all be worse off in a few years because of Apple’s petulance.
yep, and that’s probably what’s going to get them in the most trouble. The platform is getting to the point where I could see it being regulated like a public utility.
If my electricity company starts fucking around, people might literally freeze to death.
Apple store is not at all like a public utility, it would be downright madness to regulate it like such. Public utilities have very real impact on the lives of the public, Apple tax doesn’t.
> How about if your telephone company starts fucking around?
If emergency calls don’t work, people die. Phone calls not working would have significant economic impact too, although less so nowadays.
The transactions covered by Apple Tax only pay a significant part in some developers lives, they don’t matter to the public in the same way utilities do.
> I’m saying that Apples obstinance is going to lead them there.
Unlikely, the iOS appdev lobbyists don’t have that kind of pull.
> When even your biggest fans think you are being petulant and foolish, maybe it’s time to reevaluate?
Has there ever been a situation where a public company has valued consumer trust or goodwill?
To me it seems like it only matters when consumers actually have a choice and you need to convince them to give you money - once you've locked them in (because of contracts or anti-competitive practices), it doesn't really matter and you can (and should) milk them out of every dollar until you can't (as in competition or regulation disrupts the status-quo).
Apple’s fight right now is with regulators. You might get away with screwing consumers when your competitors are as bad or worse than you, but governments are a different thing all together.
Did the lawyers inside Apple really expect their changes to satisfy EU-based regulators? Do they think this will just go away?
Nobody seems to think Apple is being smart right now. Usually you can find at least some supporters from their fan base, but not this time.
I was listening to the ATP podcast. All three hosts are big fans of Apple, they use and promote Apple products, and make all or some of their living selling apps. They all think Apple is making a huge mistake here.
Is there anybody who thinks Apple’s recent moves are going to be good for them long term? When even your biggest fans think you are being petulant and foolish, maybe it’s time to reevaluate?