Apple, Facing Outcry, Says App Developers Are Thriving on iPhone (bloomberg.com) 29
Apple, looking to address criticism of its competitive practices by the European Union, developers and U.S. lawmakers, pointed to a report showing that third-party apps are thriving on the iPhone and other devices. From a report: In a study published by Analysis Group and touted by the iPhone maker, analysts said that Apple's own apps are infrequently the dominant option and only account for a small share of app usage. "We found that Apple's own apps, while used by many, are rarely the most popular of a given type and are eclipsed in popularity by third-party apps for nearly every country and app type we considered," the report said. In the U.S., the report found that Spotify is 1.6 times more popular than Apple Music, that Google Maps is used 1.5 times more than Apple Maps, and that Netflix is 17 times more popular than Apple's service. The Amazon Kindle service, meanwhile, was 4.5 times more popular than Apple's Books app.
It's like Microsoft (Score:2)
...no dev enjoys working on MS because it sucks thorny T-Rex dicks, but it's where the money is.
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But that's because Windows is over 80% of the market.
Apple's iOS is only around 20% of the market outside the US. If you want to write an app, as a developer, targeting Android and its 80% marketshare seems to make the mose sense.
In the US, yes, target Apple because they're about half the market.
Of course, if the real issue Android users don't pay for apps, that's a completely different thing. A developer should
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Most developers don't care about market share. They care about money.
Apple App Store revenue: $64b
Google App Store revenue: $30b
# of phones that you have to support on the Apple App store: about a dozen.
# of phones that you have to support on the Google App store: Maybe 500 to 1,000
Profit multiplier per supported device by developing for Apple instead of Android: 1000X to 2000X
And there is no apple version of the LG Wing, Motorola Flipout, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, or LG DoublePlay where you have to
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I looked up the install base for
Re:It's like Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
But why do Apple users spend more? In no small part it is because they have an easy, transparent payment system and they lower the friction for purchases. As you increase friction, even slightly, that spend drops off very quickly.
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Android users don't pay for Apps because we don't have to. There's so many more apps that you can generally find one that's not only free, but also ad-free. Every once in a while it's worth paying for a real app, but most of the time it is not. The down side to the lower bar to entry is that there are more shitty apps, but the up side is that there's more good ones as well.
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why should apple get 30% of dating apps in the Ne (Score:3)
why should apple get 30% of dating apps in the Netherlands (sex)
but not 30% of an uber ride?
Re: why should apple get 30% of dating apps in th (Score:2)
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By the time a developer gets his application up on their store those terms should be clear, Apple doesn't hide them.
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Because those are the terms of its App Store?
By the time a developer gets his application up on their store those terms should be clear, Apple doesn't hide them.
That doesn't make the terms justified. It just makes them binding. The question was why Apple is justified in asking for that much, not whether their contract of adhesion demands it.
Also, I could put a requirement in the terms of service for some product that says you have to give your first-born daughter to me as a bride for my harem, and until somebody challenged it in court, that would be part of my contract terms, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be laughed out of court as soon as somebody did. Somet
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how do we reconcile the goals of a free market against the reality that just two companies control the distribution of nearly all cell phone software
The same way it was reconciled when there was just 1 (Apple) controlling it: someone else comes up with something and it catches on. That is how we got 2.
If you think you can use legislate it you are wrong. The contract terms you describe, where someone has to give you their child, aren't enforceable because they are illegal in most places. And if you live somewhere it isn't you could try that and see if you get any takers. Apple has gotten thousands to agree to their terms and while you could maybe try
Re: why should apple get 30% of dating apps in th (Score:2)
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how do we reconcile the goals of a free market against the reality that just two companies control the distribution of nearly all cell phone software
The same way it was reconciled when there was just 1 (Apple) controlling it: someone else comes up with something and it catches on. That is how we got 2.
As others have said, it doesn't work that way. There was never a time when there was only one. Before Apple's store, every cell phone company in the U.S. had its own app store for each model of device. You could buy a game from them, but it would only work for as long as you owned your phone. Switch from a Nokia phone to an LG phone, and you have to buy new apps. Switch carriers? Buy new apps.
The Apple and Google stores consolidated all of that chaos into a much smaller number of stores. So now, you
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Towards the end of the Java MIDlet era, it was becoming common for one MIDlet to work on a range of phones. Unfortunately there were like a million jillion... profiles? I forget what they called the Java MIDlet API modules. And many phones didn't support one or more of them, and not necessarily because they couldn't but because they were market differentiators.
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Towards the end of the Java MIDlet era, it was becoming common for one MIDlet to work on a range of phones. Unfortunately there were like a million jillion... profiles? I forget what they called the Java MIDlet API modules. And many phones didn't support one or more of them, and not necessarily because they couldn't but because they were market differentiators.
Yeah, I pretty much just ignored the entire market, because I didn't see anything worth buying. :-)
Re: why should apple get 30% of dating apps in th (Score:2)
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I don't know the specifics of the apps you mention, but Amazon is big enough to specifically negotiate a better contract with Apple. Smaller companies are not.
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Even today you could do a javascript web applet and not give any money to Apple. It might not be perfect for every type of application, but a dating app would seem like a very easy one.
LOL, because Apple's apps are shit (Score:4, Interesting)
"We found that Apple's own apps, while used by many, are rarely the most popular of a given type and are eclipsed in popularity by third-party apps for nearly every country and app type we considered," the report said.
Yeah, no kidding.
It's because Apple's apps are, universally, shit.
In the U.S., the report found that Spotify is 1.6 times more popular than Apple Music,
Apple Music is a disaster. It's also unclear if they mean Apple Music the streaming service or Apple Music the iTunes replacement but in any case, Apple Music makes listening to music nearly impossible. Syncing your own music is an effort in "retrying until it works" and streaming and downloading music is just entire un-intuitive. It also crashes all the time. Plus, where Spotify uses algorithms to suggest music you might like, Apple limits you to Apple curated playlists. Which might sound better (Spotify's algorithm has the same siloing problem other recommendation algorithms do), but Apple's curated playlists are extremely limited. Don't like music that people in Cupertino like? Well, though.
Apple Music is also available on Android, it would be interesting to see how it fares against competitors when not bundled with the OS.
that Google Maps is used 1.5 times more than Apple Maps,
That Apple Maps is used at all is a shock to me. Its maps haven't improved since launch, its traffic data is a joke, and even when it has the right addresses for places, it still will provide directions to the wrong locations.
and that Netflix is 17 times more popular than Apple's service.
How many people even remembered Apple has a streaming video service? Anyone? Isn't it just their own original content, anyway?
The Amazon Kindle service, meanwhile, was 4.5 times more popular than Apple's Books app.
Again, how many people even remembered Apple has their own book store? Anyone? That it's only 4.5 times more popular again hints that being tied into Apple's ecosystem is providing Apple a huge anti-competitive boost.
The big shocker to me is Google Maps being only 1.5 times more popular than Apple Maps. That right there is enough to demonstrate just how anti-competitive Apple really is. In a true free market, no one would be using Apple Maps, except maybe a few Apple employees who live in Cupertino.
Re: LOL, because Apple's apps are shit (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, Spotify does discovery far better. Going into my Spotify I actually see music related to my likes. On Apple Music it's like I'm looking at somebody else's collection.
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That Apple Maps is used at all is a shock to me. Its maps haven't improved since launch, its traffic data is a joke, and even when it has the right addresses for places, it still will provide directions to the wrong locations.
Surprised but not shocked that Google Maps is merely 1.5 times more popular than Apple Maps. I was on board an iPhone-wielding friend's car, and I was actually impressed by the voice directions. Maybe it's that Siri thing. Whether they were right or wrong, I don't know. But we got to our destination in one piece. (Disclaimer: I'm no navigator, so I'm not at all sure if we took the fastest route.)
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Your post is 100% Flamebait and it's clear you've never used any of these apps nor the platform throughout their lifecycle, and even worse, you didn't even web search anything.
Let's start with Apple Music. While syncing is probably still a pain in the ass, I've never heard of the streaming service being unintuitive nor crashing all the time from anyone. Apple does have their ML-based curating technology. You don't have to use their lists.
Next on your shitlist, Apple Maps. Apple Maps have changed their maps
Cherry Picking (Score:3)
Notice how all the major developers listed in the summary are ones that Apple is playing catch up to and didn't really have a similar service/app before the competition.
All the MBA folks love it when you can both pass on costs/fees and keep them hidden. It's functionally an extra 30% fee for the privilege of continuing to allow Apple to have your business.
Of course... (Score:2)
Of course Apple's saying developers are doing fine, because their goal is to make developer's concerns look like a spat about money so iPhone owner's eyes glaze over and they check out. The real issue has always been about Apple using technological measures to assert control over a phone after you've bought it. The more consumers recognize that Apple is telling you what you can do with your own property, the more support for laws [bloomberg.com] preventing them from misusing technological measures [nme.com] will grow.
Re: Of course... (Score:1)
surprised... (Score:2)
they didn't mention safari and mail