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by threeseed 2193 days ago
I think you are vastly overstating the importance of apps.

Apple could easily remove the App Store tomorrow, sign deals with a dozen or so companies e.g. Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Snap, Google, Microsoft etc and they would still sell devices.
2 comments
mirchibajji 2193 days ago
Isn't this part of the problem though? Apple _could_ remove the app store, and consumers would lose the apps that have existed so far, with no alternative.
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kjakm 2193 days ago
I think if you think back to 2007/8 and people had the choice of Android with millions of apps and a higher priced iOS ecosystem which only has some high profile apps so few people would choose iOS that it would quickly become a waste of money for FB/Twitter/MS to build their apps for it and it would die.
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majewsky 2193 days ago
In 2007/8 people were buying iPhones despite them not having an app store at all.
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kjakm 2193 days ago
There was no App Store for the first year, which I believe is a time when Android didn't exist. An app-less iPhone would not be able to compete with an app-store backed Android.
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