[earhart]

The problem is not that Epic would be able to prevent other stores from being installed.

The problem is that if there are multiple app stores, it encourages a race-to-the-bottom for the app stores -- why go through Apple's store with all its vetting if you can release to the Epic store instead?

So, yes, the worry is exactly that another company might offer better terms to developers -- because sometimes, those terms don't matter to users (e.g. the cut between the app store and the developer), but other times, those terms are absolutely at a cost to the users.

If Epic has a way of offering multiple stores, while preventing that race-to-the-bottom from impacting the user experience, it'd be wonderful. But that doesn't seem to be what Epic is pushing for; Epic seems to be pushing for their own profit at a cost to Apple (which is fine, IMHO -- it's just business) and to the iOS ecosystem (which is much less fine, IMHO).

[cwyers]

If alternative app stores are consistently lower quality than Apple's app store, why do you think consumers wouldn't notice them and avoid those stores?

[chadcmulligan]

I suppose one way to counteract this is for apple to license app stores and they have to have the same standards as apples store. I have no desire to have low quality stores on my phone, thats why I like the iPhone - I don't have to worry about all the nonsense android phone owners do.

[Mindwipe]

> I suppose one way to counteract this is for apple to license app stores and they have to have the same standards as apples store.

Absolutely not - that's the entire point of this action. Apple's "standards" are to block upgrade pricing and force developers down a path of microtransactions. Do we really want that to be carried over to other stores? Do we want other stores to have to live with Apple's decision to block apps to help dissidents in Hong Kong or the Middle East communicate?

A single point of decision-making on code always leads to terrible geopolitical outcomes. Always. That is the important part of what is happening here.

[bllguo]

So many comments here to this effect and they're all so puzzling. I'd love to hear exactly what "nonsense" I'm supposedly worried about all the time. Relying solely on Google's store is perfectly usable. I wish I could find data on this but I'd confidently assert the vast vast majority of (non-Chinese) Android owners never use alternative stores.

[chadcmulligan]

The first one that comes to mind is how many android phones are out of date - upgrading to the latest version of android isn't a priority for mobile distributors and is a lot of work on some phones. So this causes a larger attack surface, Apple is very careful to make their phones all have the latest iOS - also makes it easier to develop to.

Another issue is trust - who knows what google does with your data, their business model includes exploiting your personal data, Apple has a vested interest in keeping your personal data secure and doesn't keep the keys to it - its their business model.

These two are enough for me, theres also a lot more reports of android apps with exploits - a google turns up a lot of them, less so with iPhone, and apple reacts if there is. Maybe these issues have been addressed in android, if so it's not something Google appears serious about, if they were then they'd be advertising how secure their phones are and how they don't touch your data - apple is very serious about keeping my data personal and has invested a lot of their business integrity in that.

Edit: tl;dr - googles business model is built around exploiting your personal data, apples is built around keeping your personal data secure

[jld89]

Apple's business model is also built around exploiting your personal data, not at the same scale sure but still. Just look at the Siri recordings scandal

[Mindwipe]

> Edit: tl;dr - googles business model is built around exploiting your personal data, apples is built around keeping your personal data secure

Unless you're Chinese, when it's not.

[chadcmulligan]

I if was Chinese then I probably couldn't say anything about it, but not sure how this is related to the current discussion - not much any of us can do about china - including apple