App Store follow-up

I’ve recently made some comments about Hey and the App Store and I don’t think my options have changed much but with the lastest incident involving Fort Nite and listening to the latest ATP episode I think I’ve expanded views a bit more.

Right off the bat, I think Epic’s idea of having their own store is just wrong and shouldn’t happen. We don’t need yet another middle man and having a wealthy company backed by an even wealthier company (Tencent) upset because it can’t butt in and take 12% on every game sold. I’d rather purchase my individual game than have this mess of some games in an Epic store, some in Steam, etc.

Anyway, the guys at ATP made some good points especially in regards to streaming gaming. Personally, I think streaming gaming is a lost cause. It gives up any hint of game ownership and for what will probably always be a worse experience for many games due to the inherent lag issues. But, like they say it’s not going away. There appears to be enough people interested in it for companies to continue and that will be one market that all signs point towards Apple being locked out of completely. That’s not a good thing.

I do think the App Store is a good idea but there does need to be changes and in this particular case Apple should realise it will hurt them in the long run to not be in the streaming game market. Will it hurt Apple Arcade? Maybe but the local game experience should only be superior so if it gets hurt that might be a sign its offerings are that good.

Could companies offer bad games that are outside of Apple’s control? Yes but only in terms of themes that aren’t friendly towards kids. But this problem exists with other stream services. The code runs remotely so there’s no chance they’ll be able to right a malicious game. So, I think, just let it happen. I’d agree, no more software stores but treat all streaming equally.

Finally, I think it is about time they start letting apps have their own in app purchasing. As mentioned in the podcast, having to jump through hoops to, as an example, get a kindle book is not the best experience.

The other benefits to this is that it will pretty much shut down any complaints about too much control. It’s better for Apple to adjust rather than wait for governments to make them change. Most people in government won’t be knowledgable enough to do the right thing and they just may lose a lot more.

The other benefit is that Android just doesn’t make as much money. Maybe it’s demographics or side loading allowing people to pirate but either way, developers don’t do as well there in many cases. If Apple gives developers the ability to have their payment methods that will make Android even less appealing. If Google follows Apple’s move then they’ll be hit harder.

I would suspect most most companies that would do their own payments would be larger or someone like Stripe will step in with a solution so the big fear as consumer about data safety will hopefully not be a big issue. For smaller developers, it just makes sense to stick with Apple’s solutions.

Finally, yes this will hit services profits. The big companies are probably where most of the cash comes from but it will only incentivise Apple to be more competitive and offer something worth considering as it’s good, built in and will have guaranteed support. If the app ecosystem is improved there’s a good argument to be made that additional iPhone / iPad sales will make up for the loss of services profits.