You’ll have to hold my beer while I wipe away my tears about all of the money that they have to pay Apple.
Surprisingly enough, the whining only happens from geeks who probably don’t even have skin in the game.
If developers are so interested in getting from under the 30% tax, where are all of the indy developers who are making money on Android outside of the Google Play store outside of China?
Google doesn't make side-loading easy either. It comes with a ton of warnings, but some high profile apps and games have started using it anyway.
I didn't mean to start another debate about the obviously dysfunctional market that is mobile app stores though. My point was about the loss of freedom and privacy that results from the side-loading ban.
That didn’t work out too well for consumers.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/08/fortnites-android-vu...
Also, if either were keeping developers from innovating, you should see a lot of successful, popular apps outside of Google Play.
The fact is, that 80% of phones out there can escape a walled garden and the 30% cut, but still anyone interested in getting visibility or making money chooses to be on Google Play.
How many people whining about the 30% cut on HN actually have a successful product that would be more successful if it weren’t for Apple’s fee?
And finally it‘s a pointlessly circular argument if we‘re talking about whether or not gatekeeping on the Web is stronger than on iOS.