If you want to create a cross-platform mobile app, you have no choice. In my country, iPhones are ~50% of smartphones. This needs to be regulated.

You have the same choice the device users have. It's their right to choose their device, and it's your right to choose which provider you use or don't.

It is not your right to reach all those people.

Sorry but that makes zero sense. Monopolies like these kill the free market, kill competition, kill innovation and by that they hurt the end-users and the whole economy. No one benefits from this current situation except Apple. That's why antitrust laws exist, to prevent exactly this type of behavior.

I agree with you 75%.

> No one benefits from this current situation except Apple.

This isn't true. See top comment, but all the FAANGs and their smaller siblings benefit in the exact same way.

The problem is systemic, and it starts with lobbying and disparity of legal standing between corporations and individuals.

I obviously (at least it was my intention) meant: "No one but big corps" (and I include their subsidiaries, sidekicks and wannabes into that). Countries don't, societies don't, not even science or economy, and especially not customers and makers.

No you dont.

People with more users have more word of mouth network effects.

Thats not much of a choice.

Either participate, or be locked out and lag behind the competitors.

The problem here is that Apple is both the platform and the distribution network, when we know very well, computers work just fine with a distribution of power its pretty silly to argue anything counter to that.

Id love to see mac users round here survive on mac os with nothing but the app store.

Good luck without npm, homebrew, wget, or any other convenient way to install software.

Reaching people is not your right. This is the fallacy that social media has taught a generation.

> Id love to see mac users round here survive on mac os with nothing but the app store.

You're moving the goalposts here... Anyone can publish outside the App Store, I thought this was a conversation about publishing ON the Apple Store?

> Anyone can publish outside the App Store

Not on iOS they can't. Which is the entire point.

> Reaching people is not your right.

No... but a competitive market is in everyone (except the monopolist/oligopolist's) interest. Our entire economic model is based on the premise that markets are competitive. Thus in situation like this where a big player in a significant market is being anti-competitive, it is more than reasonable to complain about it.

That’s his point... on iOS you can’t publish outside of the App Store, which cripples it as a platform

We ban accounts that post like this, so please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when commenting on HN.

Hi dang. I was wondering why other people can downvote my comments anonymously, but I'm not afforded the same opportunity?

Habits formed on SO would lead me to comment on anything I was downvoting anyway, but it feels like something of an imbalance that deters me from active participation in some conversations -- see my comments on the recent thread about SSC deleting the blog.

Edit: I also can't edit my reply to the parent of this, and regret my reciprocation of the name-calling... I wouldn't editorialise this out, just identify that it's an example of unhelpful behaviour.

I can’t do anything on SO besides favorite because of not having enough karma/points. SO is another bad example like HN in ways you’re having issues with.

I agree, that is a business risk you take. The problem is just that this risk is very difficult to assess and it leaves you very little in term of being able to influence it.