Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results
by ProAm on Friday July 29, 2022 @01:33PM
(#32279724)
I dont believe you get access to all features and functionality if you do not pay for the developer subscription (maybe it has changed?) but things like push notifications, third party libraries....? Regardless their services strategy is rent seeking for one of the most profitable companies on the planet. (ex: making 5+ billion selling charger bricks after not including them when you buy a phone)
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Here's the capabilities list of what you can do with a free account: https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6
No push notifications (this is unsurprising, Apple runs the push notification servers, and those cost money). I don't see anything about linking against third party libraries.
---
More to the point, you keep using this term "rent seeking" to describe Apple selling optional services. Nobody is forcing an iPhone owner to pay Apple for services. Rent seeking implies once you have the thing, you have to pay rent on it. That's just not true for iPhones.
Oh its definitely rent seeking. They are trying to eek out more money from customers without adding additional value. Headphone jacks, no SD card for storage, no charger blocks, no ability to add music to your device without a windows or Mac computer, etc.... We can go on and on and won't agree so we do not need to continue to discuss this. No they are not forcing you, but they are absolutely rent seeking. (everyone is these days).