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Comment by atonse | Hacker News Reader

I am really excited that this is finally a chance to break the tight grip Apple has had on the App Store.

I say this as someone who enjoys having an iOS device but also knows that Apple absolutely can allow other app stores in a secure (PKI based) way. They're just choosing not to do so for monopolistic reasons but talking about safety.

If we think of the PKI trust chain, and the Apple App Store as a root authority, there's no reason why ecosystem vendors (like MS, etc) couldn't be "intermediate CAs", with their own app stores, with strict rules in place for running one.

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One reason I love Apple devices is that I can hand one to my parents and they have a very low chance of screwing it up.

All that goes out the window when you introduce a third party app that can do whatever it wants to system settings.

This is an honest question, why do you choose to use an Apple device instead of one that’s more open like Android?

I’m not sure why the App Store and third party apps couldn’t just co-exist.

There is nothing preventing your parents from continuing to use Apple’s sanctioned distribution system even if side-loading were allowed.

Why don’t we flip this question? As a savvy software engineer, I want to use my phone in whatever way I see fit and accept the risk of using unverified software. Why am I not allowed to? Oh right, bc Apple wants a cut of any profits that app developer may receive. The iPhone at this stage is a full blown computer and should expose capabilities as such.

As a savvy software engineer, you should realize how much work it would take to implement a system to allow secondary stores when it would be of absolutely no benefit to Apple.

Less than zero. They go out of their way to keep people from installing apps from anything but their own App Store.

> All that goes out the window when you introduce a third party app that can do whatever it wants to system settings.

> when you introduce a third party app

So ... you could chose not to do that for your parents. There's no way they would do it by accident.

> that can do whatever it wants to system settings

Can App Store apps even do that now?

> So ... you could chose not to do that for your parents. There's no way they would do it by accident.

If third party app stores were allowed, some vendors OPs parents need to use would likely only publish their apps on a different store. I would not enjoy helping my parents navigate going to the MS store for Office, the Facebook store for Instagram, the Google store for maps. The lack of fragmentation makes this much more approachable for them.

This is not a defence of the current system. That has many other problems.

This is a good point but I feel this is one of those things where the market forces can come into play. You can buy office on the Apple App Store, or on the MS store for 10% less. There are people that’ll go through the effort. But most won’t.

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