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Comment by AYBABTME | Hacker News Reader

What if consumers like it like that: one sandbox curated by Apple?

What I am very afraid of is a situation in which every developer pushes its own App Store with dodgy security and privacy.

“Oh, you want Photoshop? Just add the Adobe store (don’t look at permissions, also please give us your debit card number, we promise it’ll be safe)”.

“Oh, you want that nifty game? Just install our store. And also give us your bank account.”

“Yes, Apple is draconian. So to get the Facebook app, you must give us complete access to your phone and all data you send. Sign with your blood here.”

From an opsec perspective, Apple’s store associated with a prepaid debit card is great. They are far from ideal, but they have amongst the best privacy practices in the industry, have great customer support, and their interests align with mine better than those of their competitors.

We know that the second third party stores are allowed, some developer will force them on us.

Android having one or two external app stores of any note with the vast majority of users hanging out on the Play store tells me that this doomsday scenario is unlikely.

Those consumers should have every right to stay in that sandbox. And the rest of us should have the right to use a different one.

You do have that right, it’s called Android.

You only have that right in advance, though. If I get an iPhone and buy a bunch of software on it and then 3 years later Apple Changes The Terms Of Our Relationship, I don't have any ability to migrate my data (let alone my purchases) to another platform. Not only do I have to buy a new smartphone, I have to re-buy my apps even if those apps are available on Android. Even if the app's developer wants to give me the app for free on other platforms, they can't, because Apple refuses to give developers any information on their customers. This came up previously when some OS X software had to leave the Mac App Store. Likewise any music or videos I bought on iTunes won't migrate over to my Android phone - in the era of physical media this wasn't a problem, you could pop your CD or DVD into any player you want so you had true freedom.

Windows and Mac and Linux environments are not sandboxed like this either. All my data is files in folders, and I can export it as I like to another machine.

This is a problem with any store, though, except for some very specific situations. You won’t solve that problem by having more isolated islands. I agree that this should be improved, I have no illusion that Facebook and Epic have any intention of doing that.

You solve it by allowing sideloading (which necessarily means isolated islands can be created too, but that is not the point)

Freedom of choice implies that you do have to make choices though. If I buy a Ford, and later decide that a Chevy is what I want, I don't complain...I sell the Ford.

If I have a windows computer, and I buy a mac, I can't run all my windows software. The developers of that software may not even make mac equivalents.

The idea that choices need to be ultimately convenient and consequence free is just not realistic. Depreciation, transaction costs, and functional differences between products are a consumer's problem to manage.

I agree with you on media files, but, I also know that there are plenty of workarounds to exporting iTunes specific media formats if you would rather leave iTunes behind.

If you buy a child seat whatever into your car you are right to assume that it will work on the Chevy as well..

Do you think it would be unfair to the users who bought an iPhone 3 years back considering sandboxed appstore as one of the main reason to buy it?

Cool, how do I install it on my iPhone? The one I bought with my money?

The same way I install iOS on my Android phone I bought with my money.

Visit https://projectsandcastle.org/ and follow the instructions, assuming your hardware meets the current requirements.

I believe consumer choice is essential to making markets efficient. I think more of it is better. For example I also think we should have a right to repair, so companies are forced to give me a choice to repair instead of throwing away and buying anew. Sure, you could say I could just vote with my wallet and not do business with any company that does not prioritize repairability. But in reality that doesn't work because the vast majority of companies don't do that because it's in their interest that I need to buy a new thing every couple of years. So I need a right to repair law to give me, as a consumer, some reasonable choices that it's not in the companies' own interest to give me.

Exactly the same thing goes for what I do with the devices I buy, and what software I install on them. It's not in Apple's interest that I have a choice of what source of apps I use - but giving me as a consumer that choice would expand the market (e.g. by making it possible to sell an app-based service with a 20% profit margin - currently if you tried to make one, you'd lose 10% on every sale). So yes, consumers currently have a choice of which side of the duopoly they want to live on. I believe more choice would be better, both for consumers and for the ecosystem as a whole.

There are alternative stores on android but no one forces you to use them. The same will apply to iPhone

Then they continue to use the Apple App store.

That may not be an option if work-necessary or social-connection-necessary software moves to an alternate store to enjoy less restrictions.

At the point where your device has work software on it all bets are off to begin with. Your employer might straight up require you to use an Android phone. What you're describing is your employer using their free choice to decide where to distribute apps.

Incidentally, employers already have the ability to distribute custom iOS software for their employees, so your scenario wouldn't happen.

Work-necessary software probably involved an enterprise provisioning profile, which for all intents and purposes, gives the holder of the profile full rights to your phone.

As for social, why isn't this happening on Android if it's so inevitable?

> What if consumers like it like that: one sandbox curated by Apple?

if they like it, they can keep using it.

EDIT: apparently suggesting people to keep using something they like deserves downvotes :)

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