I’m pretty unhappy about Adobe’s “app store” on MacOS. I’m unhappier about debris from countless non-app store apps, all with difference license engines, update engines, sites that disappear or change, it’s a mess.
Devs, feel free to raise your price and charge me an extra 15% or whatever you need to make up what you think Apple is “stealing” from you. I’m not that price sensitive, just don’t make me think about all your homegrown BS hoops I jump through for your percentage points.
As a consumer I want one store, one purchase history, one subscription list, one update engine, total peace of mind. Percentage of consumers that genuinely want to track that stuff separately rounds to zero.
I also can’t help but notice that SetApp apps work on my Mac and on iOS without this bill. (I try apps “for free” from SetApp, then I buy them on App Store. Costs me a good deal more, but I’m making sure the dev knows the app store is fine with me thanks.) And SetApp, like Apple Arcade, or Xbox GamePass is even less to track, as you no longer worry per app, it’s the whole library for one price.
Speaking of which, I’m also wondering if someone is going to force me, as a consumer who chose a mobile appliance, to screw up my phone, are they planning to screw up my console too? Fair is fair:
“Senators Blumenthal, Blackburn, and Klobuchar recognize that independent 3rd party developers are being restricted in anti-competitive ways that impact what users pay for video games and other software,” said Ernesto Falcon, Senior Legislative Counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The Open App Markets Act will put a stop to these practices, which will lower the costs for both developers and their customers by setting forth common sense competition policy for the industry.”
Or, you know, we can wait it out, let the market decide.