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Comment by davidg109 | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, anytime you depend on a third party whether it be Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc., this is the exact risk you take. Don’t feed the dragon.

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What's the alternative? Google essentially has a monopoly on distributing Android apps.

This. If you want to make any kind of mobile app, you have to deal with the Apple and Google duopoly that's had a stranglehold on the mobile app distribution market for over a decade now.

The alternative is don't feed the dragon. There are already enough Android apps in the world; don't incentivize the ecosystem by building more.

Build for another platform or build for something other than mobile devices.

Right I will build for iOS.... ohh wait....

Ok that is out... so what is the other platform?

Web. Your app almost certainly doesn't actually need to be an app anyway.

60% of mobile users in the US use iOS, and Apple has hobbled mobile Safari's browser and JavaScript engines in order to prevent web apps from implementing basic of features that native apps have had for a decade.

You can't even work around that problem because Apple bans any other browser or scripting engine from being distributed on iOS, so users are stuck with an intentionally limited browser for web apps, which makes web apps second-class citizens on the platform.

70% of app store revenue comes from games. Annual mobile game revenue is $93 billion. Do you have an example of what you're talking about?

The alternative is to find a business model that doesn't involve making mobile apps. Businesses are much older than smartphones.

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are slowly getting us there, even though Apple fights tooth and nail at every step of the way.

I attended an event that had mobile food ordering and they actually promoted "No need to download an app. Just order online at food.example" and you got a nice mobile optimized web site.

You can downloaded an apk from a web browser and install it.

Sure, you and I can do that. But as a developer wanting to distribute my app, how do I persuade every potential user to go that route? It feels sketchy as fuck when you are doing it.

F-Droid?

F-Droid is a second-class citizen on billions of existing Android phones, tablets and streaming devices. Google also shows numerous scary warnings meant to trick users into believing that F-Droid is going to hack them or give them malware should they try to use it.

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