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Comment by zak_mc_kracken | Hacker News Reader

> Wow. That is shocking to me - is that typical of Apple?

Yes it is. We have a pretty successful app in the iTunes store and as a consequence, we have privileged access to the entire team, including engineers and executives who advise us how to word the description of our app and telling us all kinds of tricks to increase downloads.

A few months ago, we released an Android app and since then, we have fallen into a complete Apple black hole. The Apple people we used to exchange daily emails with are not even responding to us any more.

Apple is very, very serious about exclusivity.

And probably feeling very, very threatened too.

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That's...well, bizarre seems too kind. As an outsider who hasn't ever dealt with Apple in that kind of capacity, it seems downright childish.

I'm not sure that I was in danger of developing iOS apps any time soon, but these kinds of tales make me want to run screaming.

How is it childish ? It's business. Apple has finite resources and there are thousands of amazing, exclusive apps that don't get any direct assistance. Why would they invest their time if it doesn't benefit their ecosystem.

Also as someone who has worked on some of the most popular apps there is always the problem of feature equality. Companies don't want to annoy their customers by only offering features on one platform. So they don't. In which case you end up with a lowest common denominator of features.

> How is it childish ? It's business

The two are not mutually exclusive.

It's uncommon for businesses to see a client flirting with another vendor, and in response cease all communications. Usually it's just the opposite - wow the client with attention, and woo them back. Apple certainly has the resources to shed clients at will, but it's still childish behaviour. Why make it harder for a client with a good history to develop on your platform?

Exclusivity arrangements are nothing out of the ordinary between businesses. Developers are not regular Apple customers.

What is out of the ordinary is this way of doing it. Simply not responding to emails any longer, without explaining why, is very unprofessional indeed.

If there was some kind of exclusivity agreement in place, it would make perfect sense. "As long as you're publishing exclusively to iOS, we'll give you extra support and guidance" is fine if both parties are aware of it and have agreed to it.

"Nice app you have there. It would be a shame if you stopped getting support on it" is not.

> Why would they invest their time if it doesn't benefit their ecosystem.

The problem with this approach is that it only works if you're #1 with a comfortable lead. Apple is #2 and fast losing mind share, and this kind of policy is only going to accelerate that trend.

So your opinion is that Apple should invest finite resources in a company which isn't dedicating all their resources to building the best iOS app they can ?

That sounds like bad business to me. You should nurture and support your best customers/clients. There are 1 million apps on the App Store. Apple just figured some of the others deserve their support. It's harsh but understandable.

> So your opinion is that Apple should invest finite resources in a company which isn't dedicating all their resources to building the best iOS app they can ?

I think the policy of only catering to shops that are 100% developing on the Apple platforms is a terrible strategic mistake, especially since they are now #2 in this market and fast losing market share.

Also, catering to exclusives doesn't guarantee that you only get great apps in your store. Actually, it guarantees nothing except for acrimony from developers and the feeling that Apple is a fickle partner that can slam the door on them at any time.

The best way to regain market share is not to accelerate insulation but to woo companies developing on Android back by convincing them that iOS is a superior platform to develop for. As it is, all they are doing is convincing more and more developers that in doubt, they should develop for Android first and iOS second.

It's still #1 in profits, though.

Not for long if their market share keeps slipping. Alienating developers doesn't help the situation.

To put some numbers on it, according to this research (http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-index-market-q1-2014/), relative app revenue numbers have been something like:

    Q2 2013: Apple +230%
    Q3 2013: Apple +210%
    Q4 2013: Apple +110%
    Q1 2014: Apple +85%

Android's market share (especially in emerging markets) is exploding (https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.appannie.com/reports/App+Anni...), while Apple's app store revenue are substantially flatter (http://images.apple.com/nl/pr/pdf/q2fy14datasum.pdf).

Apple's definitely on top right now, but the gap is narrowing very, very quickly.

It's #1 in the market it cares about, which is "people who spend money". And that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.

What they care about is irrelevant, they are also alienating creators of apps that make them money with this kind of attitude.

They are basically repeating the same mistakes Jobs made two decades ago which led to the almost bankruptcy of Apple. Granted, they have enough money in the bank to be safe from this, but this kind of behavior is simply accelerating the decay of their market share, and as a consequence of that, of their profits.

It's #1 in the market it cares about, which is "people who spend money". And that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.

That sounds like hubris and arrogance to me. Are you so sure that won't be changing anytime soon?

No, I'm not sure, it's just a guess. What do you think?

The data from the last 8 quarters or so shows that Apple's app store revenue lead over Google is shrinking rapidly. Given Google's rapid gains in both marketshare and app store revenues, it isn't crazy to think that Apple could be the underdog before too long.

> How is it childish?

"If I don't get what I want, I'm going to take my ball and go home" is the epitome of childish reaction.

The mobile ecosystem is not zero-sum. Publishing on Android doesn't diminish the app's benefit to the iOS ecosystem. If anything, it only benefits their ecosystem, since it will improve the app's popularity, and result in more downloads of that app on iOS, by iPhone owners who hear about it from their Android-using friends.

Apple's job isn't to help build the next Facebook app. It is to build the best ecosystem they can. And that doesn't come from (a) having less exclusives or (b) having apps that don't take advantage of the unique features of the platform.

It's similar to Nintendo. They don't really benefit from having the next generic COD game on their platform. They benefit from having a game that makes the most innovative use of the touch screen control.

But why would you be hostile to someone just because they also built their app for Android? Successful people generally grow to encompass as many income streams as they can, and you're losing the long game by not reaching out to the next Facebook. Do you really NOT want that app on your store any more just because it's on the Play store as well?

> How is it childish? It's business.

It's funny you say that. In many companies you can hear people saying "it's nothing personal, just business" (you also hear the same from movie villains, oh well).

At Apple, for as long as I remember, it's exactly the opposite: it's not just business, it's always personal.

If you hurt Apple, Apple will hurt you back.

You can think of Apple as a smart, powerful, spoiled prince/princess. If you have something the prince(ss) wants, they'll try to be friends with you and shower you with gifts. But if you go this path you better never end up on their bad side.

It may seem childish to some, but as far as game theory goes, this kind if behavior makes one's choices and outcomes very clear when you interact with Apple.

They could at least act like decent human beings and tell the developers in kind words that their support program is not applicable to them if the apps are not exclusive.

This behavior is not just childish, it's even damaging to the brand.

That they do this on scale (not just certain small teams) lets me believe that the persons who created this policy have some type of psychological issue.

They should definitely see a doctor, if they aren't already doing it.

What's the name of your app?

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