If you listen to any Apple-centric podcasts, it won’t be long before you hear this little cliché that bounces around in their little echo chamber. It goes something like “the iPhone would be nothing if it wasn’t for the apps”. It’s always brought up in relation to Apple asserting control over the platform which they built.
Who Needs Who?
The problem with this little cliché, that the iPhone is nothing without the apps, is that it reveals a lack of understanding of how the business world works. If the iPhone is nothing without the apps, then Amazon.com is nothing without its vendors, or Walmart is nothing without products to fill the shelves.
But what do Apple, Amazon, and Walmart all have in common? They all built their own platforms. They are the ones who invested in developing a market. They have the power.
Apple needs iOS developers in the same way that Amazon or Walmart needs vendors or products. Meaning that the iOS developers and vendors need their access to markets more than the store owner needs them.
Platforms Are Harder than Products
No one is forcing iOS developers to sell in the iOS AppStore. And no one is forcing anyone to sell to Walmart. If you invent a product in your garage you are free to put up your own website and sell directly to the public. Good luck with that.
Selling to the public and building a platform can be much more difficult than inventing a product or writing an app. Hence, vendors and iOS developers need Apple and Walmart more than Apple or Walmart needs developers or vendors. The platform owners hold the power, not the developers or vendors.
Could iOS developers or Amazon vendors stage a strike and try to take down the platform? Sure. But for most apps or products, there are competitors just waiting to take their place. Unless you’re a huge customer with market shaking power, you have no clout. And these large customers that do have clout usually have stockholders. So they aren’t interested in shooting themselves in the foot by killing a distribution channel that results in significant sales declines.
Platform Owners Are the Customer
The big difference between iOS developers and vendors who sell to Walmart is that iOS developers seem oblivious to the fact that Apple is their customer. Not the other way around. IOS developers act as if they are Apple’s customer and they act indignant when Apple doesn’t treat them as such.
I’ve been in business for over 25 years and one axiom that never changes is that the customer is always treated with deference. When I worked with the Cabela’s Corporation I used to see an endless parade of would-be vendors making their pitch on why we should carry their new product in our catalog. These businesses recognized that Cabela’s was their customer and they did whatever Cabela’s wanted in order to get their products included in our portfolio.
The hierarchy was understood. Potential vendors to a retail outlet know full well who holds all the power. There is no expectation that they can make demands on a platform owner.
But iOS developers almost don’t even see themselves as business owners. They act as if they are Apple’s customer and that Apple needs to cow-tow to their wishes. That is an unheard of dynamic anywhere else in the business world. I’m not sure where this sense of entitlement comes from. Could it be that they are not business people? Could it be that they buy Apple products and still see themselves as Apple’s customer?
For iOS developers, Apple is their customer. Which means that they have to work at meeting Apple’s wishes or find a new customer.
The problem with this little cliché, that the iPhone is nothing without the apps, is that it reveals a lack of understanding of how the business world works. If the iPhone is nothing without the apps, then Amazon.com is nothing without its vendors, or Walmart is nothing without products to fill the shelves.
But what do Apple, Amazon, and Walmart all have in common? They all built their own platforms. They are the ones who invested in developing a market. They have the power.
Apple needs iOS developers in the same way that Amazon or Walmart needs vendors or products. Meaning that the iOS developers and vendors need their access to markets more than the store owner needs them.
Platforms Are Harder than Products
No one is forcing iOS developers to sell in the iOS AppStore. And no one is forcing anyone to sell to Walmart. If you invent a product in your garage you are free to put up your own website and sell directly to the public. Good luck with that.
Selling to the public and building a platform can be much more difficult than inventing a product or writing an app. Hence, vendors and iOS developers need Apple and Walmart more than Apple or Walmart needs developers or vendors. The platform owners hold the power, not the developers or vendors.
Could iOS developers or Amazon vendors stage a strike and try to take down the platform? Sure. But for most apps or products, there are competitors just waiting to take their place. Unless you’re a huge customer with market shaking power, you have no clout. And these large customers that do have clout usually have stockholders. So they aren’t interested in shooting themselves in the foot by killing a distribution channel that results in significant sales declines.
Platform Owners Are the Customer
The big difference between iOS developers and vendors who sell to Walmart is that iOS developers seem oblivious to the fact that Apple is their customer. Not the other way around. IOS developers act as if they are Apple’s customer and they act indignant when Apple doesn’t treat them as such.
I’ve been in business for over 25 years and one axiom that never changes is that the customer is always treated with deference. When I worked with the Cabela’s Corporation I used to see an endless parade of would-be vendors making their pitch on why we should carry their new product in our catalog. These businesses recognized that Cabela’s was their customer and they did whatever Cabela’s wanted in order to get their products included in our portfolio.
The hierarchy was understood. Potential vendors to a retail outlet know full well who holds all the power. There is no expectation that they can make demands on a platform owner.
But iOS developers almost don’t even see themselves as business owners. They act as if they are Apple’s customer and that Apple needs to cow-tow to their wishes. That is an unheard of dynamic anywhere else in the business world. I’m not sure where this sense of entitlement comes from. Could it be that they are not business people? Could it be that they buy Apple products and still see themselves as Apple’s customer?
For iOS developers, Apple is their customer. Which means that they have to work at meeting Apple’s wishes or find a new customer.
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