Jason regularly shills for developers to make more money at the expense of the consumer. If he wants to play to the developer crowd, fine. But the audacity of pretending that he’s advocating for the consumer is absolutely unforgivable. He’s dead wrong.
In his latest anti-Apple diatribe, he are his three main points.
The iPhone Is Nothing Without Apps
I’ve covered this in much more detail before but here is why his logic is faulty. It’s much more difficult to create an outlet for products than it is to actually make products. Meaning Walmart is nothing with bare shelves or Amazon is nothing without products to sell either. So why don’t app or product makers all over the world just pull their products from all of the big companies? Because they have no retail outlet of their own.
The business of attracting customers and maintaining a platform is much more difficult than just producing apps or consumer level products. Hence, the developers or product makers need the platforms more than the platforms need them. This is nothing new. The business world is a power dynamic of who needs who more. And it’s certainly not unique to Apple.
Apple’s Obstinance Is Heading iOS to Look Like the Mac
Jason states over and over that “Apple just wants their money” and yet, he seems totally mystified on why Apple is fighting any attempt to change how the App Store works. He calls it a “dangerous game”. He wonders what would happen if the iPhone became more like the Mac.
It never occurs to Jason that this is about a lot more than money. It’s about the customer experience. People like being able to buy things on the AppStore without having to haul out their credit card and setup a new account. It’s convenient and reassuring that only Apple has their credit card. Don’t you hate it when you go to buy something on the internet and the website wants you to setup a new account by entering your address and financial info?
Also, when you buy a new iPhone, isn’t nice to have all of your app purchases ready to download at the touch of a button? No need to go find that software code like with Windows or Mac. In iOS, Apple does all of your record keeping for you and you can re-download anything at the drop of a hat.
The reason that Apple is fighting changes to the AppStore is because they are the voice of the consumer. It’s a better experience for the consumer to be able to pay for things without setting up new accounts, they don’t need to save software codes, and spending money on apps allows them to vote with their dollars for which apps are good. It’s an all-around win for the consumer on multiple levels.
Jason’s advocacy for AppStore fragmentation is worse for consumers from any viewpoint. And yet, Jason sells out his principles to help his friends make more money?
Apple Is Preventing Kindle Books From Being In-App Purchased
This is Jason’s biggest lie of all. I’ve spoken about it here already. But in short, nothing is stopping Amazon from selling their books via the AppStore and simply raising the price. Amazon could easily gain millions of dollars of impulse purchases from customers who would think nothing of paying $12.99 versus $9.99.
It would be nothing but upside for Amazon. Even if sales were small, they would make the same margin as sales from their own website. So there isn’t even any opportunity cost to Amazon.
The reason that Amazon won’t do it is really only known to Amazon. But my theory is that Amazon could sell Kindle merchandise from within the iOS app if they wanted too, but they don’t in order to give their own inferior hardware a fighting chance. Android tablets are irrelevant because they are a non-factor but handicapping iPads and iPad minis gives their e-readers one point of positive differentiation.
But the fact is this. The onus for unavailable material on the iPhone is on Amazon, not Apple. It’s this way everywhere else in business. If you make a product with low gross margins, it’s not Walmarts fault that you can’t afford to sell there.
Why does Jason seem to make up rules specific only to Apple? So he can be the toast of his developer friends at the next WWDC? That may be fine for him, but Jason is no friend to the consumer.
The iPhone Is Nothing Without Apps
I’ve covered this in much more detail before but here is why his logic is faulty. It’s much more difficult to create an outlet for products than it is to actually make products. Meaning Walmart is nothing with bare shelves or Amazon is nothing without products to sell either. So why don’t app or product makers all over the world just pull their products from all of the big companies? Because they have no retail outlet of their own.
The business of attracting customers and maintaining a platform is much more difficult than just producing apps or consumer level products. Hence, the developers or product makers need the platforms more than the platforms need them. This is nothing new. The business world is a power dynamic of who needs who more. And it’s certainly not unique to Apple.
Apple’s Obstinance Is Heading iOS to Look Like the Mac
Jason states over and over that “Apple just wants their money” and yet, he seems totally mystified on why Apple is fighting any attempt to change how the App Store works. He calls it a “dangerous game”. He wonders what would happen if the iPhone became more like the Mac.
It never occurs to Jason that this is about a lot more than money. It’s about the customer experience. People like being able to buy things on the AppStore without having to haul out their credit card and setup a new account. It’s convenient and reassuring that only Apple has their credit card. Don’t you hate it when you go to buy something on the internet and the website wants you to setup a new account by entering your address and financial info?
Also, when you buy a new iPhone, isn’t nice to have all of your app purchases ready to download at the touch of a button? No need to go find that software code like with Windows or Mac. In iOS, Apple does all of your record keeping for you and you can re-download anything at the drop of a hat.
The reason that Apple is fighting changes to the AppStore is because they are the voice of the consumer. It’s a better experience for the consumer to be able to pay for things without setting up new accounts, they don’t need to save software codes, and spending money on apps allows them to vote with their dollars for which apps are good. It’s an all-around win for the consumer on multiple levels.
Jason’s advocacy for AppStore fragmentation is worse for consumers from any viewpoint. And yet, Jason sells out his principles to help his friends make more money?
Apple Is Preventing Kindle Books From Being In-App Purchased
This is Jason’s biggest lie of all. I’ve spoken about it here already. But in short, nothing is stopping Amazon from selling their books via the AppStore and simply raising the price. Amazon could easily gain millions of dollars of impulse purchases from customers who would think nothing of paying $12.99 versus $9.99.
It would be nothing but upside for Amazon. Even if sales were small, they would make the same margin as sales from their own website. So there isn’t even any opportunity cost to Amazon.
The reason that Amazon won’t do it is really only known to Amazon. But my theory is that Amazon could sell Kindle merchandise from within the iOS app if they wanted too, but they don’t in order to give their own inferior hardware a fighting chance. Android tablets are irrelevant because they are a non-factor but handicapping iPads and iPad minis gives their e-readers one point of positive differentiation.
But the fact is this. The onus for unavailable material on the iPhone is on Amazon, not Apple. It’s this way everywhere else in business. If you make a product with low gross margins, it’s not Walmarts fault that you can’t afford to sell there.
Why does Jason seem to make up rules specific only to Apple? So he can be the toast of his developer friends at the next WWDC? That may be fine for him, but Jason is no friend to the consumer.
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