Technology

You don't have to use Google's store, but they've done a lot of anticompetitive shenanigans to snuff out competition and ensure they remain the dominant storefront.

After Google saw how much money Apple was making, they seemed to immediately regret having Android be an open platform. It was a convenience when they acquired the product early on because they could bring it to market quickly, but they've done everything in their power since then to close it up.

Not only do they force you to use the App Store, developing an app for iOS is a nightmare. Without special tools you must have a mac and a $100/yr apple developer license.

After having to deal with that shit at my old place of work I've moved to never touch app development again.

I don’t think this difference matters that much in Patreon’s case. Convincing users to sideload an app on Android is likely much harder than just getting them to visit the Patreon website on their phone and subscribe to users that way. Heck, they could probably make the mobile site virtually identical to the app anyway.

You also don’t have to use the Patreon iOS app. Most people just use the services and don’t search for alternatives. If you’re on Lemmy then you’re not in the “most people” category by default.

Oh I know, I just thought using landlords would be a more concise term since most people don't know the term techno-feudalism as widely.

I'll definitely try to incorporate it in my writing more though, it's a term that I think should be known much more widely.

they cater themselves to the creatives market

LOL only in advertising.

Until recently, apps were not even allowed to charge less outside their apps than on the app store or to link to outside stores.

Being as this is very similar to the apple epic legal fight that epic lost earlier this year, I doubt apple will make a deal. My understanding is that patreon can cave, choose to pay 27% commission, or make their own store.

Though skimming the news around epic's attempts to make a store, you "can" make a store in compliance with EU and UK laws, but apple made it kinda impossible to actually do and epic is fighting it in court again?

So patreon seems to have read the lay of things and said I guess we just have to make the best of a shitty situation and communicate everything to try to limit the pain.

It's almost like apple feels like they have the power to do whatever they want because they've created a market where they don't have competition...

What we can work on is awareness. If iOS users are aware, they can choose to simply go to the website directly and make the purchase, instead of using the app. They can still use the app for consumption.

Fuck apple. Rotten to the core. Class action lawsuit in the very least.

We're well past class action territory. They've already been required to allow third-party app stores by the EU. They're simply not complying and no one is doing shit about it.

Which is kinda ridiculous since Apple's practices are what Google does but worse.