‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

So long Google, and thanks for all the nudes

264 points · 114 comments · speckx

  1. delichon · · focus · HN ↗
    > I was hoping to publish my new game on the store and charge for it, but their review process is so broken, I think I'll stick to fdroid and itch.io.

      The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. -- Princess Leia
    1. user43928 · · focus · HN ↗
      Not really, unless paying users switch to alternative stores, which they don't just because I as a developer face friction in publishing to Google Play.

      In fact, Google is making alternative stores even less convenient with their latest 'side-loading' hurdles.

      Regulators need to wake up, issue record fines, mandate equal access and a 'Choose your app stores' screen on device setup.

      Otherwise competitive third party stores and a fair market are going to remain a pipe dream.

      1. Brian_K_White · · focus · HN ↗
        Of course they do, when you as a developer no longer offer an app they want in the old store.
        1. user43928 · · focus · HN ↗
          Provided there is no competitor in the store they already use, and that you as the developer do not bankrupt and consequently offer your app nowhere.
          1. Brian_K_White · · focus · HN ↗
            Provided the rapture doesn't come, so what? Provided infinite things. It adds or removes nothing.

            And yet trivial little alternatives like idk maybe you ever heard of Steam did actually happen, or the entire Android ecosystem itself when there was already an immense Palm app ecosystem that was like desktop apps where you got apps all manner of ways from physical sd cards to web sites to various curated stores. Or idk Epic, over a single app. They are back on the traditional stores now only because they called everyone's bluff and were suceeding, so the old stores caved rather than be seen to lose to someone so much smaller and newer, even in a small way that was more appearance than material.

            There is no such thing as unthinkable. It's all not only thinkable, it has all actually already happened before and multiple times.

            If something seems unimaginable, that only says something about your imagination not the reality.

            1. user43928 · · focus · HN ↗
              You can imagine whatever you want, the reality is that ~95% of Android app transactions happen on the Google Play store.

              This is very unlikely to change without regulatory intervention.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.