[trurl]

And still folks think that if side loading is forced on Apple, that companies will not force us to start side loading their apps to escape this "apocalypse".

[glowingly]

I agree. We only have to look 3 years ago to see exactly what happens when those same companies get sideload access. Facebook did something very similar, using their Apple App Store Developer certificate to enroll users as "employees," allowing them to defacto sideload their market research application.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19033451

I also fully expect the last browser holding against Google's browser monoculture - Safari - to die soon after.

I hate this state of affairs, where Apple's sheer greed is the main force stablizing this fragile environment.

[Apocryphon]

Those instances show that Facebook is willing to do that to small incentivized groups of users- in that case, volunteers offered monetary benefit via gift cards, but difficult to say such a model is accomplishable on a wide scale. This is a situation where the users were self-selecting.

Certainly, companies will misuse and abuse the freedoms associated with sideloading, but I disagree that it’s as an easy task as people think. First they actually have to build competing app stores that are compelling enough for users to overcome the friction of switching. I don’t think these companies, other than game platforms like Epic, and perhaps tech companies in politically sensitive markets such as China or Russia, have it in them:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30808926

[Nextgrid]

If side-loading or alternate app stores are allowed I fully expect a "Facebook Store" to appear which includes (and mandates) Facebook malware in every app and most mainstream apps eventually moving over to it.

[trurl]

I agree that having to rely on Apple here is not great, but no other ecosystem is even trying.

[bradknowles]

App-pocalypse?