创业与商业paulgraham.com
苹果的错误
Apple's Mistake
2009 — 2022，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 Paul Graham 2009 年批评苹果 App Store 的文章：他认为苹果对第三方 iPhone 应用的审批既随意又不透明，让开发者难以安心投入。文章把苹果对软件和开发者的态度视为一种战略误判，警告封闭、强势的平台控制会赶走优秀开发者。
为什么经久不衰：它捕捉了平台权力与开发者生态冲突的原型，App Store 规则争议至今仍在，因此仍是理解苹果封闭生态代价的经典文本。
HN 评论精选
质疑“第三方应用是 iPhone 核心”的前提；若应用并非必需，开发者满意度对苹果就没那么重要，游戏则是例外。
Paul 的部分推理依赖于“应用是 iPhone 体验的核心”这一前提，就像软件对桌面体验那样。我不完全确定这成立。应用固然是 iPhone 的重要部分，但它们真是用户采用 iPhone 的主要因素吗？除了游戏，有多少杀手级应用不是手机自带的？iPhone 发布整整一年都没有 App Store。我最近还读到，大多数应用在安装后其实闲置不用。这不代表开发者不想要开发者友好的手机，也不代表苹果在损害开发者中的声誉；整个流程确实令人沮丧。但如果第三方软件对 iPhone 平台并非必需，开发者满意度在苹果眼里就没那么重要。游戏对 App Store 很重要，而游戏是特殊类别：它格外受益于底层硬件访问，也更像音乐和电影——iTunes 擅长卖这些东西。
JunkDNA查看英文原文
Part of Paul's reasoning depends on Apps being central to the iPhone experience the same way software is central to the desktop experience. I'm not totally sure this is the case. While apps are certainly a major component to the iPhone, are they really the major factor in end-user adoption? With the exception of games, how many killer iPhone apps are there that don't already ship with the phone? The phone shipped for an entire year without an App Store at all. I even read something not that long ago that said the majority of apps sit unused on people's phones after they get them. Now, this doesn't mean that developers won't want a developer friendly phone, or that Apple is hurting their reputation with developers. I'm certain it has been frustrating to deal with the whole process. However, if 3rd party software isn't essential for the iPhone as a platform, then developer satisfaction moves down a bit in terms of importance in Apple's eyes. Now, it's clear that games are major for the app store. Games are also a special class of software application that benefits disproportionately from having access to the hardware at a low level. They also have properties more similar to music and movies (incidentally, things the iTunes store is good at selling). Except for the simplest games, they require a lot of up-front design work and investment. It's rare that a released game goes through a ton of rapid iterations to "get it right". Games may still have bugs after release, but in general the functionality they are going to have is there on day one. They also ship with the final sound effects, music, artwork, etc... Games are also probably very unlikely to "duplicate existing functinoality" or any of the other cases where "normal" apps hit barriers. Perhaps Apple has (intentionally or unintentionally) created an environment optimized for game approval? I'm certainly not defending the app store process, but I just wonder if the software development community has a disproportionate view of its importance to the iPhone as a whole.
亲身经历审批任意拒绝，虽因收入留下但已认真考虑转向 Android。
我刚收到上次更新中一个重大 bugfix 的拒绝。更新唯一的变化是使用 utf-8 编码——一行代码的小改动。两周后他们告诉我不能批准，因为我在几处使用了未记录 API。好吧，看起来我用了某些从 deprecated 变成 undocumented 的方法……但这正是商店里现有版本就在用的。与此同时，用户当然很恼火。我的提交大约 50% 会被拒，总是这种愚蠢原因；这还算好的。我会停止开发吗？可能不会，因为能赚钱。但我会认真考虑转 Android 吗？当然。
joecode查看英文原文
Talk about it. I just got a rejection today for a major bugfix on my last update. The only change in the update is to use utf-8 encoding---one tiny change on one line of code. After 2 weeks, they tell me they can't approve the update because I'm using undocumented APIs in a couple places. Sure, OK, looks like I was using some methods that went from deprecated to undocumented... but that's exactly what's in the store right now... ugh. Meanwhile, users are, rightfully, pissed-off. I'd say about 50% of the time my submissions get rejected, and always for a stupid reason like this; this is one of the better ones, actually. Will I stop developing? Probably not, because it's good money. But am I seriously considering moving to Android? You bet.
前苹果员工认为 App Store 的问题是笨拙而非邪恶，Jobs 把第三方软件视为必要麻烦。
> 现在很多程序员开始觉得苹果邪恶。不是我（说明：我在苹果工作过）。处理 App Store 时我想到的词是“笨拙”，我看不出邪恶意图。> 他们的根本问题是他们不理解软件。这是很大胆的说法。我会说得更微妙：我的印象是 Steve Jobs 把“他的设备”上的第三方软件视为一种必要的不便。他更喜欢自己参与开发的、内部开发的软件。对我来说，这足以解释苹果对 App Store 的做法。
JKCalhoun查看英文原文
> Now a lot of programmers have started to see Apple as evil. Not me (caveat: I worked at Apple). Clumsy is the word that comes to mind with regard to their handling of the AppStore. I see little or no evil intent > Their fundamental problem is that they don't understand software. That's a bold statement. I'll be more nuanced. My impression is that Steve Jobs treated 3rd party software on "his devices" as a necessary inconvenience. He preferred the software he had a hand in, the software developed in house. To me that is enough to explain Apple's approach to the AppStore.
苹果市值增长表明压榨开发者从商业上可能是最优策略，但仍是人类进步的拖累。
我个人同情 Graham 这篇 2009 年文章的观点。他对被困在垄断者单一文化中的“bummer”很有先见之明。但苹果市值自那以来增长——从 2009 年 11 月底的 1750 亿美元到今天 2.73 万亿美元——至少提出一种可能：从苹果股东、管理层和员工的角度看，苹果并没有犯“错误”。也许一旦通过其他战略和技术达到某种强大的“制高点”，最优企业战略真的就是欺负开发者、把他们的午餐钱据为己有。当然，这仍是人类进步和福祉的拖累。
gojomo查看英文原文
I'm personally sympathetic to Graham's points in this 2009 piece. He was prescient about the "bummer" it is to be stuck in a monopolist's monoculture. But Apple's growth in market value since – from $175B at the end of November 2009, to $2.73T today – at least raises the possibility that Apple wasn't making a "mistake", from the perspective of Apple shareholders, managers, & employees. Maybe once you've reached a certain powerful 'commanding heights' via other strategy & technology, the optimal enterprise strategy is truly to bully developers, & take their lunch money for yourself. Still a drag on human progress & welfare, sure.
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