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qcnguy 4 days ago

Probably, mobile operating systems would work more like macOS where apps can be installed directly from websites with a layer of (possibly server side) malware checking and more reliance on code signing/sandboxing. There's no inherent reason apps must be distributed via app stores.

NoPicklez 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

The inherent reason initially was so that there was one central place to obtain apps/games in a mobile market that wasn't used to browsing the web for apps.

I genuinely don't think there are many people that want something different to the app store. If all of the apps I can use on my phone are in the app store from a functionality and ease of use standpoint that is the best option.

JimDabell 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Probably, mobile operating systems would work more like macOS where apps can be installed directly from websites

There’s no reason to speculate on this. We already saw Apple’s vision for an iPhone without an App Store.

When the iPhone was first launched, Apple said that if you wanted to build an app for the iPhone, you should build a web app. People hated that, so Apple launched the App Store.

qcnguy 4 days ago | parent [-]

Don't conflate APIs with distribution.

Devs love web-style distribution. App Stores can be convenient for discovery, but that only matters for a limited number of apps.

What they didn't love was being forced into the JS/DOM straitjacket when Apple were building much higher quality APIs and implementations for native apps.

The combination of web-style distribution, an App Gallery for discovery, and still having the ability to use UIKit, would have been very popular.