Key Takeaways
“My understanding is that Apple views the Mac and iOS stores as one and the same, i.e the ‘App Store’. Hence the single guidelines document, which makes no distinction between platforms apart from just a handful of platform specific cases,” professional App Store critic Kosta Eleftheriou told Lifewire via direct message.
Prime Example
Of course, you can do all of this via the browser, but then you may miss out on neat features like being able to download videos for offline viewing. And some people flat-out prefer the convenience and separation of apps.
“As someone who prefers to compartmentalize everything I’m doing on my computer, I always prefer apps to doing things in [a] browser,” Mac and Prime Video user Silverstring posted on the MacRumors forums. “It just fits my mental model of context-switching better than a bunch of tabs in a browser does, no matter how well things run on the web.”
A Beautiful Mess
The point is, all this is an utter mess. Between Apple’s own shifting, contradictory rules on in-app purchases, and the various legal rulings compelling Apple to allow alternate payment methods, it’s hard for even the dedicated Apple-watching journalist to keep track of it all.
“All these artificial distinctions, that also keep changing, are hurting my brain when I try to either [understand] or remember them,” says Eleftheriou.
This mess benefits nobody, but at least, with apps like the new Prime Video, we can see how an ideal app store would work. Apps support the latest Apple technologies, which is good for users. Apps can process their own payments, too, which is also good for users.
All it needs is for Apple to stop demanding that apps only use the built-in in-app purchase mechanisms, or to drop the 30% cut to a level more palatable to sellers of digital wares.
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