Published in Mobiles

Tame Apple Press fears Windows 11

by on25 June 2021


Apparently, it is all about Apple

The Tame Apple Press seems rather scared about the release of Windows 11 because, apparently, it is a direct challenge to Apple’s business model.

While the tech press who have not been trying to impress Apple for the last 20 years see Windows 11 as a bit of snooze, it seems that the new OS has rung some alarm bells in Cappuccino and the appropriate sources in TAPs been briefed.

Reuters claimed that Microsoft’s changes to its App store “took direct aim at Apple’s lucrative App Store business model”.

The new Windows Store will let software developers use their own in-app payment systems and pay no commissions to Microsoft. It will also let users find and run Android mobile applications on their laptops and PCs, thanks to technology assistance from Amazon.com Intel, thundered Reuters.

What appears to have gotten Apple’s Capra aegagrus hircus is that Vole is doing something a little different from Apple's "walled garden" approach.  For those not in the know, Apple only lets users download software from the App Store and imposes controls on software developers, including a requirement to use Apple's in-app payment systems and pay commissions of up to 30 percent.

So what is wrong with that? Well if you are not Apple there is nothing wrong with that.  If you are a developer though, you have to use Apple’s payment systems and give Apple a huge slice of your profits for very little in return.  

But the biggest shift appears to be to Microsoft's pitch to developers, content creators and others seeking to make money from the world's 1.3 billion Windows users, which is nearly as many as Apple's total installed device base of 1.65 billion users but less than half of Alphabet's three billion Android users.

Microsoft said it would include new tools for tipping content creators - including local news outlets - directly in the Windows 11 operating system. The company recently cut commissions on games sold through the store to 12 percent, lower than the 15 percent it takes on regular apps, and has been a vocal critic of Apple's App Store.

It seems odd as you would not expect Apple to be in that much of a panic. After all, Microsoft lacks a mobile product which is the App store’s forte.  But what Apple might be worried about is that Microsoft might have had a moment of prophetic thinking.

The coronavirus forced a move towards working from home and a return of the PC.  Mobile will still be important in this story, but suddenly there is move to home-based PCs with the sort of interactive apps that can play nice with mobile.

With Windows 11, that is exactly what Microsoft will have, but Apple does not, particularly if its app stores are turning money to developers rather than Apple’s bank account.  So the trouble may not be for iPhones and that particular App store but the PC and Mac Market. However, since Windows 11 is supposed to be able to play Android apps if you don't have a Mac, you don't really need an iPhone either.

Last modified on 25 June 2021
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