Before the article officially starts, Xiao Lei would like to ask those readers who are using iPhone, do you often use the apps that come with the iPhone? Xiao Lei briefly asked a colleague and found that most iPhone users use third-party applications for the longest time, and the applications that come with the iPhone are generally thrown into a folder, and the frequency of opening is naturally not high.
In fact, these apps have caused a lot of trouble for Apple. Many developers said that their apps on the App Store need to deliver " apple tax" to Apple. Those pre-installed apps don’t need it. The most important thing is that Apple has never released user rating data for pre-installed apps. This is a naked unfair competition. After all, most users are very concerned about other users’ ratings before downloading apps, and apps with low ratings are naturally not high in downloads.
However, after the official version of iOS 15 was pushed, Apple removed this restriction. Although Apple did not officially announce this policy change, many careful users started from September 21 I have already discovered and started scoring and commenting before and after. As more and more users upgrade to iOS 15 , there will only be more and more ratings and comments on the system's own apps. So can the ratings of these built-in apps exceed similar third-party apps? What impact will it have on Apple?
Is the built-in app really bad?
Xiao Lei also went to the App Store to briefly check the ratings of several built-in apps.Without exception, the ratings of these built-in apps are basically lower than those of third-party apps. Even the best-known Apple Music and Maps scored only 3.8 points and 3.5 points, while NetEase Cloud Music and Gaode Map scored 4.6 points and 4.9 points. The difference is obvious.
As for why the ratings of these built-in apps are so low, Xiao Lei found some real feedback in the comment area of the map. Most of the users who gave 1 point indicated that the map is not as good as the current one. It is as easy to use as in the past few years, not only the functions are not rich and perfect, but the frequent bugs will also affect the actual experience. And those apps such as podcast and family that are not commonly used in the first place have naturally lower ratings, and the number of comments is only a few dozen, which can be said to be very bleak.
As for whether the iPhone's own map is good or not, Xiao Lei will not elaborate here, but from the comments, Apple's own map software is indeed inferior to most third parties. The application is easy to use. asks the reason is that Apple does not investigate the habits and needs of local users in detail, and it is reasonable that it is not as good as third-party applications in terms of number of functions and experience.
For users, by opening comments, users can personally evaluate the software, services and utilities developed by Apple just like any application on other app stores. This helps Apple to get user feedback and improvement most directly, and then allow users to get a better product experience.
But for Apple,At present, it is definitely not a good thing. The low score of pre-installed apps will only make users use less and less frequently. Even if these apps do not bring much harvest to Apple, it will also affect Apple's own image.
Apple opens comments. Are you really panicking?
Last year, Epic Games sued the court for alleged monopoly by Apple. Epic Games established its own in-game payment system in 2019, hoping to bypass the management policies established by Apple and Google . Epic Games is not asking Apple for money. On the contrary, the company hopes to be allowed to install its own app store or payment system on the iPhone to bypass Apple’s system of collecting commissions for published games. In addition to Epic Games, many companies have also stated that Apple should allow developers to use their own payment system.
On September 10 this year, the U.S. Federal Court issued a first-instance ruling that approved the injunction proposed by Epic Games, which made Apple’s App Store profitable. Encountering major challenges may greatly reduce the profitability of the App Store. As soon as the judgment came out, Apple's stock price fell by 543.2 billion yuan, but Epic Games was not satisfied with the result and will continue to file lawsuits.
It is worth mentioning that in the judgment, the US Federal Court ordered Apple not to prohibit developers from guiding users to charge through third-party payment platforms.Simply put, Apple will abandon its own payment system and allow users to purchase virtual products through third-party payment. Although this policy has not been officially implemented as of press time, it is a harmless thing for ordinary consumers.
In addition, in 2019, nearly 70,000 U.S. app developers jointly filed a lawsuit against Apple. In the end, the case was settled by a settlement between Apple and the developer. After that, developers can use email and other communication methods. Share information about payment methods other than iOS with users, so that Apple does not have to pay commissions.
closed as a feature of Apple, although it can maintain the user experience with the same "regulations", it can also suppress competitors. Of course, Xiao Lei has to admit that closed iOS does have a better experience than fragmented Android, but for the market, Apple’s practice of acting as a referee and an athlete will be affected by many governments. The agency believes it is suspected of monopolistic competition.
In fact, Apple has always been the object of strong supervision by governments . On August 31, South Korea voted to pass an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Law, which will force companies to allow users to freely choose and apply payment systems. After this amendment takes effect, South Korean iOS developers can directly transact with users without being taxed by Apple, the middleman. This also means that more countries will refer to this amendment in South Korea, which will trigger a global trend of banning Apple's "raising commission".
As Apple opens up users’ right to comment on their own apps,It also indicates that Apple will further relax restrictions on third-party application developers, but to what extent it will open up depends on how things develop.
Concluding remarks:
Although the number of ratings for Apple’s own apps is still very small, and it is impossible for users to accurately understand whether "this APP" is good or not, this is also an improvement. As for Apple Will it further reduce its control? This is also extremely possible. In June of this year, the US antitrust case proposed that Apple prohibit pre-installation of applications in products. If the bill is implemented, it means that Apple cannot use the same type of applications developed by third-party companies to be used by consumers.
For ordinary consumers, prohibiting Apple from pre-installing their own apps on their iPhones will not have much impact on daily use. Because we have a lot of third-party software to replace, but for Apple, it may suffer huge losses, because Apple's complete closed-loop iOS ecosystem may be completely destroyed.
This makes Xiao Lei a little worried about whether the future App Sotre can maintain high-quality updates. After all, for most iPhone users, the worry-free application market and closed application ecology are One of the main reasons they buy Apple products. For Apple, how to find a balance between the two is no small problem.
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