[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Will Google offer an iOS compatibility layer...
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Ask HN: Will Google offer an iOS compatibility layer for running
Android apps?
If/when there third party stores on iOS become available, will
Google try to provide a compatibility layer for running Android
apps on iOS? Maybe even provide its own store that offers
everything available on the Android Store? I think that would be
beneficial to Google; they'd see much more of what iOS users do on
their machines, and could keep pressure on Apple to open up their
OS more for those Android features that can't be implemented well
on top of iOS. I wouldn't know how hard it would be to provide it,
though. I also may overlook a reason why that would trigger
investigations into Google's App Store. Maybe it wouLd become too
powerful, triggering investigations into it? Do they want to open
that can of worms?
Author : Someone
Score : 6 points
Date : 2023-12-30 21:08 UTC (1 hours ago)
| hackerbrother wrote:
| Is there a real chance of third party app stores on iOS anytime
| soon?
| askonomm wrote:
| From what I understood Apple will allow third-party app stores
| soon due to EU regulations, and is already (reportedly) in
| process of making that happen.
| dangus wrote:
| I would say in select markets only.
|
| Apple switched to USB-C because making separate hardware SKUs
| to comply with the EU would be costly. Even then, they only did
| so after creating a new standard and accessory ecosystem to
| replace lightning port revenue (MagSafe).
|
| When it comes to allowing third-party app stores, Apple is only
| going to do that in regions where law forces them to do so.
| dangus wrote:
| Why go through all the effort to make a compatibility layer when
| they could just have a storefront with iOS native apps?
|
| Are there a significant amount of mobile app developers who only
| make Android versions of their apps and completely eschew iOS?
|
| Out of those developers, what percentage generate a significant
| amount of revenue to provide royalties to Google? (I.e., I
| imagine there are plenty of open source and hobbyist apps that
| don't make their way to iOS because they don't have the budget to
| buy a Mac and pay Apple developer fees, but those are the types
| of apps that stand to make very few royalties from a potential
| Google iOS App Store).
| EspadaV9 wrote:
| If you could only make one app, for Android, and know that it
| would appear on both platforms, that could swing developers to
| just target Android to save development costs. Reduces SDK
| cost, don't need to buy Apple hardware, only one set of testing
| required.
| solardev wrote:
| Sounds like a terrible experience for iOS users. They have
| different UI patterns, fonts, privacy APIs, etc.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| Sounds like a losing proposition. Why pour resources into making
| your competitor's platform better?
| paulddraper wrote:
| Some might argue it would make your own platform better.
|
| I'm replacing my Android with an iPhone for the sole reason
| that there's no Android version of an app (Foreflight).
| mixdup wrote:
| How would making it easier for you to use your existing
| Android apps on the new iPhone you're about to buy make
| anything better for Google, or the Android platform itself
| better?
|
| The question is will Google make it possible to run Android
| apps on iOS, not will Google somehow try to make iOS apps run
| on Android
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(page generated 2023-12-30 23:01 UTC)