@caiyue5: A hot take: The App Store in mainland China is already a stagnant pool of dead water.
Summary
A hot take claiming that the App Store in mainland China has become stagnant and unproductive, likened to a pool of dead water.
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@interjc: Where's the fill light?
Apple is cleaning up low-quality apps in the App Store, including dating, flashlight, wallpaper, and sound effect apps. New submissions will be rejected unless they offer a significantly different experience. At the same time, vulgar apps such as drinking games and simulated farting or burping are banned, and developer accounts that repeatedly submit may be actioned.
Quoting John Gruber
John Gruber discusses how Apple's competitive advantage is diminishing as fewer developers are motivated to create exclusive, high-quality native apps for Apple's platforms, causing third-party software quality to regress toward industry average.
@seclink: Trivia: The interest game of the Hardcore Alliance: - Traditional Chinese Android phone store channels (Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, etc., historically known as the "Hardcore Alliance") have long demanded up to 50% (50:50) of in-app purchase revenue from game developers, far exceeding the 30% standard charged by Apple's App Store and Google Play globally...
The Hardcore Alliance (Chinese Android phone stores including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, etc.) charges game developers up to 50% of in-app purchase revenue, far higher than the 30% standard of Apple and Google, drawing industry attention.
The market is currently being flooded with software that nobody wants
Discusses how AI agents enable rapid app creation but produce alien codebases lacking developer understanding, leading to a flood of apps with minimal user traction.
@10xmylife: China's internet is not Web-first, but App-first / Platform-first / Super-app-first. Overseas independent sites are built on the open Web; domestic business is built on platform closed loops. So Chinese businesses naturally choose: Xiaohongshu for discovery, Douyin for conversion, Taobao/JD/Pinduoduo for transactions, WeChat for private domain, official website for endorsement.
The article compares the differences between China's internet (App-first/Platform-first) and overseas (Web-first), pointing out that Chinese businesses naturally choose to operate within platform closed loops like Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Taobao, etc., rather than the open web.