I've been thinking about the Netflix-not-supporting-visionOS tidbit a bit; in the 90s, Apple's platform destiny was beholden to third party developers, who had the power to make or break Apple’s OS efforts. As a result, Apple, in trying not to make the same mistake twice, built up this incredibly locked-down walled garden platform in iOS (and friends), burning all kinds of bridges in the process, small and large. Now, in need of support for their next OS, they may just be facing the consequences
Why would Netflix, Spotify, or any of the other companies in a tense or adversarial relationship with the App Store, prop up Apple's next platform? Especially when that platform imposes all the same restrictions that have massively affected the kind of business they can do. Would it ever get Facebook, Instagram, Threads? Probably not
@stroughtonsmith I think this is also a major contributing factor in the iPad's current software malaise.
@stroughtonsmith Apple got to pull the "thanks for helping to make our new platform a success, now we own you" trick exactly once; none of the platforms they've launched since 2007 have seen anything more than grudging developer adoption.
@elkmovie @stroughtonsmith Hmm. Reminds me of the late 1980's when Lotus decided not to support MS Windows until they were forced to. Didn't work out so well for them. Excel ate 1-2-3's lunch and Lotus' suite got beat by MS's. (More to it than that, but it was a factor.)
@elkmovie @stroughtonsmith Hopefully, for themselves, Netflix, et al, are doing all of the development and learning about the platform (or equivalent) to be ready if it does take off. (Lotus waited too long.) They may, though, find that working with a new platform will help themselves come up with ideas that are beneficial.
@danb @stroughtonsmith Yes. There are enough shared APIs with iOS that if visionOS does take off I imagine they can get something workable out in pretty short order, but they'd undoubtedly learn a lot by studying it in more depth even if they hold off on actually releasing a port for business reasons.
@danb @stroughtonsmith First off, it's an honor, and I'm glad I'm sufficiently well-versed in computer history to not become That Guy Who Got Into An Argument About Spreadsheets With The Inventor Of VisiCalc.
Anyway, I don't doubt that if visionOS did take off, most of these companies - including Netflix - would avoid Lotus' mistake and cheerfully port their apps to it. But I do think there's a chicken-and-egg aspect to iPadOS / tvOS / watchOS / Catalyst failing to develop healthy app markets.