I understand where this article and app developers are coming from. There is a big difference in what Google and Apple do in this ecosystem, however.
Apple basically says that any digital goods purchased through an iOS app needs to pay Apple's 30% fee. This includes things like subscriptions and in-app purchases. I really noticed this with Audible, you can search the store but are not able to buy anything in their app on iOS.
My issue with apple is not that this fee exists, but that it is truly anti-competitive. Apple does not allow users to install apps outside of the app store. They also are holding back things like PWAs from being viable alternatives for very similar reasons (I'm looking at you Web Push notifications!).
Google's ecosystem on the other hand is more open. You can install APKs from anywhere and there are even third-party app stores like F-Droid. I honestly don't know if the play store has the same rules as Apple does, but even if they did i'd be ok with that because users and companies do have other options if they don't want to use Google Play.
The argument for me is do you want to be on the App store for the exposure/convenience of disribution or do you do it because there is no other alternative. The former is a marketplace with an audience and the ladder is a monopoly.
Side Note: Google has been the champion of PWAs which main use case is to be able to bypass an app store and install an app directly from a website. This gives Google less control over the app ecosystem but has the potential to be beneficial to users.
If I'm not mistaken, Google still has power over the PWA spec, so they can just add something to give themselves total control again. (Just like they've done with AOSP and the Play Store + GSF)
Apple basically says that any digital goods purchased through an iOS app needs to pay Apple's 30% fee. This includes things like subscriptions and in-app purchases. I really noticed this with Audible, you can search the store but are not able to buy anything in their app on iOS.
My issue with apple is not that this fee exists, but that it is truly anti-competitive. Apple does not allow users to install apps outside of the app store. They also are holding back things like PWAs from being viable alternatives for very similar reasons (I'm looking at you Web Push notifications!).
Google's ecosystem on the other hand is more open. You can install APKs from anywhere and there are even third-party app stores like F-Droid. I honestly don't know if the play store has the same rules as Apple does, but even if they did i'd be ok with that because users and companies do have other options if they don't want to use Google Play.
The argument for me is do you want to be on the App store for the exposure/convenience of disribution or do you do it because there is no other alternative. The former is a marketplace with an audience and the ladder is a monopoly.