DHH

Apple went from being the ultimate underdog in 2001, who saw an interest for them to be a good partner to developers, to be emphasizing and assisting and doing all these things for people who wanted to build software, especially for the web. And then slowly, but well, actually not that slowly, suddenly, they had a much bigger platform on their hands after the iPhone got released.

Apple went from being the ultimate underdog in 2001, who saw an interest for them to be a good partner to developers, to be emphasizing and assisting and doing all these things for people who wanted to build software, especially for the web. And then slowly, but well, actually not that slowly, suddenly, they had a much bigger platform on their hands after the iPhone got released.

And that platform introduced the concept of the App Store. And that, to me, if I was going to pinpoint a moment when we look back upon this history, everything started to go to shit, was when the App Store and native apps started taking off. Now, that's a...

And that platform introduced the concept of the App Store. And that, to me, if I was going to pinpoint a moment when we look back upon this history, everything started to go to shit, was when the App Store and native apps started taking off. Now, that's a...

Perhaps a weird thing to say because in many other ways, this idea of having mobile supercomputers in our pocket that can run this incredible software, video games. I used to be a big gamer. They can run video games at 120 FPS with graphics that would shame even the wildest, craziest dedicated PCs of the 2000s. That's amazing, right?

Perhaps a weird thing to say because in many other ways, this idea of having mobile supercomputers in our pocket that can run this incredible software, video games. I used to be a big gamer. They can run video games at 120 FPS with graphics that would shame even the wildest, craziest dedicated PCs of the 2000s. That's amazing, right?

And that's true, but it really put the squeeze on developers' freedoms and independence. And kind of that kept building to a crescendo. First, when we launched Hey.com, our email service back in 2020. When we put that out there and got that dreaded no.

And that's true, but it really put the squeeze on developers' freedoms and independence. And kind of that kept building to a crescendo. First, when we launched Hey.com, our email service back in 2020. When we put that out there and got that dreaded no.

I'm just remembering this. I had forgotten all about the Hey and Apple stuff.

I'm just remembering this. I had forgotten all about the Hey and Apple stuff.

Yeah, I haven't. I'll tell you that. Because we had literally spent two years almost at that point developing this system. Millions of dollars poured into it. I had slaved away for many hours developing this system. We were incredibly proud that we were going to take on Gmail with a fresh new system based on thinking from 2020, not 2004. And we thought that was going to be the big boss, right?

Yeah, I haven't. I'll tell you that. Because we had literally spent two years almost at that point developing this system. Millions of dollars poured into it. I had slaved away for many hours developing this system. We were incredibly proud that we were going to take on Gmail with a fresh new system based on thinking from 2020, not 2004. And we thought that was going to be the big boss, right?

We're going to take on Google with everything. an actually quite good email system. Gmail is a good system. It's dated, it has issues, whatever, but it's a good system and it's free. And we're going to come in and say, do you know what? You should pay for email. What?

We're going to take on Google with everything. an actually quite good email system. Gmail is a good system. It's dated, it has issues, whatever, but it's a good system and it's free. And we're going to come in and say, do you know what? You should pay for email. What?

So already that had long odds, but we didn't even get to begin that fight before a bigger boss showed up and just like Apple sat down on our chest and said- You're going to give me your lunch money and 30% of everything you own in perpetuity going forward. And we're like, what? No, no.

So already that had long odds, but we didn't even get to begin that fight before a bigger boss showed up and just like Apple sat down on our chest and said- You're going to give me your lunch money and 30% of everything you own in perpetuity going forward. And we're like, what? No, no.

So that led to a big fight over multiple weeks where the future, the life of that new service hung in the balance because – The reason Apple has all this power is that they have all the economic activity, at least in the US. What we eventually found was for our email system, hey.com, 85% of the paying users we have, they use Apple products.

So that led to a big fight over multiple weeks where the future, the life of that new service hung in the balance because – The reason Apple has all this power is that they have all the economic activity, at least in the US. What we eventually found was for our email system, hey.com, 85% of the paying users we have, they use Apple products.

Wow.

Wow.