Technology

I’m not entirely optimistic about this ruling, but we’ll see.

Apple had no reason NOT to give refunds and then use their weight to claw it back from the app developer.

Greed.

But what happens when not-too-legit apps use non-AppStore external sites to unlock features in an app?

I suppose we will see what happens. That's a very slippery slope though, full of FUD, and is the same logic that Apple, Microsoft, and others try to use to keep users locked into their walled gardens.

In a perfect world it’s cheap and easy and reliable.

But it can also be a scammy shop that lures you into expensive subscriptions with no easy way to cancel them (eg. gym membership) and what happens when Little Timmy spends $9000 for Nlartbux in a mobile game’s external store?

Could be. Multiple alternative markets exist for Android already though, and some shops are scammy as fuck. Google has already put protections in place to prevent sideloading potentially harmful apps (including alternative markets), but the savvy user who knows how to bypass those restrictions should* know how to spot scammy shit.

Could go either way 🤷🏻‍♂️

"For your security" was never about security.