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bitpushtoday at 8:02 PM1 replyview on HN

I dont think you're using the term correctly. Charging money for product/service is not enshittification. If you insist on that, you're living in fantasy land.

How did you go from "charge a fee for premium features" -> features degrade over time?

Apple has been charging a ton of money for their products and AFAICT their products have been pretty good


Replies

baggachipztoday at 9:18 PM

You're right, I skipped a step/was unclear. Features will degrade over time for _non-subscribers_. They'll eventually wall it off so that you have to have a subscription. Then they'll start degrading the features for everyone (who has to be subscribed). Then they'll have a new tier and the process begins anew.

Start with a subsidized product and delight users -> step 1. Prioritize the business by charging extra -> step 2. Degrade what people get for their price and extract revenue at the expense of the users -> step 3.

Classic enshittification.