Someone explained a long time ago to me how it’s 95-99% profit due to exactly what numbers you described. It’s pretty messed up…
The profit margin on Coca Cola for a store like KFC is basically 100%.
Also, do you use all of the coupons? If you do, you can end up spending 2-3x of the coupon value easily if you are careful not to buy anything else.
Part of what you’ve described is market economics. They want your loyalty and they want to track your purchases to sell that data to advertisers. Do they need an app for that? Absolutely not. They can and do host websites with the same deals and all you have to do is login. The reason they push you to their app is because either the app is something they spent a bunch of money on and want to increase customer adoption. Or, they have added massive new tracking capabilities and want to spy on their users on behalf of advertisers, so they need you on their app.
None of this is related to the technical aspects of this question. In fact, most of these companies would resist you installing their app on an “app server” simply because then they wouldn’t be able to track your location and other phone details easily. Defeating the purpose of your idea.
Oh, and as for the watermelon - there’s a sweet spot between the prices which is usually $5 if you use their loyalty card and not their app. That’s the price you pay for your phone’s privacy and resources - a buck. Not a fair trade, but it is what it is.
p.s. I hear you about the three prices thing. It’s frustrating. Grocery shopping is not simple. It’s all about hunting for deals and accepting the time vs money trade off. I’m sorry you are in this situation. I am too.
Why does it need to be an app then? And why one server?
Literally, what you’ve described is the www. The browser is your thin client. It connects to not one but many millions of servers and is able to use their resources to run queries, access menus, place orders. All that jazz.
Oh, and with the ridiculous advancements in technology, streaming services and games work amazingly too! Video streaming is so well studied that every Tom, Dick, and Disney has started their own streaming service and is charging through the nose for it. Every year, folks get arrested for running Plex servers or IPTV with millions of hours of pirated content that is used by thousands of their happily paying customers (more happy than Disney’s customers).
And Amazon Luna and Xbox and PlayStation have all shown how game streaming can be so easily done over HTML5. The only blocker on making that the default way of gaming is Apple’s greed. Not that it’s a good default. There’s something to be said about mobile hardware and chip design that has made amazing advancements in the last few years in the GPU space, making on-device processing really worth it.
Don’t remember what it’s called but there’s an internet law - that any advancement in hardware will immediately be offset by more expensive software requirements which will consume more of those resources. Looking at you, Chrome. Also looking at you, react framework.
My SO was told to travel to office every day of the week, only to sit in zoom meetings because all of their team is elsewhere.
Reaaaal good use of everyone’s time and our non-renewable resources.
I bought a Steam Deck.
I don’t get it. What is the point of creating laws that specifically exempt some public servants from basic bribery laws?
First time I’ve learnt what the past tense of yeet is.
I dunno. It seems pretty clear that charged in this case means the government sicced the dogs on him for being a… checks notes… good Christian.
Why do Republicans love enshittification so much?
One might get executed in 2030 for being environmentally friendly.
So… Amazon (the latest big name, not the only one)