3 ms·

There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in parti

There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space. But this is the kind of thing that requires citizen action. Also, expecting the EU commission to be the only political consumer protection for multinational corporations is not ideal, there ought to be more actions on the American side as well. Until then, I highly doubt that there will be any hope of breaking the duopoly, at least until Google's or Apple's core business model starts failing them, which is unlikely to occur within twenty years. From an economical perspective, monopolies are great for companies and for the country's GDP, but they tend to cause lower standards of living, because of the loss of competition.

danieldk 10y ago
There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space. Why? In the 5 largest European markets, Android has 3/4th marketshare [1]. How can Apple be targeted for monopolistic behavior? [1] http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/android-is-eating-apples-ios-market-share-everywhere/ http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/android-is-eating-apples-i...
- s_kilk 10y ago
  Plus, I'm much more worried about Googles vampiric approach to personal data, rather than Apple merely making it hard to deploy software.
- espadrine 10y ago
  > How can Apple be targeted for monopolistic behavior? Because they don't even allow other browser engines on their iOS platform, which is explicitly what was the subject of the "ballot box" ruling. Monopolies are per-product class. Apple is responsible for both the hardware and the software. All it takes is having one of their products own half of its market. … which, of course, could take a long time. It did happen for tablets circa 2011, I believe.
fauigerzigerk 10y ago
>Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space Android's market share in Europe is 75%. Google's search market share is over 90%. Any action against Apple would be completely counter productive when it comes to fighting monopolies. Also, you need to take into account that the Web is a third mobile platform for all intents and purposes, and Windows still dominates the desktop. So the case for any anti-trust action is extremely weak.
- disgruntledphd2 10y ago
  Not against Google, it's not :) I think that the conditions that Google impose on handset manufacturers are something that probably should be investigated by the Commission. The travel search thing, not so much.
masklinn 10y ago
> There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space. That makes no sense whatsoever. MS was hit because they were leveraging their OS monopoly into driving out and destroying competitors in other categories, such as browsers. Apple is so far from a monopolistic position in the EU they have a minority marketshare.
glenndebacker 10y ago
"Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space." I never understood that people keep saying that. It's not because you make a lot of money that you will get under investigation for being a monopoly. Microsoft was fined because it used it's marketshare to bulldoze into other markets. Apple marketshare is so small in comparison that it can do all the same stuff without disturbing anything.

danieldk 10y ago

There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space. Why? In the 5 largest European markets, Android has 3/4th marketshare [1]. How can Apple be targeted for monopolistic behavior? [1] http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/android-is-eating-apples-ios-market-share-everywhere/ http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/android-is-eating-apples-i...

s_kilk 10y ago
Plus, I'm much more worried about Googles vampiric approach to personal data, rather than Apple merely making it hard to deploy software.
espadrine 10y ago
> How can Apple be targeted for monopolistic behavior? Because they don't even allow other browser engines on their iOS platform, which is explicitly what was the subject of the "ballot box" ruling. Monopolies are per-product class. Apple is responsible for both the hardware and the software. All it takes is having one of their products own half of its market. … which, of course, could take a long time. It did happen for tablets circa 2011, I believe.

fauigerzigerk 10y ago

>Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space Android's market share in Europe is 75%. Google's search market share is over 90%. Any action against Apple would be completely counter productive when it comes to fighting monopolies. Also, you need to take into account that the Web is a third mobile platform for all intents and purposes, and Windows still dominates the desktop. So the case for any anti-trust action is extremely weak.

disgruntledphd2 10y ago
Not against Google, it's not :) I think that the conditions that Google impose on handset manufacturers are something that probably should be investigated by the Commission. The travel search thing, not so much.

masklinn 10y ago

> There are political avenues to explore. Just as Microsoft was hit hard by a number of anti-monopolistic EU decisions regarding Internet Explorer, Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space. That makes no sense whatsoever. MS was hit because they were leveraging their OS monopoly into driving out and destroying competitors in other categories, such as browsers. Apple is so far from a monopolistic position in the EU they have a minority marketshare.

glenndebacker 10y ago

"Apple in particular could be the target of an action in that space." I never understood that people keep saying that. It's not because you make a lot of money that you will get under investigation for being a monopoly. Microsoft was fined because it used it's marketshare to bulldoze into other markets. Apple marketshare is so small in comparison that it can do all the same stuff without disturbing anything.