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They seem to have 66% market share on mobile apps, and I'd say they are abusing their power as much as they can: https://beta.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/

They seem to have 66% market share on mobile apps, and I'd say they are abusing their power as much as they can: https://beta.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/screen-shot-2017-04-27-at-9-49-19-am.png?w=680 https://beta.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/scree... And if we're looking at e.g. "tablets", I wouldn't be surprised if they had something like 90% of the market, in some countries. It's funny how Apple is simultaneously depicted "non-dominant player" and "the only mobile platform where you can make money", sometimes by the same people.

cpmouter 8y ago
66% is not even close to a monopoly, and even if it was, "consumer spend" is not a metric that defines a monopoly.
- Oletros 8y ago
  In the EU, more than 30% makes you a dominant player
- drdaeman 8y ago
  It's almost certainly a duopoly, though.
- bad_user 8y ago
  It’s not global percentage of a certain market that defines a monopoly. Apple has 100% market share in the iOS market. Due to that fact they’ve got exclusive control over a significant percentage of the population - consider that customers cannot install another OS on the hardware they’ve bought and they cannot move their iOS apps on another Android phone either. To make an analogy consider that you’d complain about your local electricity provider having a monopoly and I’d tell you that you can always move to another city or country, there, problem solved, it was your fault for staying there.
  - mook 8y ago
    > Apple has 100% market share in the iOS market. And Linux has 100% market share in the desktop Linux market. But it probably doesn't count as a monopoly. I do believe the significant market share of Apple smartphones is an issue, but as far as I know they haven't managed to make it a monopoly yet.
MBCook 8y ago
I think you’d be surprised just how many Amazon fire tablets are out there. They don’t get much mindshare because they’re cheap but I run into a non-trivial number of them at friends/acquaintances houses. Especially for kids. Hard to know since Amazon doesn’t release sales numbers. Either way Apple isn’t doing anything to shut down tablet competitors other than making a great product at a price people seem to be willing to pay. There aren’t tons of lawsuits or requirements that retailers can’t sell competing devices.
- virgilp 8y ago
  If you size the market by revenue, not unit sales, I'd bet it's not very significant - especially in the EU.
jorvi 8y ago
You're conflating % of profit of the market with % of market share. For example, Apple only has 10-40%[1] of the smartphone market (i.e. market share), but they capture north of 80%[2] of the physical device sale profits. There have even been years where they captured more than 100% of the profits[3].. The same goes for the app store: iOS owners are often more likely to pay for apps, but Android developers make up this difference by including ads and tracking, which isn't 'consumer spend' but still makes money. [1] depends on who you ask [2] https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of-smartphone-profits-globally-iphone-x-alone-seizes-35 https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of... [3] https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profit-q3-samsung-recall/ https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profit...

cpmouter 8y ago

66% is not even close to a monopoly, and even if it was, "consumer spend" is not a metric that defines a monopoly.

Oletros 8y ago
In the EU, more than 30% makes you a dominant player
drdaeman 8y ago
It's almost certainly a duopoly, though.
bad_user 8y ago
It’s not global percentage of a certain market that defines a monopoly. Apple has 100% market share in the iOS market. Due to that fact they’ve got exclusive control over a significant percentage of the population - consider that customers cannot install another OS on the hardware they’ve bought and they cannot move their iOS apps on another Android phone either. To make an analogy consider that you’d complain about your local electricity provider having a monopoly and I’d tell you that you can always move to another city or country, there, problem solved, it was your fault for staying there.
- mook 8y ago
  > Apple has 100% market share in the iOS market. And Linux has 100% market share in the desktop Linux market. But it probably doesn't count as a monopoly. I do believe the significant market share of Apple smartphones is an issue, but as far as I know they haven't managed to make it a monopoly yet.

MBCook 8y ago

I think you’d be surprised just how many Amazon fire tablets are out there. They don’t get much mindshare because they’re cheap but I run into a non-trivial number of them at friends/acquaintances houses. Especially for kids. Hard to know since Amazon doesn’t release sales numbers. Either way Apple isn’t doing anything to shut down tablet competitors other than making a great product at a price people seem to be willing to pay. There aren’t tons of lawsuits or requirements that retailers can’t sell competing devices.

virgilp 8y ago
If you size the market by revenue, not unit sales, I'd bet it's not very significant - especially in the EU.

jorvi 8y ago

You're conflating % of profit of the market with % of market share. For example, Apple only has 10-40%[1] of the smartphone market (i.e. market share), but they capture north of 80%[2] of the physical device sale profits. There have even been years where they captured more than 100% of the profits[3].. The same goes for the app store: iOS owners are often more likely to pay for apps, but Android developers make up this difference by including ads and tracking, which isn't 'consumer spend' but still makes money. [1] depends on who you ask [2] https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of-smartphone-profits-globally-iphone-x-alone-seizes-35 https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of... [3] https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profit-q3-samsung-recall/ https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profit...