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No, not exactly. You're free to buy from other stores, and suppliers can sell to them. A very important distinction.
by ahmedalsudani 8y ago
No, not exactly. You're free to buy from other stores, and suppliers can sell to them. A very important distinction.
- coldtea 8y agoYou're also free to use Spotify online, on your Desktop, on Android, etc. You're not forced to have an iPhone.
- isostatic 8y agoI use spotify and netflix without going through apple, the former on my linux desktop, the latter additionally on my smart tv.
- spiderfarmer 8y agoProblem is that Apple is actively trying to prevent that. They have no right to do that and are abusing the power they have in other areas to do it.
- simonh 8y agoHow are Apple trying to prevent people using Spotify or Netflix on smart TVs and Linux desktops?
- JadoJodo 8y agoI suspect spiderfarmer meant that Apple is trying to prevent "[Using] spotify and netflix without going through apple", at least on iOS.
- criddell 8y agoHow? I use Netflix on my iPad all the time and not once has Apple tried to stop me.
- spiderfarmer 8y agoNetflix is not allowed to point people to their website from their App store description, which is absurd to me.
- lowtolerance 8y agoApple is not "actively trying to prevent" people from managing their Spotify, Netflix et al subscriptions outside of their respective iOS apps, what are you talking about?
- ahmedalsudani 8y agoThe app literally can't send you to the Web page so you can sign up there. It has to say something vague for Apple to approve it for publishing. Here's an example from Kobo [1]. They apparently can't even tell you the domain name. [1] http://imgs.fyi/img/7hut.png http://imgs.fyi/img/7hut.png
- oAlbe 8y agoYou can't carry neither your TV nor your desktop on the go with you like you can with your smartphone.
- josephg 8y agoBut just like my TV and my desktop computer, I've paid for my phone with cash. Its mine. Just like my PC, I don't owe Apple Computers any extra money in exchange for the privilege to install apps like spotify on my device. The benefit of having access to the app store is already factored into the (quite high) price I paid for my phone.
- myoffe 8y agoTrue, but a counter argument could be that Apple has created the ability of your phone to have apps installed on it. And I’m theory you could jailbreak your phone and install any app you’d want.
- josephg 8y agoSure; but I paid $1000 for my phone in part because of that capability. My phone would be worth less if I couldn't install apps like spotify. And unlike a game console, app purchases aren't used to subsidise the phones. Its pure profit for apple. And I wouldn't have a problem with that in general, except it feels dirty to claim Apple are saints for graciously allowing apps like spotify to be sold on their platform. They're already being paid for doing so through phone sales. Leveraging the monopoly they hold over the ios app store against Spotify, one of their competitors, is exactly what antitrust legislation is designed to prevent.
- Moru 8y agoAnd the developers are paying a fee every year just to exist on the app store.
- simonh 8y agoAnd if you can find a way to defeat it's security, you are free to do so. However being incredibly locked down and secure is one the the product's features. It's up to you if you still want the product, but that's how it comes.
- kodablah 8y agoReads to me like you have to get in a different car to shop at those other stores because one of your cars only drives to one store.
- seqastian 8y agoits about payment not app store lock in. there is nothing wrong with paying by browser and not via the appstore besides convenience. your car does come with a 'buy new tires' button but you can still go to the store and pay with cash.
- close04 8y agoApple has ~15% market share (fluctuating) so it's not really a monopoly situation. Google will give you access to the exact same Spotify service. Whether what Apple is doing is legal or not I guess the courts will decide. But it's certainly factually incorrect to imply that you're not free to buy from anywhere else.
- askmike 8y agoThe Apple Store has 100% market share on all iPhones, iPads and iWatches. I really don't see this being that much different from the famous United States v. Microsoft Corp. case[1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor.... EDIT: comments have made clear that Windows had a monopoly on the personal computer space, whereas Apple doesn't have a monopoly on the smartphone or tablet space.
- ninedays 8y agoAlthough I don't disagree, the difference was that Microsoft had a monopoly on computing. Not just on PC but take computing as a whole and microsoft was hugely dominant. From a legal standpoint there is a huge difference.
- isostatic 8y agoDesktop computing -- in the 90s in the server area there was more competition, primarily from Netware. It wasn't until the end of the 90s when macs started making an impression on peoples desktops, with the imac, but oddly enough if https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operating_systems#/media/File:Operatingsystem_market_share.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operati... is to be believed, windows still has a 95% share of the desktop/laptop market.
- ZeikJT 8y agoI believe it because Windows comes on all kinds of devices and supports all kinds of hardware mixes and SKUs. It effectively encompasses the entire price range in a way that Apple doesn't care to.
- hjk05 8y agoSame story with phones. You are free to buy from other suppliers. But you can’t walk into a Walmart and buy milk from whole foods on their shelf’s, even if you feel that would be great for you personally because Walmart is closer but you prefer Whole Foods.
- vanderZwan 8y agoNo, that is not the same story. Physical stores can be swapped out on a whim. Phones are something you change at most every couple of years (and hopefully last even longer, if you give a damn about the environment). Actually, the "Walmart is a choice" claim also only holds up if there actually are multiple stores nearby, because who is going to drive fifty miles to the next store? Food deserts are a thing. This is a false idea of "choice" and it is just yet another way producers and sellers try to shift responsibility to the end consumer who is largely powerless in most cases.
- simonh 8y agoOK, but there are no iPhone deserts where only iPhones work and Androids get no signal. I don't see any false choice here. There are plenty of other phones on plenty of networks, with plenty of Apps. If there are more or better Apps on the iPhone, arguably that's at least in part because of their careful policies on curation of the platform rather than despite them.
- vel0city 8y agoTo go to one grocery instead of another in suburban America means driving a few more minutes with a cost of some time, a bit of gas, and a minute amount of wear and tear on a car. To change app stores, it requires spending several hundred dollars on replacement hardware, not including having to repurchase applications, accessories, etc.
- simonh 8y agoThat applies as much to Android, or any other phone, as it does to Apple though. It’s just the nature of the market, not some perfidious Apple plot. There’s just nothing substantive here.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hyperbovine 8y agoErr who forced this guy to buy an iPhone?
- simonh 8y agoI think I can safely say absolutely nobody.
- benjaminsuch 8y agoYou are free to buy a smartphone from other manufacturers. No one is forcing you to use an Apple product.
- ahmedalsudani 8y agoIt's either Android or iOS really. I'd love for a decent alternative to exist but if you don't want Google tracking everything you do, Apple is the only option.
- testvox 8y agoThere are lots of Android versions with all Google tracking code excised.
- simonh 8y agoThe thing is there have been loads of other alternatives over the years. Blackberry, WebOS, Windows Mobile, Tizen. Actual customers said no, these are what they want.
- kd913 8y agoA lot of them faced what I would argue anti-competitive behaviour to prevent their growth. For example, Google banning their apps on Windows Mobile and Amazon Firestore. Google blocking Windows Phone users from accessing maps/mail via a user-agent check. That and Google actively blocking Microsoft developing a native Youtube app. Is it any surprise that customers were unsatisfied?