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There is really no consumer issue here. If you want to use Spotify you can. You can download it and use it all you want on your Apple device. You can use it on

There is really no consumer issue here. If you want to use Spotify you can. You can download it and use it all you want on your Apple device. You can use it on the web, and you can even download an app. If you want to buy Spotify premium, you can! You can buy it directly from Spotify. If you want to buy it from the App Store you can! But Spotify has decided they don’t want to sell it on the App Store because Apple’s entitlements/platform fee/referral fee/whatever you want to call it is too high.

jedberg 7y ago
> If you want to buy Spotify premium, you can! You can buy it directly from Spotify. Only if you independently know that it exists. They can't link out to their web store. Apple can though.
- themagician 7y ago
  They can let people know it exists through any number of ways. They just can’t bundle that advertisement explicitly into product they sell on the App Store. But they actually do (in the radio spots). They just can’t do it in plain text. Again, this is can be true in other places in retail as well. Walmart may not be happy if I slap a giant sticker on my box that says, “Buy direct from us for less!” Sometimes the stores don’t care. Sometimes they do. If they don’t like it they reserve the right to kick you off the shelf or ask you to remove it.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    You keep conflating Apple's store with Apple's hardware. All of Apple's policies would be fine if they allowed any store on their hardware, because then other stores could have other policies. But since Apple doesn't allow other stores, it's not the same as regular retail, because the consumer can't choose another store with better policies.
    - snowwrestler 7y ago
      No, you're conflating "Apple has a monopoly on app stores in general" with "Apple has a monopoly on what they sell to their customers." The former is an anti-trust concern; the latter is just the basics of how a retail operation works. Which themagician has been patiently trying to explain. I understand that a lot of people really want to use Apple phones, because they feel that they are superior to Android phones. But this is not a monopoly, it's literally how the market is supposed to work. You can't walk into a Walmart physical store and ask to see their embedded Target store. Hardware, software, and inventory are bundled into an experience by every retailer in existence.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - jedberg 7y ago
        But there isn't a duopoly of retailers. There are many to choose from.
        snowwrestler 7y ago
        As far as I know, duopolies are only illegal if the two companies collude to distort the market.
      - treis 7y ago
        >No, you're conflating "Apple has a monopoly on app stores in general" with "Apple has a monopoly on what they sell to their customers." The former is an anti-trust concern; the latter is just the basics of how a retail operation works. Which themagician has been patiently trying to explain. Apple is using its position in one market (phone hardware sales) to exclude competition in another (app sales). It's a text book example of an antitrust violation. >Hardware, software, and inventory are bundled into an experience by every retailer in existence. No, they aren't. You don't have to buy software to run on a Mac exclusively from Apple, for example.
        7y ago

jedberg 7y ago

> If you want to buy Spotify premium, you can! You can buy it directly from Spotify. Only if you independently know that it exists. They can't link out to their web store. Apple can though.

themagician 7y ago
They can let people know it exists through any number of ways. They just can’t bundle that advertisement explicitly into product they sell on the App Store. But they actually do (in the radio spots). They just can’t do it in plain text. Again, this is can be true in other places in retail as well. Walmart may not be happy if I slap a giant sticker on my box that says, “Buy direct from us for less!” Sometimes the stores don’t care. Sometimes they do. If they don’t like it they reserve the right to kick you off the shelf or ask you to remove it.
- jedberg 7y ago
  You keep conflating Apple's store with Apple's hardware. All of Apple's policies would be fine if they allowed any store on their hardware, because then other stores could have other policies. But since Apple doesn't allow other stores, it's not the same as regular retail, because the consumer can't choose another store with better policies.
  - snowwrestler 7y ago
    No, you're conflating "Apple has a monopoly on app stores in general" with "Apple has a monopoly on what they sell to their customers." The former is an anti-trust concern; the latter is just the basics of how a retail operation works. Which themagician has been patiently trying to explain. I understand that a lot of people really want to use Apple phones, because they feel that they are superior to Android phones. But this is not a monopoly, it's literally how the market is supposed to work. You can't walk into a Walmart physical store and ask to see their embedded Target store. Hardware, software, and inventory are bundled into an experience by every retailer in existence.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - jedberg 7y ago
      But there isn't a duopoly of retailers. There are many to choose from.
      - snowwrestler 7y ago
        As far as I know, duopolies are only illegal if the two companies collude to distort the market.
    - treis 7y ago
      >No, you're conflating "Apple has a monopoly on app stores in general" with "Apple has a monopoly on what they sell to their customers." The former is an anti-trust concern; the latter is just the basics of how a retail operation works. Which themagician has been patiently trying to explain. Apple is using its position in one market (phone hardware sales) to exclude competition in another (app sales). It's a text book example of an antitrust violation. >Hardware, software, and inventory are bundled into an experience by every retailer in existence. No, they aren't. You don't have to buy software to run on a Mac exclusively from Apple, for example.
      - 7y ago