4 ms·

Perhaps you should take a moment to review what a monopoly is.

by Veen 7y ago

cabaalis 7y ago
I believe OP is referring to the recent ruling allowing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple's app store to proceed. Not necessarily declared a monopoly yet, but also not declared not one. https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18617727/apple-v-pepper-antitrust-illinois-brick-supreme-court-case-loss https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18617727/apple-v-pepper-a...
- sundvor 7y ago
  Yes. My point was that they are exhibiting the same type of behaviour that they're accusing Qualcomm of, and that's why I said that's the pot calling the kettle black; they are more than happy to embrace the same self serving behaviour when it serves them. The app store paid out $34bn to devs last year, so a very simple and probably naive calculation of 34/.7*.3 tells me they pocketed around ~$14.5bn in revenue from a total of $48.5bn. (source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/developer-apos-34-billion-earnings-002422266.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/developer-apos-34-billion-ear... ) That really ought to be big enough a pot to warrant my drawing the parallel. Furthermore, - They have absolute control and will shut down things whenever they want, such as parental control apps - https://www.macworld.com/article/3391361/apple-privacy-parental-control-apps-screen-time.html https://www.macworld.com/article/3391361/apple-privacy-paren... . - They claim you may install alternative apps, yet you may not set them as default handlers to replace Apple's native ones- https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18644045/apple-defends-app-store-policies-antitrust-eu-spotify https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18644045/apple-defends-ap... - They're playing hardball with Spotify, who are also using the word "monopoly": https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18530894/apple-music-monopoly-spotify-app-store-europe https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18530894/apple-music-monop...
  - scarface74 7y ago
    You realize those “parental control apps” gave a third party complete access to your child’s phone and were able to intercept all of your cbild’s communication. Do you think parents were aware of that? Are you okay with that? If you want to control your child’s phone, you are free to use MDM software where you control provisioning and the profiles.
henryfjordan 7y ago
I don't think things are as clear cut as you make them out to be. Apple says nobody can run apps on their phone without handing them a 30% cut. No side-loading, no other stores, nothing. There is very obviously a market for apps that Apple controls completely. Just because there are other app stores for other phones does not mean Apple doesn't have control over the entire market for iPhone apps. Markets can be narrowly defined in anti-trust law. Apple is fleecing iPhone users for that 30%. I don't think there's a good parallel case for this. DRM'd Keurig cups are the closest thing I could think of, but that never went to court that I know of. The case will be interesting: can you create a secondary market that you exert total control over? Can I bar anyone else from selling apps for my phone? Personally, I don't think Apple should be able to do what they are doing and I hope they lose. It would be a win for consumer rights and free market principles.
- tzakrajs 7y ago
  Except that isn't what is happening. Side loading is allowed on iOS and is how Netflix is currently monetizing their iOS users.
  - henryfjordan 7y ago
    No, netflix isn't side loading apps. They are asking you sign up for the service on their site, not through the app to avoid having to pay Apple the 30%. A user still must get the app through the app store. There is no way to get an app on the phone that is not signed by apple..
    - johncolanduoni 7y ago
      You can now get developer certificates/provisioning profiles without paying the $100 you used to, just by having an Apple ID. You can replace the signature of an app given to you in binary form or build one given to you in source form via Xcode, which is also free.
  - tzakrajs 7y ago
    Sorry I misspoke. I should have said only that iOS allows side loading. I thought Netflix was utilizing this.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

Perhaps you should take a moment to review what a monopoly is.

by Veen 7y ago

Perhaps you should take a moment to review what a monopoly is.

I believe OP is referring to the recent ruling allowing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple's app store to proceed. Not necessarily declared a monopoly yet, but also not declared not one. https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18617727/apple-v-pepper-antitrust-illinois-brick-supreme-court-case-loss https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18617727/apple-v-pepper-a...

sundvor 7y ago
Yes. My point was that they are exhibiting the same type of behaviour that they're accusing Qualcomm of, and that's why I said that's the pot calling the kettle black; they are more than happy to embrace the same self serving behaviour when it serves them. The app store paid out $34bn to devs last year, so a very simple and probably naive calculation of 34/.7*.3 tells me they pocketed around ~$14.5bn in revenue from a total of $48.5bn. (source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/developer-apos-34-billion-earnings-002422266.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/developer-apos-34-billion-ear... ) That really ought to be big enough a pot to warrant my drawing the parallel. Furthermore, - They have absolute control and will shut down things whenever they want, such as parental control apps - https://www.macworld.com/article/3391361/apple-privacy-parental-control-apps-screen-time.html https://www.macworld.com/article/3391361/apple-privacy-paren... . - They claim you may install alternative apps, yet you may not set them as default handlers to replace Apple's native ones- https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18644045/apple-defends-app-store-policies-antitrust-eu-spotify https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/29/18644045/apple-defends-ap... - They're playing hardball with Spotify, who are also using the word "monopoly": https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18530894/apple-music-monopoly-spotify-app-store-europe https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18530894/apple-music-monop...
- scarface74 7y ago
  You realize those “parental control apps” gave a third party complete access to your child’s phone and were able to intercept all of your cbild’s communication. Do you think parents were aware of that? Are you okay with that? If you want to control your child’s phone, you are free to use MDM software where you control provisioning and the profiles.

henryfjordan 7y ago

I don't think things are as clear cut as you make them out to be. Apple says nobody can run apps on their phone without handing them a 30% cut. No side-loading, no other stores, nothing. There is very obviously a market for apps that Apple controls completely. Just because there are other app stores for other phones does not mean Apple doesn't have control over the entire market for iPhone apps. Markets can be narrowly defined in anti-trust law. Apple is fleecing iPhone users for that 30%. I don't think there's a good parallel case for this. DRM'd Keurig cups are the closest thing I could think of, but that never went to court that I know of. The case will be interesting: can you create a secondary market that you exert total control over? Can I bar anyone else from selling apps for my phone? Personally, I don't think Apple should be able to do what they are doing and I hope they lose. It would be a win for consumer rights and free market principles.

tzakrajs 7y ago
Except that isn't what is happening. Side loading is allowed on iOS and is how Netflix is currently monetizing their iOS users.
- henryfjordan 7y ago
  No, netflix isn't side loading apps. They are asking you sign up for the service on their site, not through the app to avoid having to pay Apple the 30%. A user still must get the app through the app store. There is no way to get an app on the phone that is not signed by apple..
  - johncolanduoni 7y ago
    You can now get developer certificates/provisioning profiles without paying the $100 you used to, just by having an Apple ID. You can replace the signature of an app given to you in binary form or build one given to you in source form via Xcode, which is also free.
- tzakrajs 7y ago
  Sorry I misspoke. I should have said only that iOS allows side loading. I thought Netflix was utilizing this.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]