4 ms·

Google and Facebook; sure makes sense and considering their track records I am for regulation. However Apple? They have the best record on privacy and clearly

Google and Facebook; sure makes sense and considering their track records I am for regulation. However Apple? They have the best record on privacy and clearly iPhone and Mac are not a monopoly. Thanks to Tim Cooks deplomacy they also happen to be in the good grace of Trump unlike the others.

cbanek 7y ago
Some consider the App Store to be monopolistic, as it is the only way to run on iOS devices, and they will charge you a 30% fee and make you go through their acceptance criteria. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/13/supreme-court-rules-against-apple-allowing-an-app-store-antitrust-case-to-proceed/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/13/supreme-court-rules-agains...
Fnoord 7y ago
Apple -> Right to repair, and strict control over distribution of software allows them to easily compete on i(Pad)OS.
visarga 7y ago
> However Apple? They have the best record on privacy and clearly iPhone and Mac are not a monopoly. They have a monopoly on fruit named phones at the very least :-P
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Blackberry?
Qwertystop 7y ago
There is an argument to be made that, since Apple is fairly restrictive of what software can be made for their platforms, Apple has a monopoly on... software for Apple devices? App stores for Apple devices? Something of that sort. It is difficult-to-impossible to make, distribute, run, or sell iPhone software without giving Apple a cut of your earnings and a hook to force changes, and this has been claimed to lead to anti-competitive effects (see Spotify's recent complaints). I've seen the argument made here and there, but I am not a lawyer and I don't recall well enough who I saw it from, so I don't know whether this is a good argument. But it's an argument being made by at least one company that presumably does hire lawyers, so it's probably not a terrible one. Their record on privacy is unrelated as far as I can tell to antitrust, though; I'm not sure why you brought it up in this context.
- henryfjordan 7y ago
  There is a current lawsuit called Apple v Pepper pending that would force Apple to allow the side-loading of apps
- scarface74 7y ago
  There is an argument to be made that, since Apple is fairly restrictive of what software can be made for their platforms, Apple has a monopoly on... software for Apple devices? App stores for Apple devices? In that case, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have “monopolies” on their platforms?
  - greycol 7y ago
    Sure they have monopolies on their platforms, but the key point is how they act within their monopolies The argument is that what Apple's doing inside there 'monopoly' is egregious enough to run afoul of these laws. Whether creating a music app on their system that is by default at a 30% revenue advantage compared to their competitors runs afoul of these laws is the question. Monopolies by themselves aren't necessarily a problem it's when they leverage their monopoly position that there are issues.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Sure they have monopolies on their platforms, but the key point is how they act within their monopolies Everything that people complain about with Apple us even worse with the consoles. 1. People complain about having to buy a Mac and pay $99 a year to develop for iOS. You can’t even develop on a PlayStation without signing an NDA and I couldn’t find anywhere reputable that knew the price. 2. The console makers also get a cut of every game sold on their platform - either physical or digital. 3. The platform owners - especially Nintendo - are much stricter about what they will allow on their platforms. 4. It’s much harder to “sideload” console games. 5. All of the console makers have first party games where they don’t have to pay a fee to themselves. Whether creating a music app on their system that is by default at a 30% revenue advantage compared to their competitors runs afoul of these laws is the question. Spotify hasn’t allowed in app subscriptions for years so they don’t pay a fee. But on the other hand, I can “sideload” my own music and integrate it with my Apple Music library without paying Apple anything. Can I do that with Spotify? It seems like Spotify has more of a walled garden than Apple...

cbanek 7y ago

Some consider the App Store to be monopolistic, as it is the only way to run on iOS devices, and they will charge you a 30% fee and make you go through their acceptance criteria. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/13/supreme-court-rules-against-apple-allowing-an-app-store-antitrust-case-to-proceed/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/13/supreme-court-rules-agains...

Fnoord 7y ago

Apple -> Right to repair, and strict control over distribution of software allows them to easily compete on i(Pad)OS.

visarga 7y ago

> However Apple? They have the best record on privacy and clearly iPhone and Mac are not a monopoly. They have a monopoly on fruit named phones at the very least :-P

saagarjha 7y ago
Blackberry?

Qwertystop 7y ago

There is an argument to be made that, since Apple is fairly restrictive of what software can be made for their platforms, Apple has a monopoly on... software for Apple devices? App stores for Apple devices? Something of that sort. It is difficult-to-impossible to make, distribute, run, or sell iPhone software without giving Apple a cut of your earnings and a hook to force changes, and this has been claimed to lead to anti-competitive effects (see Spotify's recent complaints). I've seen the argument made here and there, but I am not a lawyer and I don't recall well enough who I saw it from, so I don't know whether this is a good argument. But it's an argument being made by at least one company that presumably does hire lawyers, so it's probably not a terrible one. Their record on privacy is unrelated as far as I can tell to antitrust, though; I'm not sure why you brought it up in this context.

henryfjordan 7y ago
There is a current lawsuit called Apple v Pepper pending that would force Apple to allow the side-loading of apps
scarface74 7y ago
There is an argument to be made that, since Apple is fairly restrictive of what software can be made for their platforms, Apple has a monopoly on... software for Apple devices? App stores for Apple devices? In that case, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have “monopolies” on their platforms?
- greycol 7y ago
  Sure they have monopolies on their platforms, but the key point is how they act within their monopolies The argument is that what Apple's doing inside there 'monopoly' is egregious enough to run afoul of these laws. Whether creating a music app on their system that is by default at a 30% revenue advantage compared to their competitors runs afoul of these laws is the question. Monopolies by themselves aren't necessarily a problem it's when they leverage their monopoly position that there are issues.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Sure they have monopolies on their platforms, but the key point is how they act within their monopolies Everything that people complain about with Apple us even worse with the consoles. 1. People complain about having to buy a Mac and pay $99 a year to develop for iOS. You can’t even develop on a PlayStation without signing an NDA and I couldn’t find anywhere reputable that knew the price. 2. The console makers also get a cut of every game sold on their platform - either physical or digital. 3. The platform owners - especially Nintendo - are much stricter about what they will allow on their platforms. 4. It’s much harder to “sideload” console games. 5. All of the console makers have first party games where they don’t have to pay a fee to themselves. Whether creating a music app on their system that is by default at a 30% revenue advantage compared to their competitors runs afoul of these laws is the question. Spotify hasn’t allowed in app subscriptions for years so they don’t pay a fee. But on the other hand, I can “sideload” my own music and integrate it with my Apple Music library without paying Apple anything. Can I do that with Spotify? It seems like Spotify has more of a walled garden than Apple...