4 ms·
Not exactly. Being a monopoly is fine. Google is a monopoly in search for example. It's not fine when you use that monopoly power to either stifle competition (
by wickedsickeune 7y ago
Not exactly. Being a monopoly is fine. Google is a monopoly in search for example. It's not fine when you use that monopoly power to either stifle competition (like what MS did), or to demonstrably harm the consumer (very hard to prove).
Just because Google Play is a monopoly, it doesn't mean that it's illegal or should be fined. Especially since there are other options, like amazon's app store, or manual installation of apps.
Especially compared to iOS, Android is a paradise of freedom.
- black_puppydog 7y agoA monopoly is not defined as a 100% market share though. I'd argue the playstore is the way to distribute apps on android, and realistically a monopoly. Wether or not the "software distribution" and "payments processing" aspects of the playstore are separate markets/products is (in my mind) up for debate. If they were then google would be using it's distribution market penetration to push its payment processing business. Then there's the argument that the way they selectively seem to cut off smalltime donation-based software does harm users overall, although it is a systemic harm, not individual, or at least that would be (as you said) very hard to prove.