6 ms·

Monopolistic? Apple is in no way a monopoly. They have 4% of phone market share. Do you know what a monopoly is? Because based off your comment I don't think yo

by lotusleaf1987 16y ago

Monopolistic? Apple is in no way a monopoly. They have 4% of phone market share. Do you know what a monopoly is? Because based off your comment I don't think you do. "In economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos / μονος (alone or single) + polein / πωλειν (to sell)) exists when a specific individual or an enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it.": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly So what product does Apple have a monopoly on? Laptops? No. Cell phones? No. Mp3 players? No. App store? No: https://market.android.com/ https://market.android.com/ There are alternatives to Apple, you just don't like them. Apple is a middle man, just like Wal-Mart, eBay, or Amazon who all charge for their service (selling your products). If you don't like it, sell it somewhere else, but calling Apple monopolistic is factually inaccurate and intellectually dishonest. Oh, and the reason I cited Zach's comment, is because the topic whether it's Rhapsody/Spotify/Last.fm/Pandora/Netflix still applies and credit is due to Zach for his spot on comment/analysis of the situation.

akashs 16y ago
Actually, before you go putting others down, you should read about how this stuff works. It's highly dependent on what the market ends up being defined as. If you're talking smartphones, Apple certainly has more than 4%. MP3 players, again more than 4%. Tablets, again more than 4%. And if you don't like the app store, Apple prevents you from selling it to customers through other means. So you can't exactly go somewhere else. Customers also just can't pick up and move to Android because of all the money they've spent on apps and content on an iPad. Also, there's plenty of points that have been made as to why Zach's comment isn't necessarily "spot on" across the many times it has been posted. Many of them haven't really been addressed.
- lotusleaf1987 16y ago
  There are more Android phones sold than iOS devices every month. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on anything, however they do control/own their app store and they can refuse to sell whatever they want in it. If you don't like it then don't support Apple by buying Apple products, sell your apps on Android. Actions speak louder than words. Also, Jaaron was much more condescending that I was: I'm tired of seeing Zach's comment reposted as if it's some sort of inspired gospel.
  - akashs 16y ago
    Kindly explain to me where above I made any mention of Apple having a monopoly. But if you must push me: http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=apple+mp3+market+share http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=apple+mp... and http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=apple+tablet+market+share http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3... Now when you're trying to sell apps on those devices, and Apple wants to 30% of anything that is sold for those devices and intentionally blocks out perfectly reasonable businesses, that becomes anti-competitive Edit: Btw, I have stopped. I just bought a DroidX instead of the Verizon iPhone. But that won't get me my $600 back for my iPad or the money for my iTouch. Or the money for the apps I've paid for.
    - lotusleaf1987 16y ago
      Read my first comment again quoting Zach, it's pretty clear: "Of course Rhapsody [insert Last.fm] can't sell their stuff for a 30% margin. It's not their own stuff! They're trying to be the last link in a chain of 90/10 (or more) splits. They repackage record labels' repackaging of artists' content. Do you think the artists would find 30% economically untenable? The App Store is 70/30 because Apple can take things straight from content producer to customer. When the Apple takes the place of publishing, distribution, inventory, sales, payments and shipping, there's real value for that 30%. When all someone wants out of Apple is merely to process the payment and send things down the pipe, gee, who do they think they are? But that's not what Apple is actually holding themselves out as. Apple doesn't want to be in that kind of commodity market anyway. Seems reasonable to me." Apple is giving them distribution, billing, discovery/advertising, inventory, shipping, et al-- 30% is a pretty fair cut I'd say, but hey if you disagree, don't support them. And why would you expect to get your money back? You had no guarantee at the time you bought the Apps or iPad that the marketplace rules wouldn't changes, that's to be expected as nearly every marketplace's rules change frequently: see Amazon, eBay, etsy, Wal-Mart, whoever. I really don't understand your complaint. Also, I'm tired of discussing this topic as it seems most people have already made up their minds on the issue regardless of the facts surrounding the situation. Disclosure: typing on a Dell, I own a Blackberry and an HTC Aria, and I own a Macbook. I am agnostic to corporate entities, but I can step back and try to detach myself and be as objective as I can.

akashs 16y ago

Actually, before you go putting others down, you should read about how this stuff works. It's highly dependent on what the market ends up being defined as. If you're talking smartphones, Apple certainly has more than 4%. MP3 players, again more than 4%. Tablets, again more than 4%. And if you don't like the app store, Apple prevents you from selling it to customers through other means. So you can't exactly go somewhere else. Customers also just can't pick up and move to Android because of all the money they've spent on apps and content on an iPad. Also, there's plenty of points that have been made as to why Zach's comment isn't necessarily "spot on" across the many times it has been posted. Many of them haven't really been addressed.

lotusleaf1987 16y ago
There are more Android phones sold than iOS devices every month. Apple doesn't have a monopoly on anything, however they do control/own their app store and they can refuse to sell whatever they want in it. If you don't like it then don't support Apple by buying Apple products, sell your apps on Android. Actions speak louder than words. Also, Jaaron was much more condescending that I was: I'm tired of seeing Zach's comment reposted as if it's some sort of inspired gospel.
- akashs 16y ago
  Kindly explain to me where above I made any mention of Apple having a monopoly. But if you must push me: http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=apple+mp3+market+share http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=apple+mp... and http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=apple+tablet+market+share http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3... Now when you're trying to sell apps on those devices, and Apple wants to 30% of anything that is sold for those devices and intentionally blocks out perfectly reasonable businesses, that becomes anti-competitive Edit: Btw, I have stopped. I just bought a DroidX instead of the Verizon iPhone. But that won't get me my $600 back for my iPad or the money for my iTouch. Or the money for the apps I've paid for.
  - lotusleaf1987 16y ago
    Read my first comment again quoting Zach, it's pretty clear: "Of course Rhapsody [insert Last.fm] can't sell their stuff for a 30% margin. It's not their own stuff! They're trying to be the last link in a chain of 90/10 (or more) splits. They repackage record labels' repackaging of artists' content. Do you think the artists would find 30% economically untenable? The App Store is 70/30 because Apple can take things straight from content producer to customer. When the Apple takes the place of publishing, distribution, inventory, sales, payments and shipping, there's real value for that 30%. When all someone wants out of Apple is merely to process the payment and send things down the pipe, gee, who do they think they are? But that's not what Apple is actually holding themselves out as. Apple doesn't want to be in that kind of commodity market anyway. Seems reasonable to me." Apple is giving them distribution, billing, discovery/advertising, inventory, shipping, et al-- 30% is a pretty fair cut I'd say, but hey if you disagree, don't support them. And why would you expect to get your money back? You had no guarantee at the time you bought the Apps or iPad that the marketplace rules wouldn't changes, that's to be expected as nearly every marketplace's rules change frequently: see Amazon, eBay, etsy, Wal-Mart, whoever. I really don't understand your complaint. Also, I'm tired of discussing this topic as it seems most people have already made up their minds on the issue regardless of the facts surrounding the situation. Disclosure: typing on a Dell, I own a Blackberry and an HTC Aria, and I own a Macbook. I am agnostic to corporate entities, but I can step back and try to detach myself and be as objective as I can.