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Rent seeking: Rent seeking (or rent-seeking) is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of

Rent seeking: Rent seeking (or rent-seeking) is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity. [0] What Apple is doing is artificially limiting what an app can do with regards to specific functionality made possible by having a web browser embedded in your app, because they want to be a middle-man in every financial transaction. That is all Apple is doing. They're not adding shit, they're limiting existing functionality because they can set arbitrary bullshit rules that have nothing to do with customer satisfaction or productivity and everything to do with Apple's profit margins. That's what rent seeking is. Every large company does this - they grow at all costs, usually using their investor buddies' money until they run most competition out of business and then proceed to squeeze their suppliers into borderline extinction through monopolistic abuse. These criminals do it to everyone and they do it across companies too by forming anti-competitive backroom deals between each other. [1] [0] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp [1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-six-high-tech-companies-stop-entering-anticompetitive-employee https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-s...

hellisothers 6y ago
If Apple were the only game in town I would be right behind you, but they’re not, Android is right around the corner with open arms, a larger global market and everything! If Apple is “not adding shit”, why are we even discussing this, why aren’t they being run into the ground by Android?
- alexashka 6y ago
  You're taking a sentence within a context, removing it from said context and asking why the sentence does not work in a different context of your choosing. That is an illegal move :) Regarding only game in town: You're saying that if I claim to have been raped by someone I decided to go on a date with, that you'd be sympathetic if this rapist were the only other human in existence, but since there are other human beings I can now go on dates with, there is no problem that needs to be fixed? Well, alright then, as long as we have choice, having been raped is not a problem I suppose.
mardifoufs 6y ago
I'm all against the way apple cripples it's devices and limit what they can do. But that does not mean Apple is not creating value and wealth. Think about it, that's a... Selling point of the Apple ecosystem. People get into it because it's much simpler to use and has a streamlined experience. That deliberate design choice from Apple is a big reason it's userbase exists in the first place and that's what Apple is offering to devs in exchange for the 30%. It's creating wealth for apple and for app devs. If anything the refined products they make and even the restrictive design choises make iOS apps much more profitable for devs than Android. It would have been rent seeking if Apple was the only player and users basically cannot do anything but pay Apple, but there is already Android with much less restrictions. Yet, people don't massively migrate to android.

hellisothers 6y ago

If Apple were the only game in town I would be right behind you, but they’re not, Android is right around the corner with open arms, a larger global market and everything! If Apple is “not adding shit”, why are we even discussing this, why aren’t they being run into the ground by Android?

alexashka 6y ago
You're taking a sentence within a context, removing it from said context and asking why the sentence does not work in a different context of your choosing. That is an illegal move :) Regarding only game in town: You're saying that if I claim to have been raped by someone I decided to go on a date with, that you'd be sympathetic if this rapist were the only other human in existence, but since there are other human beings I can now go on dates with, there is no problem that needs to be fixed? Well, alright then, as long as we have choice, having been raped is not a problem I suppose.

mardifoufs 6y ago

I'm all against the way apple cripples it's devices and limit what they can do. But that does not mean Apple is not creating value and wealth. Think about it, that's a... Selling point of the Apple ecosystem. People get into it because it's much simpler to use and has a streamlined experience. That deliberate design choice from Apple is a big reason it's userbase exists in the first place and that's what Apple is offering to devs in exchange for the 30%. It's creating wealth for apple and for app devs. If anything the refined products they make and even the restrictive design choises make iOS apps much more profitable for devs than Android. It would have been rent seeking if Apple was the only player and users basically cannot do anything but pay Apple, but there is already Android with much less restrictions. Yet, people don't massively migrate to android.