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Context for those who missed yesterday's anti-trust hearings: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple said that Apple treats developers equally - under oath. The problem is

by rydre 6y ago

Context for those who missed yesterday's anti-trust hearings: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple said that Apple treats developers equally - under oath. The problem is that Amazon got a special deal. Baidu (the Chinese Google) got a special deal where Apple fast tracks App Store approval for them and have special assigned Apple employees for their app(s). This might be one of the evidence that Apple's CEO lied under oath.

ghshephard 6y ago
Does Apple treat other video streamers differently than Amazon?
- rydre 6y ago
  > Does Apple treat other video streamers differently than Amazon? Apple changed it's rules for everyone in this category to get Amazon onboard with their video service. Why should it take another Amazon in another industry to change rules for that industry? Why did Apple change it's rules in an entire category so that they can get Amazon onboard? Because Amazon is too big and has leverage over Apple? Isn't it? Well this is precisely why good democracies and competitive countries have anti trust laws. This also shows that for some arbitrary categories to please companies that have leverage over Apple, Apple will change rules at whim. This also indirectly indicates that Apple does not treat all developers equally - if you look at this in good faith.
  - tptacek 6y ago
    Probably because there are other, more popular app stores. You can draw a line around anything --- the icon that appears when you boot a Macbook, for instance --- and claim that Apple has a "monopoly" over it. You have to persuasively connect it to harm to consumers, which is difficult given the vibrancy of competition in mobile apps.
- modeless 6y ago
  Have they publicly announced the availability of the special deal Amazon got, and the criteria for qualifying for it? Are they proactively notifying everyone who might qualify for it? Are the rules written broadly enough that a wide variety of smaller developers might easily qualify, rather than just the behemoths? If not, then these secret negotiations are not treating all developers equally.
kh30 6y ago
Tim Cook specifically mentioned the 15% yesterday at the hearing for a certain type of subscription app, which Amazon Prime falls under. Not sure about the Baidu case.
- tptacek 6y ago
  There was even a followup question about it, and Cook's response came down to (paraphrased) "if another developer could meet the conditions Amazon met, they'd have access to the same deal".

by rydre 6y ago

ghshephard 6y ago

Does Apple treat other video streamers differently than Amazon?

rydre 6y ago
> Does Apple treat other video streamers differently than Amazon? Apple changed it's rules for everyone in this category to get Amazon onboard with their video service. Why should it take another Amazon in another industry to change rules for that industry? Why did Apple change it's rules in an entire category so that they can get Amazon onboard? Because Amazon is too big and has leverage over Apple? Isn't it? Well this is precisely why good democracies and competitive countries have anti trust laws. This also shows that for some arbitrary categories to please companies that have leverage over Apple, Apple will change rules at whim. This also indirectly indicates that Apple does not treat all developers equally - if you look at this in good faith.
- tptacek 6y ago
  Probably because there are other, more popular app stores. You can draw a line around anything --- the icon that appears when you boot a Macbook, for instance --- and claim that Apple has a "monopoly" over it. You have to persuasively connect it to harm to consumers, which is difficult given the vibrancy of competition in mobile apps.
modeless 6y ago
Have they publicly announced the availability of the special deal Amazon got, and the criteria for qualifying for it? Are they proactively notifying everyone who might qualify for it? Are the rules written broadly enough that a wide variety of smaller developers might easily qualify, rather than just the behemoths? If not, then these secret negotiations are not treating all developers equally.

kh30 6y ago

Tim Cook specifically mentioned the 15% yesterday at the hearing for a certain type of subscription app, which Amazon Prime falls under. Not sure about the Baidu case.

tptacek 6y ago
There was even a followup question about it, and Cook's response came down to (paraphrased) "if another developer could meet the conditions Amazon met, they'd have access to the same deal".