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Apple should just be forced to allow alternative app stores. Yes, they will loose out on money and yes, this will dilute the iPhone experience. But come on -

Apple should just be forced to allow alternative app stores. Yes, they will loose out on money and yes, this will dilute the iPhone experience. But come on - That company is worth 2 trillion and it’s holding a whole economy hostage.

Razengan 6y ago
> a whole economy hostage. iOS is not even near to the "whole economy" of mobile software. Companies should just stop being based in the US. With what’s happening to TikTok and this ridiculous push for a Communist-style reappropriation of Apple’s platform, it seems that the US may no longer be a safe place for businesses to become too big in (except of course, the ancient titans of oil, guns, pharmaceuticals etc. that have been happily screwing the planet since forever..) None of this indignation is really about protecting the people, is it, but rather about taking a slice of the billion user pie, which Apple has historically denied other companies ever since they refused to put AT&T bloatware on the first iPhone.
- konschubert 6y ago
  If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection AFTER selling those roads to the public, then yea, call me a communist but I don’t think that’s good for the economy. And I don’t care if that company single-handedly invented roads - there should a limit to how far you can milk the society you operate in.
  - Razengan 6y ago
    > If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection Again, Apple is not the only company in this space and iOS is not the only intersection/road/whatever analogy you want. There are alternatives and companies like Epic are absolutely free to start their own platform. Honestly, all of this becomes much less complicated if you think of the iPhone as an Xbox, PlayStation or Switch. iPhone is not the entire mobile industry, it is one phone among hundreds. Will you move for a forced break up of their exclusive stores too if MS/Sony/Nintendo started allowing general-purpose apps on those consoles? (They already have YouTube, Netflix, etc.) iPads on the other hand may be a different story, given how Apple likes to market them as general purpose computers, and the reason why they forked iOS into iPadOS I think.
    - matsemann 6y ago
      > and companies like Epic are absolutely free to start their own platform. But in practice, are anyone capable of that? It's a winner-takes-it-all, and the winners are so huge it's virtually impossible for anyone to upset them. You cannot compete on price, features or anything without a hundred billion investment.
      - colejohnson66 6y ago
        Barrier to entry isn’t necessarily part of antitrust. I can’t set up my own toll roads without billions of dollars of investment, but a toll road company isn’t necessarily breaking the law.
      - Razengan 6y ago
        > But in practice, are anyone capable of that? See Samsung and all their proprietary crap on Android, including their own alternative to the Play Store, for one. Epic already have their own store and want to weasel it into iOS, whether the majority of users want it or not. Instead of losing money [0] on this whole mess they could have just made their own phone or handheld by now. [0] https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/05/epic-injuction-fortnite-reinstatement/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/05/epic-injuction-fortnite...
    - grumple 6y ago
      This isn’t about the iPhone, it’s about iOS, which is one os out of two. And they have an absolute monopoly within iOS and on iPhones, while creating a market which can and will be regulated and being a publicly traded company and therefore subject to even more scrutiny and laws. And people care a lot less about the consoles because they are a lot less important to the economy. This is like McDonalds complaining about paying fair wages and pointing to a two-location mom and pop shop and saying “but they do it too!”. Classic whataboutism.
      - scarface74 6y ago
        Most people don’t care about side loading apps on their phone either...
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection AFTER selling those roads to the public, then yea, call me a communist but I don’t think that’s good for the economy. Interestingly, in recent years such things have happened. In Chicago, the tolled Skyway has been leased to an Australian company. And all the city's parking meters have been sold to a Spanish company.
  - electriclove 6y ago
    Their 30% has been their rule since the beginning. I could see your point if they increased that but that isn't the case.
  - newbie578 6y ago
    I love how people are completely missing your point and introducing Nintendo to the discussion. Trying to equal a smartphone and a fucking gaming console (Switch). A smartphone has become as you said an intersection, i.e. a bridge to the digital world and has become an absolute neccessity in today's world. And as such should also be regulated. All these people who are comparing Nintendo to Apple, try going a month without your Switch and then a Month without using your Macbook, Ipad or iPhone. Hint:Good luck
    - Razengan 6y ago
      > try going a Month without using your Macbook, Ipad or iPhone. Hint:Good luck Hint: PC, Windows, Linux, Android. Congratulations.
      - konschubert 6y ago
        Most people don’t want to carry two phones.
t-writescode 6y ago
This is the correct answer. If the bits aren't coming from Apple's servers (so no 'it costs bandwidth and storage to store these apps) and if the payment isn't being processed through Apple, they deserve no money from it - or a bare minimum for being allowed on the platform in the first place.

Razengan 6y ago

> a whole economy hostage. iOS is not even near to the "whole economy" of mobile software. Companies should just stop being based in the US. With what’s happening to TikTok and this ridiculous push for a Communist-style reappropriation of Apple’s platform, it seems that the US may no longer be a safe place for businesses to become too big in (except of course, the ancient titans of oil, guns, pharmaceuticals etc. that have been happily screwing the planet since forever..) None of this indignation is really about protecting the people, is it, but rather about taking a slice of the billion user pie, which Apple has historically denied other companies ever since they refused to put AT&T bloatware on the first iPhone.

konschubert 6y ago
If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection AFTER selling those roads to the public, then yea, call me a communist but I don’t think that’s good for the economy. And I don’t care if that company single-handedly invented roads - there should a limit to how far you can milk the society you operate in.
- Razengan 6y ago
  > If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection Again, Apple is not the only company in this space and iOS is not the only intersection/road/whatever analogy you want. There are alternatives and companies like Epic are absolutely free to start their own platform. Honestly, all of this becomes much less complicated if you think of the iPhone as an Xbox, PlayStation or Switch. iPhone is not the entire mobile industry, it is one phone among hundreds. Will you move for a forced break up of their exclusive stores too if MS/Sony/Nintendo started allowing general-purpose apps on those consoles? (They already have YouTube, Netflix, etc.) iPads on the other hand may be a different story, given how Apple likes to market them as general purpose computers, and the reason why they forked iOS into iPadOS I think.
  - matsemann 6y ago
    > and companies like Epic are absolutely free to start their own platform. But in practice, are anyone capable of that? It's a winner-takes-it-all, and the winners are so huge it's virtually impossible for anyone to upset them. You cannot compete on price, features or anything without a hundred billion investment.
    - colejohnson66 6y ago
      Barrier to entry isn’t necessarily part of antitrust. I can’t set up my own toll roads without billions of dollars of investment, but a toll road company isn’t necessarily breaking the law.
    - Razengan 6y ago
      > But in practice, are anyone capable of that? See Samsung and all their proprietary crap on Android, including their own alternative to the Play Store, for one. Epic already have their own store and want to weasel it into iOS, whether the majority of users want it or not. Instead of losing money [0] on this whole mess they could have just made their own phone or handheld by now. [0] https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/05/epic-injuction-fortnite-reinstatement/ https://www.macrumors.com/2020/09/05/epic-injuction-fortnite...
  - grumple 6y ago
    This isn’t about the iPhone, it’s about iOS, which is one os out of two. And they have an absolute monopoly within iOS and on iPhones, while creating a market which can and will be regulated and being a publicly traded company and therefore subject to even more scrutiny and laws. And people care a lot less about the consoles because they are a lot less important to the economy. This is like McDonalds complaining about paying fair wages and pointing to a two-location mom and pop shop and saying “but they do it too!”. Classic whataboutism.
    - scarface74 6y ago
      Most people don’t care about side loading apps on their phone either...
- reaperducer 6y ago
  If a single company was putting up toll booths on every intersection AFTER selling those roads to the public, then yea, call me a communist but I don’t think that’s good for the economy. Interestingly, in recent years such things have happened. In Chicago, the tolled Skyway has been leased to an Australian company. And all the city's parking meters have been sold to a Spanish company.
- electriclove 6y ago
  Their 30% has been their rule since the beginning. I could see your point if they increased that but that isn't the case.
- newbie578 6y ago
  I love how people are completely missing your point and introducing Nintendo to the discussion. Trying to equal a smartphone and a fucking gaming console (Switch). A smartphone has become as you said an intersection, i.e. a bridge to the digital world and has become an absolute neccessity in today's world. And as such should also be regulated. All these people who are comparing Nintendo to Apple, try going a month without your Switch and then a Month without using your Macbook, Ipad or iPhone. Hint:Good luck
  - Razengan 6y ago
    > try going a Month without using your Macbook, Ipad or iPhone. Hint:Good luck Hint: PC, Windows, Linux, Android. Congratulations.
    - konschubert 6y ago
      Most people don’t want to carry two phones.

t-writescode 6y ago

This is the correct answer. If the bits aren't coming from Apple's servers (so no 'it costs bandwidth and storage to store these apps) and if the payment isn't being processed through Apple, they deserve no money from it - or a bare minimum for being allowed on the platform in the first place.