4 ms·

Apple doesn’t even have 60% market share in the US. Android has 86% worldwide. They are no where near a monopoly like Standard Oil or Bell.

• _qulr 6y ago
  > Apple doesn’t even have 60% market share in the US. They have over 50% market share though. They're by far the largest smartphone manufacturer in the US. And they also get the vast majority of app developer revenue, much more than the Google Play Store. > Android has 86% worldwide. Worldwide market share is not necessarily relevant to US law. > They are no where near a monopoly like Standard Oil or Bell. This isn't actually required by antitrust law.
  • Jtsummers 6y ago
    Worldwide share could be made to matter during the trial (assuming it reaches that point). It demonstrates that Apple's position in the US is a consequence of consumer choice, as they do have real competition. It's just that their competitors have (for various reasons) failed to take (or in this case failed to hold) a larger share of the US market. https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held-by-smartphone-platforms-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held... Shows the marketshare of mobile OSes by year from 2012-2019. It's worth noting that Apple's > 50% market share is a recent (2019) phenomenon. It's not like they've held that position for the entire decade, and it's not at all clear that they got that position by any illegal or unethical methods [0]. So consumers have made a clear and (somewhat) informed decision by electing to by iPhones. [0] I'm sure someone will talk about green bubble/blue bubble, but seriously people: stop using SMS/MMS it's crap. Get your friends onto Signal or, hell, even WhatsApp so you can have real cross-platform, secure (less some metadata) communication.
• jariel 6y ago
  Apple and Android together have a duopoly or an oligarchy over mobile phones. Apple also has a lock over it's own platform for which switching costs are very high. If people switched phones every few weeks, this would be less of an issue.
  • scarface74 6y ago
    What is the high switching cost? Hardly anyone buys apps. They either pay for services that work cross platform and the majority of sales are coming from in app consumables for games. Media? iTunes music you buy has been DRM free for a decade and Apple Music is available on Android. Movies? Blame that on the studios that don’t participate in Movies Anywhere. Apple is a member along with Amazon, Vudu, and Google. If you buy a movie from a participating studio, it syncs between all of the platforms. Books? No one buys books from Apple.
    • jariel 6y ago
      "What is the high switching cost?" People buy phones once every year or two, they're about $1K and data is controlled by the providers = High switching cost. Your favourite Marmalade ... were it to double in price next week at the grocery store, could be substituted without any friction.
      • scarface74 6y ago
        The ASP of an iPhone is $675. An Android phone is less than $300. That doesn’t take into account the ability to sell your phone and/or give it to someone. What do you mean “data is controlled by your provider”? You just switch the SIM card.
        • fomine3 6y ago
          ASP is meaningless because who had iPhone won't buy dirt cheap Android phone.
          • scarface74 6y ago
            The ASP of an iPhone is around $700 But now are you saying that we need government intervention because of “lock in” when people are using their own free will to buy more expensive products when their are cheaper more “open” products available? Are people too dumb to make their own choices.
• yxhuvud 6y ago
  Standard oil never had more than 20% marketshare.