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By that same token, though, Best Buy owns certain classes and brands for products that they sell within their stores. Insignia is Best Buy's brand. That puts it

By that same token, though, Best Buy owns certain classes and brands for products that they sell within their stores. Insignia is Best Buy's brand. That puts it in at least the same partial sphere and no one is arguing that their prioritization of Insignia is unfair.

jiofih 6y ago
Best Buy is not one of only two players in the market, or require a years long commitment to shopping there, or stop you from walking out and buying somewhere else, or operates under commission. There is very little truth in this analogy.
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  How do you figure? Just like you can leave the Best Buy marketplace and go to another electronics store, you can leave the Apple marketplace and go to Android. No one is forcing anyone to buy an iPhone.
yyyk 6y ago
It's not the same token at all. Every product on a Bust Buy store (including products competing with other BB products) was already bought by Best Buy, BB assuming a lot of risks - if BB prevents the product from being sold to the customer, BB loses money. Every product not on a Best Buy store is very likely to be buyable somewhere else, Best Buy can't ban you from buying elsewhere. Apple doesn't buy the software displayed in the app store, nor does it allow any alternative stores. Apple has the only iOS store, and uses this to drive Apple marketshare in other areas of commerce.
Closi 6y ago
Yes - If Best Buy did control the market (i.e. was a monopoly) and then abused it's market position to price-up Dell and force adoption of their own brand, then it would be the same. The difference here of course, is that Best Buy can't control the market in this way because there are other options and customers will go elsewhere, and Dell can sell direct to consumer and through other channels. Apple can control the market in this way, and Spotify can't sell direct to consumer without Apple taking a cut (unless they build a web-only version, which would not be competitive with Apple's own offering). Spotify could go android-only, but then the same issue exists with Google and Google Play Music. Why do you think Apple is in this market? They realized that market control in one industry (the mp3 player / smartphone) could be exploited to get market control of other industries (e.g. music distribution).
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  Apple's not a monopoly, though. Until a court rules that fully owned and operated storefronts are their own unique marketplaces, Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.

jiofih 6y ago

Best Buy is not one of only two players in the market, or require a years long commitment to shopping there, or stop you from walking out and buying somewhere else, or operates under commission. There is very little truth in this analogy.

dkonofalski 6y ago
How do you figure? Just like you can leave the Best Buy marketplace and go to another electronics store, you can leave the Apple marketplace and go to Android. No one is forcing anyone to buy an iPhone.

yyyk 6y ago

It's not the same token at all. Every product on a Bust Buy store (including products competing with other BB products) was already bought by Best Buy, BB assuming a lot of risks - if BB prevents the product from being sold to the customer, BB loses money. Every product not on a Best Buy store is very likely to be buyable somewhere else, Best Buy can't ban you from buying elsewhere. Apple doesn't buy the software displayed in the app store, nor does it allow any alternative stores. Apple has the only iOS store, and uses this to drive Apple marketshare in other areas of commerce.

Closi 6y ago

Yes - If Best Buy did control the market (i.e. was a monopoly) and then abused it's market position to price-up Dell and force adoption of their own brand, then it would be the same. The difference here of course, is that Best Buy can't control the market in this way because there are other options and customers will go elsewhere, and Dell can sell direct to consumer and through other channels. Apple can control the market in this way, and Spotify can't sell direct to consumer without Apple taking a cut (unless they build a web-only version, which would not be competitive with Apple's own offering). Spotify could go android-only, but then the same issue exists with Google and Google Play Music. Why do you think Apple is in this market? They realized that market control in one industry (the mp3 player / smartphone) could be exploited to get market control of other industries (e.g. music distribution).

dkonofalski 6y ago
Apple's not a monopoly, though. Until a court rules that fully owned and operated storefronts are their own unique marketplaces, Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.