3 ms·

Isn't the obvious question, why Google and not Apple? Or maybe, why not Google AND Apple?

donmcronald 5y ago
And Microsoft and Facebook IMO.
Guest42 5y ago
Seems like they are both getting legal attention, just separately. I wonder if the magnitude of these cases is better handled by 2 teams at once to speed them up?
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  There are two very different scenarios and companies that both happen to be about exorbitant fees. I'm not sure about this but I think you can't really do the suit at once with two companies. You would require legislation for that, I think. Apple also has a tighter hold on the app ecosystem, as well as the developer fee, xcode, no third party app stores, "entitlement" apis, etc.
bpodgursky 5y ago
The obvious answer is that the this kind of lawsuit is inherently to score political points, and for whatever reason the AGs saw more upside in suing Google than Apple.
- extra88 5y ago
  Yes, Apple is much more "clean." Apple and Google are both potentially abusing is market dominance in areas but Google is also in the slimy business of selling ads (and the tracking that goes with it). Google also catches anti-social media heat because they own YouTube which is criticized for not taking down bad stuff fast enough, taking down OK stuff in error, and radicalizing impressionable people through their algorithmic recommendations.
RandallBrown 5y ago
Apple recently changed their fee to 15% for the first million (with some complications for making over a million in subsequent years). This covers like 95% of developers (maybe more?). Looks like Apple just barely squeaked by with the right moves.
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
  I thought the Play Store fees work the exact same way? (Edit- referring to app purchases, IAP and subscriptions, not the cost of having a developer account)
  - RandallBrown 5y ago
    I believe Play Store fees are 30% across the board. https://support.google.com/paymentscenter/answer/7159343?hl=en https://support.google.com/paymentscenter/answer/7159343?hl=...
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> why Google and not Apple? Google Play is ostensibly optional on Android. App Store is not on iOS. As such, Google Play has identifiable, harmed competition. Apple does not; its harm in fact falls not on competitors or consumers, but on developers--its suppliers. That bolster's the judicial merits of the Google actions as antitrust reviewable. For Apple, one must create a novel expansion of antitrust rules and definitions. As we saw with Facebook, where a similar group of state AGs got their case thrown out for failing at the shockingly basic question of "what's the market they're alleged to have monopolized?" TL; DR Pursuing Apple comes closer to a political question than a judicial one. Google, and to a lesser degree Facebook, may be judicially addressable.
CubsFan1060 5y ago
It looks to me like there's a couple of things. Many of the claims are similar to the Epic vs Apple case. Perhaps they figure Epic already did the work there? Second, many of these claims have nothing to do with what Apple does. They are more similar to the old Microsoft case. Trying to stop competition, forcing OEM's to not have their own App store, etc...

And Microsoft and Facebook IMO.

Seems like they are both getting legal attention, just separately. I wonder if the magnitude of these cases is better handled by 2 teams at once to speed them up?

cartoonworld 5y ago
There are two very different scenarios and companies that both happen to be about exorbitant fees. I'm not sure about this but I think you can't really do the suit at once with two companies. You would require legislation for that, I think. Apple also has a tighter hold on the app ecosystem, as well as the developer fee, xcode, no third party app stores, "entitlement" apis, etc.

bpodgursky 5y ago

The obvious answer is that the this kind of lawsuit is inherently to score political points, and for whatever reason the AGs saw more upside in suing Google than Apple.

extra88 5y ago
Yes, Apple is much more "clean." Apple and Google are both potentially abusing is market dominance in areas but Google is also in the slimy business of selling ads (and the tracking that goes with it). Google also catches anti-social media heat because they own YouTube which is criticized for not taking down bad stuff fast enough, taking down OK stuff in error, and radicalizing impressionable people through their algorithmic recommendations.

RandallBrown 5y ago

Apple recently changed their fee to 15% for the first million (with some complications for making over a million in subsequent years). This covers like 95% of developers (maybe more?). Looks like Apple just barely squeaked by with the right moves.

Rebelgecko 5y ago
I thought the Play Store fees work the exact same way? (Edit- referring to app purchases, IAP and subscriptions, not the cost of having a developer account)
- RandallBrown 5y ago
  I believe Play Store fees are 30% across the board. https://support.google.com/paymentscenter/answer/7159343?hl=en https://support.google.com/paymentscenter/answer/7159343?hl=...

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> why Google and not Apple? Google Play is ostensibly optional on Android. App Store is not on iOS. As such, Google Play has identifiable, harmed competition. Apple does not; its harm in fact falls not on competitors or consumers, but on developers--its suppliers. That bolster's the judicial merits of the Google actions as antitrust reviewable. For Apple, one must create a novel expansion of antitrust rules and definitions. As we saw with Facebook, where a similar group of state AGs got their case thrown out for failing at the shockingly basic question of "what's the market they're alleged to have monopolized?" TL; DR Pursuing Apple comes closer to a political question than a judicial one. Google, and to a lesser degree Facebook, may be judicially addressable.

CubsFan1060 5y ago

It looks to me like there's a couple of things. Many of the claims are similar to the Epic vs Apple case. Perhaps they figure Epic already did the work there? Second, many of these claims have nothing to do with what Apple does. They are more similar to the old Microsoft case. Trying to stop competition, forcing OEM's to not have their own App store, etc...