4 ms·

tbh, isn't it completely in google's right to do this? It's not a regulated market, it's google's store.

lozenge 5y ago
That's what the lawsuit is about. "Epic’s complaint alleges that Google’s payment restrictions on the Play Store constitute a monopoly, and thus a violation of both the Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act."
- LadyCailin 5y ago
  Maybe google should move to one year exclusivity on the apps in their App Store?
  - stale2002 5y ago
    That would be a much better situation than the current status quo. If Google moved to exclusive deals, then that would mean that they would be paying game developers, 10s of millions of dollars, instead of the other way around. The current situation is the reverse. Game devs are paying google 10s of millions of dollars. If the opposite happened, then that would be much better.
seniorivn 5y ago
> Larry Page told Steve Jobs in 2010 that "There will always be places we compete, and places where we cooperate." > After another meeting between Apple and Google senior executives, notes showed that the execs agreed: "Our vision is that we work as if we are one company." if it will be proven in court it's a firm base for anti monopoly/cartel case
- samhw 5y ago
  Honestly, I don't think that's going far enough. That "our vision is that we work as if we are one company" line couldn't be a better basis for an antitrust case if they were literally trying to incriminate themselves.
  - sulam 5y ago
    That line, bereft of context, is being used as if the two companies don’t compete in many many markets. Do you really think that the original context was as broad as the entire company’s operations? Or even the respective phone ecosystems? They clearly compete with each other heavily.
    - luckylion 5y ago
      Maybe they aren't competing, but merely simulate competition in many markets. Why isn't the app-store-tax getting lower through heavy competition? In many cases, it looks like there's some mutual competition-simulation going. Google launches Google+ to pretend Facebook isn't the only social network, Microsoft launches Bing so Google can say "we don't have a monopoly on search", Google finances Firefox to say the same about browsers, Apple creates Apple Maps to pretend Google Maps has competition etc, but they always seem to put in no more than the minimum effort required. Of course, they could be honestly trying to compete and they just suck at doing those things their competitors do really well. It just looks suspicious, and quotes like that add weight to that impression.
      - sulam 5y ago
        Yes, all capitalism is just a big agreement to channel all the assets to wealthy people. The only one not in on the secret is you.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - encryptluks2 5y ago
      Also, that line may be the only evidence... depending on who said it and in what context, it is very unlikely that a plaintiff would use a single instance like this as the basis for their entire case.
feanaro 5y ago
In addition what everyone else responded, even if it turns out to currently be legal, it doesn't mean it should be legal.
makeitdouble 5y ago
That’s kind of the point of the lawsuit, to get some oversight in a mafia and the mob kind market.
stale2002 5y ago
Thats for the courts to decide. And apparently there are a whole bunch of lawsuits against google, in multiple countries. My money is on them losing at least one of them, in some way. All that needs to happen is for them to lose a single lawsuit, somewhere, for the statement of "its in their right to do that" to be wrong.

That's what the lawsuit is about. "Epic’s complaint alleges that Google’s payment restrictions on the Play Store constitute a monopoly, and thus a violation of both the Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act."

LadyCailin 5y ago
Maybe google should move to one year exclusivity on the apps in their App Store?
- stale2002 5y ago
  That would be a much better situation than the current status quo. If Google moved to exclusive deals, then that would mean that they would be paying game developers, 10s of millions of dollars, instead of the other way around. The current situation is the reverse. Game devs are paying google 10s of millions of dollars. If the opposite happened, then that would be much better.

seniorivn 5y ago

> Larry Page told Steve Jobs in 2010 that "There will always be places we compete, and places where we cooperate." > After another meeting between Apple and Google senior executives, notes showed that the execs agreed: "Our vision is that we work as if we are one company." if it will be proven in court it's a firm base for anti monopoly/cartel case

samhw 5y ago
Honestly, I don't think that's going far enough. That "our vision is that we work as if we are one company" line couldn't be a better basis for an antitrust case if they were literally trying to incriminate themselves.
- sulam 5y ago
  That line, bereft of context, is being used as if the two companies don’t compete in many many markets. Do you really think that the original context was as broad as the entire company’s operations? Or even the respective phone ecosystems? They clearly compete with each other heavily.
  - luckylion 5y ago
    Maybe they aren't competing, but merely simulate competition in many markets. Why isn't the app-store-tax getting lower through heavy competition? In many cases, it looks like there's some mutual competition-simulation going. Google launches Google+ to pretend Facebook isn't the only social network, Microsoft launches Bing so Google can say "we don't have a monopoly on search", Google finances Firefox to say the same about browsers, Apple creates Apple Maps to pretend Google Maps has competition etc, but they always seem to put in no more than the minimum effort required. Of course, they could be honestly trying to compete and they just suck at doing those things their competitors do really well. It just looks suspicious, and quotes like that add weight to that impression.
    - sulam 5y ago
      Yes, all capitalism is just a big agreement to channel all the assets to wealthy people. The only one not in on the secret is you.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - encryptluks2 5y ago
    Also, that line may be the only evidence... depending on who said it and in what context, it is very unlikely that a plaintiff would use a single instance like this as the basis for their entire case.

feanaro 5y ago

In addition what everyone else responded, even if it turns out to currently be legal, it doesn't mean it should be legal.

makeitdouble 5y ago

That’s kind of the point of the lawsuit, to get some oversight in a mafia and the mob kind market.

stale2002 5y ago

Thats for the courts to decide. And apparently there are a whole bunch of lawsuits against google, in multiple countries. My money is on them losing at least one of them, in some way. All that needs to happen is for them to lose a single lawsuit, somewhere, for the statement of "its in their right to do that" to be wrong.