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I generally believe Apple, Google and others should be able to profit from creating some of the most useful, innovative and technically challenging products in

I generally believe Apple, Google and others should be able to profit from creating some of the most useful, innovative and technically challenging products in human history (remember multi touch was not an affordable thing before Apple). But, 15 years (since original iPhone) is about enough to reward the innovation. Beyond that point, it is the role of government to open up platforms to enable the next generation of competition and creation, otherwise things start to get stagnant. That said, there aren’t a ton of things left that can’t be done without Apple approval (or rather, tons of things but not tons of value being blocked). Free speech seems like the big one and I do think it’s good for that to be officially supported (and require court orders to block rather than Apple/Google orders). I would be a bit worried about the the ability of the EU to regulate privacy as swiftly and effectively as Apple. If I go to a clinic, they ask me to side load an app while I’m sick, and that app has no real privacy protections… Probably on balance, this will be good for free society, and come with the natural knock on effect of more freedom to harm yourself as well.

amelius 4y ago
The problem with these big companies is that they tend to produce useful stuff for the average consumer only. But if they were broken up into smaller companies that created stuff that other businesses can use to build more products, I think we would have a more modular economy with far more choice than the current duopoly offers.
- jahewson 4y ago
  If you’re producing consumer devices you need scale. Huge scale. Niece companies catering to specific audiences sounds great but without scale, the prices would be an order of magnitude higher than you’re used to paying. Modularity itself is costly as integration is one of the main factors driving down consumer devise prices.
  - account42 4y ago
    You need scale for the hardware part but not nearly as much scale for the OS and barely and for the apps. That's why these should not be tied together, so that we can have specialists Apps and operating system that do not have the scale to afford their own hardware platform.
Wowfunhappy 4y ago
> If I go to a clinic, they ask me to side load an app while I’m sick, and that app has no real privacy protections… That behavior should also be regulated, because the app is collecting medical information. I'd much rather the government regulate this than some self-interested tech company which promotes privacy if and when it's financially expedient for them.
- cmdli 4y ago
  Will that be regulated, though? It looks to me like the EU is just taking steps to give companies freedom (by allowing sideloading) but no steps to regulate that freedom (by enshrining app privacy into law).
  - yulaow 4y ago
    PII is already heavily regulated in eu and harmonized since years, most eu nations have even more stringent laws on medical and sexual pii data
jahewson 4y ago
> Beyond that point, it is the role of government to open up platforms to enable the next generation of competition and creation, otherwise things start to get stagnant. No this is not the role of government. Anyone is free to compete with Apple. Go do it.
wvenable 4y ago
> If I go to a clinic, they ask me to side load an app while I’m sick, and that app has no real privacy protections… What privacy protections do you get from getting that same app from the app store?

amelius 4y ago

The problem with these big companies is that they tend to produce useful stuff for the average consumer only. But if they were broken up into smaller companies that created stuff that other businesses can use to build more products, I think we would have a more modular economy with far more choice than the current duopoly offers.

jahewson 4y ago
If you’re producing consumer devices you need scale. Huge scale. Niece companies catering to specific audiences sounds great but without scale, the prices would be an order of magnitude higher than you’re used to paying. Modularity itself is costly as integration is one of the main factors driving down consumer devise prices.
- account42 4y ago
  You need scale for the hardware part but not nearly as much scale for the OS and barely and for the apps. That's why these should not be tied together, so that we can have specialists Apps and operating system that do not have the scale to afford their own hardware platform.

Wowfunhappy 4y ago

> If I go to a clinic, they ask me to side load an app while I’m sick, and that app has no real privacy protections… That behavior should also be regulated, because the app is collecting medical information. I'd much rather the government regulate this than some self-interested tech company which promotes privacy if and when it's financially expedient for them.

cmdli 4y ago
Will that be regulated, though? It looks to me like the EU is just taking steps to give companies freedom (by allowing sideloading) but no steps to regulate that freedom (by enshrining app privacy into law).
- yulaow 4y ago
  PII is already heavily regulated in eu and harmonized since years, most eu nations have even more stringent laws on medical and sexual pii data

jahewson 4y ago

> Beyond that point, it is the role of government to open up platforms to enable the next generation of competition and creation, otherwise things start to get stagnant. No this is not the role of government. Anyone is free to compete with Apple. Go do it.

wvenable 4y ago

> If I go to a clinic, they ask me to side load an app while I’m sick, and that app has no real privacy protections… What privacy protections do you get from getting that same app from the app store?