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Did you choose the Samsung App Store, or was it preloaded on the device by the phone manufacturer? Consumer choice is restricted by those anti-competitive busi
by bogwog 4y ago
Did you choose the Samsung App Store, or was it preloaded on the device by the phone manufacturer?
Consumer choice is restricted by those anti-competitive business practices I mentioned. Whatever deal Samsung has with Google for preloaded software is irrelevant. If you wanted to install the Epic Games Store, you'd have to go flip that switch[*]
[*] actually, Samsung allows Epic to distribute their store through the Galaxy store app. So that's a bad example lol, but EGS is the only major Android app store I could think of. If anything though, the fact that Samsung allows this is evidence that increased competition benefits consumers. Samsung doesn't have the market position Google does, so they need to make different decisions to compete. Making it easy to install a third-party store without Google's security theater bullshit is good for consumers.
- robertlagrant 4y agoRelative to almost anything else a consumer might want to choose in their purchasing lives, tapping a screen a couple of times doesn't seem to qualify as difficult. Definitely not as a restriction of consumer choice.
- bogwog 4y agoBy “tapping a screen a couple of times” you’re referring to the process of enabling side-loading on Android? Because if you don’t think that’s a problem, then you must be living in a bubble surrounded by techies. Imagine you’re trying to start a competing app store. What does user acquisition look like for you on Android? Besides the regular ad spending to promote your app, you also need to figure out a way to guide consumers through the installation process. Even if you manage to solve that problem effectively with some kick ass tutorial, your main competitor doesn’t have to worry about that. They will always be advantaged no matter how superior your product/service is. And that’s just the side loading side of it. There are many other anti-competitive things Google does on Android to maintain their monopoly.
- robertlagrant 4y agoI have the consumer choice to buy any compatible car battery I want. That doesn't mean it's easy to install. Unless I'm living in an ivory tower with people who find app stores easier to install than car batteries. Ease of installation (which, again, at least in my rarefied atmosphere of people who find tapping a screen under 10 times [0] easier than, say, going and buying a compatible battery, remove the old one, installing the new one, and disposing of the old one) still isn't particularly to do with choice. Android certainly has choice. It's Apple that doesn't. [0] https://www.howtogeek.com/696504/how-to-install-third-party-app-stores-on-android https://www.howtogeek.com/696504/how-to-install-third-party-...
- bogwog 4y agoyou right android good apple bad