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I guess if your definition of monopoly is just "has basically all the marketshare," you're right. But there are a lot of verticals they've monopolized within th

I guess if your definition of monopoly is just "has basically all the marketshare," you're right. But there are a lot of verticals they've monopolized within the population of phone users, and it makes people feel as though they have a monopoly (and they kind of do because those users don't feel like they have a viable alternative option). Their US market share is >50% now and most people who can afford it are using iPhone. If you have enough friends who can afford iPhones, chances are most of your friends are using iPhones. This is enough to produce a network effect that is also now a weird exclusivity effect further dividing haves and have-nots (e.g. happening in US schools between kids from different social strata).

askafriend 3y ago
The cheapest iPhone (SE) for sale is $429 on apple.com Not to mention you can get slightly used iPhones that work well for potentially cheaper. I don't think the "can afford" point is relevant anymore unless you're talking about the latest/greatest/high-end versions.
- edrxty 3y ago
  Not everyone wants an iPhone, there are lots of things you can't do on them because of apple's hyper militant approach to their app store. Things like: - Terminal emulators (iSH doesn't count, it's a terrible hack) - Torrents - File management, particularly with USB flash - USB devices in general (drives, sensors, RTL-SDR, etc) - And of course, sideloading Android at least allows power users on the platform, iPhones are just devices designed to keep the dumbest possible users from inflicting self injury
  - askafriend 3y ago
    99.9% of people don't know or care what any of the things on your bullet list are. Nor should they, unless they have very specific needs.
  - meepmorp 3y ago
    > iPhones are just devices designed to keep the dumbest possible users Why can’t you just enjoy the platform you prefer? Why insult people who prefer something else? And, tbh, cell phones are a weird choice of thing to make part of your identity.
    - edrxty 3y ago
      Precisely. It would be great if everyone had access to the same chat networks so we don't have to form cliques around what should be dumb hardware.
      - meepmorp 3y ago
        That's entirely unrelated to the comment I was responding to, and we already have cross-platform messaging apps today.
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  You can get new android phones for $200 and that's a meaningful drop in price from $429 for many families.
  - influenxe 3y ago
    Everyone else can get a used iPhone 2020 in grade-A condition for $200 which gets updates til 2026.
    - extraduder_ire 3y ago
      Is there actually a plan/assurance posted by apple anywhere, or are you just basing that on their history? It'd be nice to know when I might need to replace the iphone I'm using as an extra phone.
- Woshiwuja 3y ago
  Yes, almost 500 when you can get a cheap android for 150/200. Thats a big price increase.
bdcravens 3y ago
So you're defining a monopoly as whether a company makes people feel like they're one of the cool kids?
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  Late reply here, but yeah! Monopoly is when you have all of something that people want and they can't get it anywhere else right? The popular social networks are monopolies even if you technically could start your own Instagram; you're just exceedingly unlikely to re-create the value you get from using the one that exists with all the users. The network is the value and it's monopolized. iMessage is like Instagram. It's a network, and it matters. I'm speaking as someone who switched from Android to iOS recently in large part _for_ access to iMessage. You can't build an iOS competitor and overcome the network effect of people wanting to use iMessage, even if your OS is superior in other ways. People have to choose between lesser of two evils instead of benefitting from the best-of-all-worlds. This is inherently anticompetitive -- the main reason monopolies are bad.

askafriend 3y ago

The cheapest iPhone (SE) for sale is $429 on apple.com Not to mention you can get slightly used iPhones that work well for potentially cheaper. I don't think the "can afford" point is relevant anymore unless you're talking about the latest/greatest/high-end versions.

edrxty 3y ago
Not everyone wants an iPhone, there are lots of things you can't do on them because of apple's hyper militant approach to their app store. Things like: - Terminal emulators (iSH doesn't count, it's a terrible hack) - Torrents - File management, particularly with USB flash - USB devices in general (drives, sensors, RTL-SDR, etc) - And of course, sideloading Android at least allows power users on the platform, iPhones are just devices designed to keep the dumbest possible users from inflicting self injury
- askafriend 3y ago
  99.9% of people don't know or care what any of the things on your bullet list are. Nor should they, unless they have very specific needs.
- meepmorp 3y ago
  > iPhones are just devices designed to keep the dumbest possible users Why can’t you just enjoy the platform you prefer? Why insult people who prefer something else? And, tbh, cell phones are a weird choice of thing to make part of your identity.
  - edrxty 3y ago
    Precisely. It would be great if everyone had access to the same chat networks so we don't have to form cliques around what should be dumb hardware.
    - meepmorp 3y ago
      That's entirely unrelated to the comment I was responding to, and we already have cross-platform messaging apps today.
kajecounterhack 3y ago
You can get new android phones for $200 and that's a meaningful drop in price from $429 for many families.
- influenxe 3y ago
  Everyone else can get a used iPhone 2020 in grade-A condition for $200 which gets updates til 2026.
  - extraduder_ire 3y ago
    Is there actually a plan/assurance posted by apple anywhere, or are you just basing that on their history? It'd be nice to know when I might need to replace the iphone I'm using as an extra phone.
Woshiwuja 3y ago
Yes, almost 500 when you can get a cheap android for 150/200. Thats a big price increase.

bdcravens 3y ago

So you're defining a monopoly as whether a company makes people feel like they're one of the cool kids?

kajecounterhack 3y ago
Late reply here, but yeah! Monopoly is when you have all of something that people want and they can't get it anywhere else right? The popular social networks are monopolies even if you technically could start your own Instagram; you're just exceedingly unlikely to re-create the value you get from using the one that exists with all the users. The network is the value and it's monopolized. iMessage is like Instagram. It's a network, and it matters. I'm speaking as someone who switched from Android to iOS recently in large part _for_ access to iMessage. You can't build an iOS competitor and overcome the network effect of people wanting to use iMessage, even if your OS is superior in other ways. People have to choose between lesser of two evils instead of benefitting from the best-of-all-worlds. This is inherently anticompetitive -- the main reason monopolies are bad.