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> “Ohh it’s not a monopoly because your clients could just carry around a lenovo running linux instead of a mobile phone”. How is this argument still passing th

by phh 3y ago

> “Ohh it’s not a monopoly because your clients could just carry around a lenovo running linux instead of a mobile phone”. How is this argument still passing the bar? This explains that they are a duopoly, not a monopoly. However I do agree they are both a monopoly: You're making a 10$ app targeting Californian 10-20 yos. They have 95% Apple devices (I don't know, I'm completely spitballing, but you get the idea.). You develop the Apple app, everything is going good, you have 1M users, Apple decides to cut you off on a whim (not saying they are doing it, but they are allowed to since they are legally not a monopoly). What does this "free competition between Apple and Android" is going to do to you? Re-target your game to SWE who are more likely to have Androids? The Unity ruling seem to be clear to me that that the US law doesn't consider it a monopoly, and I acknowledge that. I can understand where this comes from. But it feels like laws need to be updated to take this new kind of situation (a local per-person monopoly impacting multiple distinct markets) into consideration.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago
> What does this "free competition between Apple and Android" is going to do to you? Re-target your game to SWE who are more likely to have Androids? It's worse than that. Suppose you have an app where neither of the platforms has a disproportionate share of the users -- they're evenly split. Now one of the platforms makes trouble for you. They want to ban you, or impose unreasonable restrictions, or charge high fees. Can you switch to the other one? Pit them against each other? No, because the other one can't reach those users. It's not like having a Walmart and a Target across the street from each other, where any buyer can trivially switch to the other store if either of them stops carrying the seller's goods. It's like having a Walmart in Florida and a Target in California and if Target kicks you out, there is no other way to reach your customers in California because they're not going to move to Florida just to shop at Walmart. Calling this "not a monopoly" because Walmart and Target are both operating in the United States is rather missing the issue.
goosedragons 3y ago
When movie studios in the US were barred from owning theatres they had 17% of the theatres and 45% of the revenue. Among all the big studios at the time, Paramount, MGM, Fox, WB, RKO. Apple and Google have 99% of all smartphones and 99% of revenue. It's pretty clear that they have an oversized influence and control over mobile app distribution too...

by phh 3y ago

AnthonyMouse 3y ago

> What does this "free competition between Apple and Android" is going to do to you? Re-target your game to SWE who are more likely to have Androids? It's worse than that. Suppose you have an app where neither of the platforms has a disproportionate share of the users -- they're evenly split. Now one of the platforms makes trouble for you. They want to ban you, or impose unreasonable restrictions, or charge high fees. Can you switch to the other one? Pit them against each other? No, because the other one can't reach those users. It's not like having a Walmart and a Target across the street from each other, where any buyer can trivially switch to the other store if either of them stops carrying the seller's goods. It's like having a Walmart in Florida and a Target in California and if Target kicks you out, there is no other way to reach your customers in California because they're not going to move to Florida just to shop at Walmart. Calling this "not a monopoly" because Walmart and Target are both operating in the United States is rather missing the issue.

goosedragons 3y ago

When movie studios in the US were barred from owning theatres they had 17% of the theatres and 45% of the revenue. Among all the big studios at the time, Paramount, MGM, Fox, WB, RKO. Apple and Google have 99% of all smartphones and 99% of revenue. It's pretty clear that they have an oversized influence and control over mobile app distribution too...