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And from a semantic perspective: one of the key definitions of Monopolies (from Wikipedia) is they are characterized by a lack of viable substitute goods. It's

And from a semantic perspective: one of the key definitions of Monopolies (from Wikipedia) is they are characterized by a lack of viable substitute goods. It's pretty clear to me that blocking Beeper is an attempt to ensure that iMessage doesn't have a viable substitute.

firecall 3y ago
But iMessage does have a viable substitute. And not just one, many of them. The iMessage substitutes often offer more features, work on more platforms and are widely adopted across the globe. At the risk of making a sweeping statement, and with no data to support it, I’d guess that no one outside of the USA seems to care about Blue Bubble vs Green Bubbles. Being on iMessage vs SMS isn’t a conversation in my world. Teenagers that I know all have iPhones, but use Discord or SnapChat for messaging.
- sethherr 3y ago
  It doesn’t have a viable substitute for me. So… seems like they’re successfully exerting monopoly pressure on some people. I use iMessage for conversations where everyone is on iPhones and Signal for mixed groups. iMessage isn’t the only reason I use Apple products, but it is a reason. They don’t need to have 100% market share to be behaving monopolistically. And whether you feel the impact of the monopoly is also irrelevant.
  - stephenr 3y ago
    > It doesn’t have a viable substitute for me. > I use iMessage for conversations where everyone is on iPhones and Signal for mixed groups. I thought you said there isn’t a viable substitute? Who knew Schrödinger’s messenger is a thing?
gabeio 3y ago
> It's pretty clear to me that blocking Beeper is an attempt to ensure that iMessage doesn't have a viable substitute. That's not really how that works. That's a company blocking unauthorized access to a service they provide. BBM used to be only available on blackberry devices as well, they never got sued over blocking attempts from others to use BBM outside of their devices (that I'm aware of). I am aware BBM is no longer platform locked. Didn't know they shutdown BBM...

firecall 3y ago

But iMessage does have a viable substitute. And not just one, many of them. The iMessage substitutes often offer more features, work on more platforms and are widely adopted across the globe. At the risk of making a sweeping statement, and with no data to support it, I’d guess that no one outside of the USA seems to care about Blue Bubble vs Green Bubbles. Being on iMessage vs SMS isn’t a conversation in my world. Teenagers that I know all have iPhones, but use Discord or SnapChat for messaging.

sethherr 3y ago
It doesn’t have a viable substitute for me. So… seems like they’re successfully exerting monopoly pressure on some people. I use iMessage for conversations where everyone is on iPhones and Signal for mixed groups. iMessage isn’t the only reason I use Apple products, but it is a reason. They don’t need to have 100% market share to be behaving monopolistically. And whether you feel the impact of the monopoly is also irrelevant.
- stephenr 3y ago
  > It doesn’t have a viable substitute for me. > I use iMessage for conversations where everyone is on iPhones and Signal for mixed groups. I thought you said there isn’t a viable substitute? Who knew Schrödinger’s messenger is a thing?

gabeio 3y ago

> It's pretty clear to me that blocking Beeper is an attempt to ensure that iMessage doesn't have a viable substitute. That's not really how that works. That's a company blocking unauthorized access to a service they provide. BBM used to be only available on blackberry devices as well, they never got sued over blocking attempts from others to use BBM outside of their devices (that I'm aware of). I am aware BBM is no longer platform locked. Didn't know they shutdown BBM...