4 ms·

EU bureaucracy logic at its best - go after google and microsoft, but we let apple do whatever they want. For me they with their closed ecosystem are both bigge

EU bureaucracy logic at its best - go after google and microsoft, but we let apple do whatever they want. For me they with their closed ecosystem are both bigger danger and more anti competitive than both Google and Microsoft combined. Or at least force them to accept other web browsers in their store.

archgrove 12y ago
Apple don't have anything even vaguely approaching a monopoly in any area. Their market share in everything from phones to computers is < 30%; Google's is > 90% for search. You can't have a "Monopoly on the contents of the iPhone app store" any more than Coke has a "Monopoly on the contents of Coke cans", and thus should be forced to fill some with Pepsi.
- mbq 12y ago
  Yup; but it may be impacted by some privacy regulations in the future.
  - herge 12y ago
    It may also be impacted by the weather too. What privacy regulations are you talking about?
- tomjen3 12y ago
  Wouldn't surprise me if Apple has 90% of the app income.
- adventured 12y ago
  They have a monopoly on downloaded music purchases. That has been weakened in the last few years. Prior to Spotify and Pandora climbing to substantial scale, iTunes had a very strong monopoly on digital music sales (spanning both the Windows and Mac platforms).
- venomsnake 12y ago
  Apple app store have roughly 100% market share of distributing software to IOS devices. Safari rendering engine has 100% market share of ios browsers.
lumberjack 12y ago
Apple is completely opt-in unlike Microsoft and Google.
- ponyous 12y ago
  Can you elaborate? How is Microsoft not opt-in?
  - snuxoll 12y ago
    Beats me, both Apple and Microsoft require an account be created to get the most out of their devices and services, but making an account doesn't force you to create a new email address in the process unlike Google.
    - richthegeek 12y ago
      I suppose it's that 90% of offices around the world use Microsoft products (Windows, Office, etc...) so it's very difficult to not use them both for users (they must use it in work) and for companies (try explaining that you fucked something up because Pages displayed something different to Word) Similarly, massive chunks of the internet rely on Google (and Facebook) for functionality like authentication. Aside from that, I'd struggle to suggest a different mail provider than gmail such is there monopoly in that space.
      - snuxoll 12y ago
        > I'd struggle to suggest a different mail provider than gmail such is there monopoly in that space. Outlook.com is great, I love it more than GMail personally, especially since I can pay a relatively affordable $19/year to get rid of the ads and know that my email provider doesn't have programs scanning every word of every email I send or receive. Privacy is a feature, you don't get that when using Google services.
blub 12y ago
You are completely wrong. Apple has a small market share, so it doesn't matter that they abuse it by disallowing e.g rival browsers and certain apps. It sucks, but one can use Android without too many headaches. But Google search is more like a public utility than a service. It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc. And hypothetically speaking, at this point Google could just shove whatever they want down their throats and tell them to deal with it. Oh wait they already did that with Google+
- DannyBee 12y ago
  "It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc." Assuming they did prime place their own products, this is not a recognized antitrust harm (it is not bundling or tying, despite random claims on HN).
  - blub 12y ago
    The fact that the bits are shipped on a CD or downloaded as a webpage should not make a difference. Google gives its own services a major advantage while burying the competition. Harmful indeed.
  - everydaypanos 12y ago
    lol. Assuming Google did this is illegal and unethical in every way since Google does no evil. 90% market share + hiding competitor sites to eg Google Places is punishable by EXISTING EU law.
  - gress 12y ago
    Assuming you're right and it's not a recognized antitrust harm, what's your opinion of it? Do you think it's ethical or good for society simply because it hasn't yet been ruled illegal?
Someone 12y ago
Let them do what they want? http://online.wsj.com/articles/apples-irish-tax-deal-breached-rules-says-eu-1412064337 http://online.wsj.com/articles/apples-irish-tax-deal-breache..., http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/14/european-commission-apple-ebook http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/14/european-commis..., http://www.zdnet.com/eu-plans-stronger-consumer-law-enforcement-after-apple-warranty-case-7000012813/ http://www.zdnet.com/eu-plans-stronger-consumer-law-enforcem..., http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/03/european-parliament-rules-apple-must-use-the-micro-usb-standard-port-for-european-idevices-by-2017.html http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/03/european...

archgrove 12y ago

Apple don't have anything even vaguely approaching a monopoly in any area. Their market share in everything from phones to computers is < 30%; Google's is > 90% for search. You can't have a "Monopoly on the contents of the iPhone app store" any more than Coke has a "Monopoly on the contents of Coke cans", and thus should be forced to fill some with Pepsi.

mbq 12y ago
Yup; but it may be impacted by some privacy regulations in the future.
- herge 12y ago
  It may also be impacted by the weather too. What privacy regulations are you talking about?
tomjen3 12y ago
Wouldn't surprise me if Apple has 90% of the app income.
adventured 12y ago
They have a monopoly on downloaded music purchases. That has been weakened in the last few years. Prior to Spotify and Pandora climbing to substantial scale, iTunes had a very strong monopoly on digital music sales (spanning both the Windows and Mac platforms).
venomsnake 12y ago
Apple app store have roughly 100% market share of distributing software to IOS devices. Safari rendering engine has 100% market share of ios browsers.

lumberjack 12y ago

Apple is completely opt-in unlike Microsoft and Google.

ponyous 12y ago
Can you elaborate? How is Microsoft not opt-in?
- snuxoll 12y ago
  Beats me, both Apple and Microsoft require an account be created to get the most out of their devices and services, but making an account doesn't force you to create a new email address in the process unlike Google.
  - richthegeek 12y ago
    I suppose it's that 90% of offices around the world use Microsoft products (Windows, Office, etc...) so it's very difficult to not use them both for users (they must use it in work) and for companies (try explaining that you fucked something up because Pages displayed something different to Word) Similarly, massive chunks of the internet rely on Google (and Facebook) for functionality like authentication. Aside from that, I'd struggle to suggest a different mail provider than gmail such is there monopoly in that space.
    - snuxoll 12y ago
      > I'd struggle to suggest a different mail provider than gmail such is there monopoly in that space. Outlook.com is great, I love it more than GMail personally, especially since I can pay a relatively affordable $19/year to get rid of the ads and know that my email provider doesn't have programs scanning every word of every email I send or receive. Privacy is a feature, you don't get that when using Google services.

blub 12y ago

You are completely wrong. Apple has a small market share, so it doesn't matter that they abuse it by disallowing e.g rival browsers and certain apps. It sucks, but one can use Android without too many headaches. But Google search is more like a public utility than a service. It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc. And hypothetically speaking, at this point Google could just shove whatever they want down their throats and tell them to deal with it. Oh wait they already did that with Google+

DannyBee 12y ago
"It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc." Assuming they did prime place their own products, this is not a recognized antitrust harm (it is not bundling or tying, despite random claims on HN).
- blub 12y ago
  The fact that the bits are shipped on a CD or downloaded as a webpage should not make a difference. Google gives its own services a major advantage while burying the competition. Harmful indeed.
- everydaypanos 12y ago
  lol. Assuming Google did this is illegal and unethical in every way since Google does no evil. 90% market share + hiding competitor sites to eg Google Places is punishable by EXISTING EU law.
- gress 12y ago
  Assuming you're right and it's not a recognized antitrust harm, what's your opinion of it? Do you think it's ethical or good for society simply because it hasn't yet been ruled illegal?

Someone 12y ago

Let them do what they want? http://online.wsj.com/articles/apples-irish-tax-deal-breached-rules-says-eu-1412064337 http://online.wsj.com/articles/apples-irish-tax-deal-breache..., http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/14/european-commission-apple-ebook http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/14/european-commis..., http://www.zdnet.com/eu-plans-stronger-consumer-law-enforcement-after-apple-warranty-case-7000012813/ http://www.zdnet.com/eu-plans-stronger-consumer-law-enforcem..., http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/03/european-parliament-rules-apple-must-use-the-micro-usb-standard-port-for-european-idevices-by-2017.html http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/03/european...