I think an interesting question is: What is Apple's best move from here?
I would suggest that Apple should leave Google/ FB blocked for ~1-2 weeks, to remind them who's boss on the iOS platform. However, I would argue it'd be smart for them to switch them back on after that- there's a chance that this looks anticompetitive to regulators at some point, which isn't something Apple wants to mess around with.
One sort of "rubbing their nose in it" term could be something like a large donation to some sort of privacy advocacy group or similar.
You mean like the terms of the Enterprise agreement? The terms that were already agreed to?
The reality, though, is that this sort of behavior in VERY large, VERY influential companies is going to draw way more scrutiny than a small company getting crushed by one of the big guys.
In general, Apple, Google, and Facebook are 3 of the largest technology companies in the world. In general, they have areas where their interests overlap (messaging as one good example of this).
Hindering the ability of Google/ FB to develop on iOS could absolutely be seen as an anticompetitive measure by Apple.
- Utilities that are only useful to employees of those companies (cafeteria menus, shuttle schedules, resources for salespeople on the go, etc.).
- Pre-release/testing (aka dogfood) versions of the apps they distribute to the public, for employees to use and find bugs on before they make it out to normal users.
Neither of those are pools that Apple wants to play in.
...and I guess there's a third category:
- Apps used gain "competitive intelligence" and spy on users.
I wouldn’t even look at it from an anticompetitive angle or anything like that. This is a matter of what’s best for apple and its users. They should absolutely do what’s needed to ensure that their terms are obeyed. But permanently banning google is not “what’s needed.” What’s needed is merely to demonstrate that the behavior will not be tolerated going forward. I imagine discussions between corporate lawyers and perhaps a reasonably sized bond would be sufficient to demonstrate google’s sincerity in not repeating the error.
By making this problem last long they aren't doing anything useful either.
- Bad case, they never restore certificates to G/FB and they end up losing all their employees to Android, with likely ripple effects in their tech sphere of influence.
- Worst case, G/FB retaliate by removing their apps from iOS and it's all out war with everyone losing.
- Best case, they restore them tomorrow with some fanfare and handshakes, but thousands of smaller companies now have been reminded Apple may actually shut them down if they misbehave.
There's no actual legal requirement that your company offers the same service that you use your market control to prevent your competitors from offering.
This is especially relevant in the markets where Apple has a significant market share (USA).
A convenient and inexpensive mechanism for installing apps to lots of other people’s devices has, however, been revoked.
You can create devices and sell them and not make them compatible with other companies products if you want. It’s true from printer ink to PlayStations.
The only issue would be market share and monopoly problems, which given that Google’s alternative platform has 54% of the market is totally irrelevant here.
Perhaps Google should shut down ever one of the servers that Apple is renting from them, for a couple weeks?
Or just block everyone on apple's campus/IP addresses from having access to any google services, search engines, ect?
The 2nd one probably wouldn't violate any contracts, so I don't see a problem with it.
This sounds counterproductive, as opposed to enforcing rules consistently.