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Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

> Imagine if Spotify offered a lower rate for Android users... Wouldn't that send a very clear message to Apple?

Apple shrugs and bans Spotify. Next move?

Spotify petitions EU to sanction Apple for abuse of their monopoly on the iOS platform? Which looks a bit like what they've just done...

Again. iOS is not a monopoly.

Having a monopoly over their own product is what every company has.

"iOS is not a monopoly."

I think the confusion here is that you incorrectly believe this is a necessary condition for Spotify's complaint to be upheld.

How so? I'm not very knowledgeable on antitrust law, but I do believe US regulators usually only take action on companies already having a monopoly.

This is a complaint to the EU...

Then more users switch to Android. iPhone marketshare is flat.

https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-02-2...

incorrect.

phone choices are inelastic. users do not drop phones and switch to a competing platform because they cannot install an app, it's the other way around. besides, with that logic you have no guarantee against ALL platforms becoming locked down (as they more or less have) to compete.

> users do not drop phones and switch to a competing platform because they cannot install an app

Well, it wasn't just an app, but that was a pretty big reason (though not the only one) for my dropping iOS.

They won't. Not only will this cut into Apple's take, but it will send a very negative message to all other service publishers.

Doesn't Spotify compete directly with Apple Music? In which case, wouldn't the message be "don't compete with us"?

Potential antitrust issues notwithstanding, it seems like such a message would be very much aligned with Apple's interests.

Since Apple Music only appeared years later the message would be closer to "Hope you never get enough success for us to compete with you".

it has been "this will" and not "this does" for the better part of a decade, I think it's time for people to realize that theory and practice are two very different things and the first does not vindicate the second.

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