They have anti-trust lawsuits pending in multiple countries that will also force this once they resolve. It's obviously monopoly bundling. Literally every other modern OS allows you to install apps from multiple sources, including Android.
I'm sure the failure of distributing Fortnite independently will be a strong example against Google when the anti-trust lawsuit will inevitably come.
>“After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside of the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization,” reads Epic’s statement. “Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage, through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing third party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store.”
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/21/21229943/epic-games-fortn...
The hard part is the baked in dependency on Google Play services in most apps.
2. Open
3. Customer friendly
Pick two.
Or more specifically, you pay extra so others couldn't do it on their phones (because you as I understand wouldn't, but you don't want others to be able to)?
The gist is this: there is no app maker that can say “screw that” to Apple’s privacy/security rules and bypass them. As such I will never be in a position to choose between my privacy and using the app. By Apple’s removing the possibility of that choice, I get both.
So, with Apple, pick none I guess?
(activate developer mode by proving physical control — in the past it was a screw, now it's sitting through a few minutes of pressing the power button when asked; from dev mode you can go further and flash custom CPU and EC firmware)
This results in competing app stores being required to obtain consent for every single app installation and update while the Play Store can do whatever it likes without any user interaction.
But there’s obviously no monopoly here.
As you said yourself:
> Literally every other modern OS allows you to install apps from multiple sources, including Android.
Nobody is forced to choose iOS.
Oh, I didn't know one can install other OS on iPhones.
Same reasoning could be applied years ago: Nobody forces users to use Windows.
Why does this matter? By choosing an iPhone you choose iOS.
Think "anti-trust" rather than "monopoly," if that helps.
The very "trust" in anti-trust is about companies in the "top-level" marketplace (the general market/economy). Not about what they can build for their own platforms, in the same way it's ok for Disneyland to give you Disney money...
So Spotify claims that Apple favors Apple Music over Spotify in an anti-competitive way, and that they control 100% of "the iOS market," making such favor relevant.
Apple's argument will be basically the one you make: "our playground, our rules," and that they have made APIs available for Spotify to do all of the things Apple Music does. Which is true, but only very, very, very recently. Apple hopes that will reduce Spotify's argument to a monetary squabble over the 30/15% share. And that might work.
But it's not nothing, and it's entirely possible for a company to exercise in anti-competitive behavior in their own marketplace, running afoul of anti-trust laws.
There certainly is in European law.
Nope, it is not Apples device, it is a device of the user. Apple just produces them, users should have ability to use the devices as they see fit.
Sorry, few countries agree with the claim I made - by investigating the lack of ability to have different app stores on iPhone, usually rights of the users triumph rights of the producer (at least in Europe, US is a different beast).
They have the ability to buy the device they see fit (Apple, Google, Samsung, whatever) -- they don't have the right to dictate other terms to individual brands.
The ability to dictate to the maker of the device how it shall be and who it should do business with and allow on its platform is not part of anti-trust law...
Not in anything that has to do with its app stores...