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Comment by wayneftw | Hacker News Reader

I support any gang that wants to give developers and users more freedom of choice.

What do you support?

Freedom of choice, like which store to buy their Epic Game Store exclusive games at... oh wait.

The switching cost between launchers on PC is negligible, compared to phones where it's a massive undertaking. That said, in the context of user freedoms I think it's fair to not support Epic (in part, for their actions towards exclusive games) at the same time as supporting Epic (in part, for their actions on mobile platforms).

I don't think it is. While I may agree with the goal of open platforms, I don't for one moment believe that Epic cares at all about that goal and I do not believe their method of intentionally violating TOS and using propaganda to direct a raging horde of children at Apple is the right way to go about it.

If you take the companies as nation states and the citizens as users then yes Epic’s citizens are largely minors, whereas Apple’s are adults.

Also, the nation of Apple is larger and much more politically connected to true nation states.

It's funny that people gang up on Epic Game Store exclusives when Steam has been doing exclusives for over a decade. Not only Valve games, but almost every AAA game that isn't made by Ubisoft or EA is basically just a code to unlock the game on Steam. You need to run all the updates through Steam, microtransactions through Steam, start the game each time by Steam. You can't live without Steam for most AAA games.

That's on the companies making those games, Valve doesn't pay them for exclusives and even allows developers to sell Steam keys on other storefronts without taking a cut.

I support that anti-Apple folks should get Android, Jolla, Purism,...

Apparently voting with the wallet means buying status and then complaining about what one has bought.

I support that anti-Microsoft folks in the 90s should use Linux, Macintosh or an abacus. Plenty of choices. Vote with your wallet.

The market share and dominance is not even remotely comparable.

Sure it is, there are plenty of countries were iOS devices, if any, are in the hands of a couple politicians and their families.

That makes no sense whatsoever. Why are you giving advice for users in a thread about developers rights?

90% of the youth market uses an iPhone and that's the same market Epic is in. Outside of youths, 50% of the US population uses an iPhone.

Can you provide some sources for the numbers?

[0] https://www.techspot.com/news/74108-over-80-us-teens-iphone-...

[1] https://www.cultofmac.com/309924/50-u-s-smartphones-activate...

Be a developer for another platform then. What makes the platform is both consumers and producers of apps. Vote with your wallet and your merchandise.

No sane app development business would do this when half of their potential customers are on an iPhone.

I'd rather vote in legislators that will maintain the existing laws of the land, which state that you can't use your Apple-sized market power to keep competitors from doing business.

80% of world's customers are on Android.

There are countries with 0% market share for iOS.

This lawsuit is taking place in the United States just like most of my business. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in the rest of the world.

It matters to the judge.

Care to cite your reference?

80% of the world is on Android, plenty of money to make there.

Also as a developer whose employer targets Apple devices, I am more than at home with Apple's decisions.

Don't like them? Target Android, Web,..

Check how open are games consoles for a change.

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