Apple does not have a monopoly on phones. Not even smartphones.
A service like netflix, spotify or basecamp can't compete without an iOS app.
Apple has a monopoly on non-shit smartphones precisely because of their restrictive policies.
You think there is a chance in hell Apple and Google are not going to continue the trend of restricting devs and taking bigger profit shares for the "privilege" of being in the store? Its only going to get worse. Good for them for standing up.
You're arguing they lower their prices, and thats just going to cement their position.
We would all be better off if Apple lowered prices and we got alternatives. That's a win/win even if most users don't use the alternatives.
This is a meaningless definition of monopoly.
The issue is market power
Why doesn’t this coalition of multi-billion dollar corporations invest in creating an Android based alternative with different policies?
That would add choice to the market rather than taking it away.
They can clearly afford to do so, but it seems like they just don’t feel the need to make the investment.
I don’t see why Epic couldn’t create their own gaming focussed device, and buy a bunch of exclusive titles including their own content.
If their store had better terms than Play, and accepted APKs, why wouldn’t other developers want to sell through it?
If the argument is that developers are desperate for better terms, it must follow that they would want to support a store which provided them.
Because of network effects, consumers just don't want a phone without their banking apps.
Epic tried to make a deal like you suggest with OnePlus and LG but it was cancelled due to Google pressure.
Network effects are strong, but not impossible to overcome. All they need to do is sell the device to users who don’t care about banking apps for long enough for banking apps to be uploaded to their store.
As for the the deal with OnePlus and LG. I don’t believe it was anything like what I am suggesting - that was just a co-marketing effort.
They weren’t going to create a new and open platform based on Android.
The argument that nobody can ever compete against Android no matter what they do is a weak one.
The iPod was an incredibly niche device when it was launched.
There is a proven market for handheld gaming platforms that don’t run banking apps. Epic could start there and build out, just like Apple did.
So yeah, they could do that but it would be pointless.
This is false at face value.
If they put cellular functionality and an open app store on the device, it would be de-facto competing in the mobile app market.
Nobody would buy a phone that only plays (a few) games and has very little useful apps. You're not arguing in good faith.
Are you saying that nobody can ever successfully sell a handheld gaming device again?
People in fact do buy handheld devices that play games, and there is no reason Epic cannot enter the handheld gaming market.
If they can sell a handheld gaming device, they can make that device cellular, and they can add an App Store. People won’t buy it as a phone or to run app initially, but if they sell it successfully as a gaming device, they can use that success to attract more apps to the store.
But do people buy devices exclusively for playing handheld games? The 3DS is now officially out of production (and hadn’t had first party games in years, IIRC) and the Vita has been dead for longer. That leaves the Nintendo Switch, and while the Lite does exclusively play games in handheld mode, it plays the entire library of Switch games, including ones that were originally only designed for home consoles. And Nintendo created the dedicated gaming handheld market and was the uninterrupted leader and as often as not %70+ marketshare monopoly ever since Gunpei Yokoi made the Game&Watch AFAIK.
Is it clear? If it's that easy, how did Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon all fail in their efforts to break into that market?
It seems much simpler to force Apple to follow fair trade rules on the marketplace, than to force every other company to develop their own OS and hardware. Furthermore, the latter option basically bars anyone who isn't already in control of a large corporation from entering the mobile app market without Apple's blessing.