That aside - You're missing the forest for the trees.
No one is saying Apple is not providing a service, no one is arguing that they shouldn't be able to charge what they want for that service.
Everyone is saying that it's bullshit that Apple is the only service you can pick if your users are on iOS.
Basically - Why is it fair for apple to arbitrarily prevent the installation of any competing distribution methods?
Because from my perspective - It doesn't matter how great you think Apple's services are, you can't have an honest and informed opinion when they only ever let you see that one walled garden.
Epic is literally in the same market - They have a store, they developed a distribution channel, they paid developers, designers, QA, support, etc. But Apple has said "Nice store you've spent all that money building, such a shame we've decided we won't allow you to use it on an iPhone."
App not on the Apple store? Don't use the app. So simple.
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I bet your first response to that statement isn't positive - Now reflect that this is exactly what Apple is saying to developers. "Don't want to use our store? Don't release on iOS."
Because right now, if you use an application on iOS, you are not a customer of that application. You are an Apple customer who happens to use a product resold by Apple.
Now - I have no problem with you preferring that arrangement, and I'm certainly not suggesting removing the Apple app store. I'm just saying it feels a tad like bullshit. Maybe entirely like bullshit. Actually - Nope, it's just bullshit.
Disjointed app stores are annoying at worst, but I don't really see why there's any legal problem with that.
Ethically... I find it fairly immoral to intentionally prohibit users who have bought your product from using it in ways you don't like. Courts also tend to look poorly on this, but there's a narrow path to walk between enforcing interoperability and allowing innovation.
I guess I'd say the concepts "sale" and "ownership" are at stake here. If I buy something, I expect to be able to extend/modify/repair/dismantle that device in any way I choose. I OWN it.
In the physical world, it's nearly impossible to put some sort of non-electronic lock on a device that would prevent the user from doing just that. There's no reasonable way to make a cup that could only hold Sprite.
So that status quo up until the last 70 years or so has been "buy means buy" and you own the thing.
Now we have products with incredibly complicated digital locks, though.
It turns out you can prevent users from putting something other than sprite in their cups with a complicated enough digital enforcement mechanism. The question is "should you be allowed to?".
And that's actually a hard question - The answer depends a lot on how many people need to interoperate with you and your products (your marketshare and possible monopoly status), as well as whether you have a genuine benefit you're providing your consumer by limiting that cup to just Sprite.
So legally speaking, Keurig just settled a case about this exact issue (they're out 31 million, btw). This is not nearly as "problem free" as you so clearly want it to be.
The answer seems to become, I own the fridge, I can change it how I want, it I can figure out how, I can put whatever software I want on it.
Same with an iPhone—it’s my device, I can use it as a paperweight if I want, if I want, I can run Doom directly on it if I can figure out how.
Not sure why LG or Apple have an obligation to make sure their devices can run arbitrary programs.
Like it sucks that it takes a trillion dollar company and total control of the platform to get developers to sorta kinda not mistreat their users but the “the individual right to not use bad apps” has done exactly nothing.
For example, I trust Steam, GOG, Epic's store (though I don't use Epic's because I don't want to fragment my library), and a whole assortment of developers specifically.
Also, it's not 2007 anymore, if you trust a developer you can almost always guarantee the app came from the trusted source through code signing. Almost everything is code-signed nowadays. If it isn't, Windows lets you know about it. If it's also not a popular app, the platform actively alerts you about it. VirusTotal and other reputation services also help you make an informed decision on whether an app is trustworthy or not.
There is no problem with multiple stores existing as a model. In fact, on android you can have that. If you like multiple stores, and you want the hassle of using reputation services to manage which things you trust, that's fine. Nobody is saying that you can't.
But by going against Apple's store as part of the platform model, you want to stop people from having a simpler option.
They are deciding that simpler option when they buy into the platform. My mum HATES PCs but loves her iPad because she doesn't have to deal with antivirus updates or downloading dodgy software. She doesn't have to understand multiple stores.
With a multi store model, there is an incentive for competition on store pricing. How do you compete on pricing alone with other stores? You reduce the quality of your review process. It's the only way to compete on cost. And that's what forcing multiple stores does.
This lawsuit is like saying that Google should be forced to allow for other browser than Chrome to be used on Chromebook devices. The whole device is a tightly integrated top to bottom solution and when you buy the device you buy the entire solution, not pieces of it. It's not an open system where you buy separate hardware/software components and some of those components aren't playing fair with the others or something.
Well, yes - obviously, no? If a tech company wants to build a completely closed ecosystem they can fuck off - that includes Epic games. Epic is doing this for their pockets, but the freedom of the end user is only going to continue to be eroded as more and more software moves into the cloud. This isn't like GDPR, the marginal cost to Apple to add a sane way to load what you want on hardware you bought is almost nil.
It would be unreasonable to make Apple sell phones without an operating system, it would not, however, be unreasonable to force them to allow users to have the privilege of even running their own apps at their own risk.
Same reason it is fair for Nintendo to not allow Sony to sell Switch games, and Sony not to allow Nintendo to sell PlayStation games.
Their circus, their monkeys.
> Apple has said "Nice store you've spent all that money building, such a shame we've decided we won't allow you to use it on an iPhone."
Epic also can't put the Epic Store on Switch or PlayStation. Strange how there's no hand-wringing about that.
If you ignore all context, then yes, an iPhone is exactly the same as a games console.
> it is fair
Is it fair? To the companies or the consumers? These are all huge multinational companies, regulation should err on the side of the end users - not Epic either.
> Their circus, their monkeys.
Your choice of words is perhaps an argument for freedom given how the life a circus monkey is.
(If you think Comcast is bad, read up on the history of railroad monopolies.)
The market in question is the $150 billion mobile applications market, of which Apple controls 60% worldwide, well above the threshold for regulatory attention in many jurisdictions.
As for taking sides, I recommend taking the consumer's side, since the consumer is thoroughly shat upon by Apple's rules. The agreement demands that merchants on the Apple platform actively mislead the consumer about their purchasing options.
At that point, whatever one may think of Epic's preferences, motives, or ethics, becomes moot. It is not unlawful to hold market power, or to use it for profit, but it is unlawful (at least where I live) to wield market power to mislead the consumer, and that's where Apple slides off the rails. However by taking direct action, Epic have the burden of proof, unless a governmental regulator decides to shoulder it first.
Of course none of this actually relates to the judgement in the article, which is about Apple's embarrassingly nonsensical counterclaims, amounting to "competing with Apple shouldn't be allowed at all because then we make less money". I struggle to comprehend the magnitude of over-entitled, self-absorbed groupthink that could lead to making such a claim with a straight face.
Also by comparison consider the statement: "The New York Central Railroad's 'monopoly' of railway access between 14% of the worlds cities doesn't stop anyone traveling by road or doing business between any of the other cities in the world so clearly it' not a monopoly".
Having said that of course Apple is no where near as egregious a monopoly. However you'd have to agree any profit focused mobile app simply must (if it can) be available on iPhone and that does give Apple a monopoly position. It's only a question of if Apple is abusing that position.
In the US, Apple's App Store is responsible for the majority of mobile app sales[2], and has 3 times the revenue of Google's Play Store.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held...
[2] https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2020/01/in-2019...
It would be as silly as asking website owners to pay Apple, just because of the fact, that visitors came in with Safari browser.
Apple made the platform, but they can't piss off the developers. Otherwise they're just going to alienate people and possibly major players to challenge them more or invest in other areas that don't take so much off of them. Apples Appstore becomes worthless the moment nobody supplies any worthwhile software...WHICH Apple needs.
Wait until you hear about intentional congestion, paid peering, and Netflix. https://qz.com/256586/the-inside-story-of-how-netflix-came-t...
They're just playing pretend as a victim. They want people to believe what they're doing is right. In actuality their hedging to become the next version of Cable TV. With how bad Disney's revenue has been going this year, I wouldn't be surprised that if they keep taking hits like this, we could potentially see an acquisition or merger between the two.
the dictionary definition of the word analogy does not include those stipulations that you stated.
Any explanation that compares two things meets the definition of analogy. I think you're being pedantic. You can disagree with the comparison, but that doesn't mean it can't be called an analogy.
If I was to make an analogy, I might say Walmart is a better analogy. Walmart is the biggest store in town, but you do have alternatives and nobody is forcing you to shop there, even if it's kind of hard not to. Walmart does all the legwork of getting customers into the shop, then puts other companies' products on its shelves and sells them for a markup. Their markup? Pretty similar to Apple's fee, roughly 25%.
In what way is this different than a country or a state? Nobody is forcing you to live in California, you could sell your house and get a different job and a different social cohort and move to Florida. Nobody is forcing you to use an iPhone, you could sell your phone and replace all your apps and convince everyone you know to switch away from iMessage.
> where you are forced to abide by its laws and pay its taxes.
How are you distinguishing the app store rules and fees from laws and taxes?
> Walmart is the biggest store in town, but you do have alternatives and nobody is forcing you to shop there, even if it's kind of hard not to.
Walmart doesn't own all the real estate for a hundred miles and then prohibit anyone else from building a store that people who shop at Walmart could reasonably patronize. They don't condition your use of their store on buying their car, which in turn refuses to let you drive to any other store, so that if you want/need any product from Walmart you have to get every product from there.
> Their markup? Pretty similar to Apple's fee, roughly 25%.
For a brick and mortar store which is paying for local real estate, physical inventory and human cashiers, none of which Apple does and yet they're still charging higher fees.
But you can't sell apps when you switch platforms, so not really sure how this country/state analogy helps
Next, we'll see people complaining how google.com should be displaying alternative search engine links on their frontpage because it's too hard for people to type bing.com.
You don't even need to live indoors either. You don't need a telephone, you don't need oil, you don't need to make things out of steel. You can live without any of it.
Antitrust isn't about how much you need something, it's about competition. It's illegal to abuse a monopoly on cotton candy, regardless of the fact that nobody actually needs cotton candy.
Moreover, the point of the analogy is to demonstrate switching costs. Phone platform transitions are costly. You not only have to replace your device but all your apps, your operating system (which incurs training costs), any services that are only supported or well-supported on one platform including those with network effects that are used by other people, etc. It's not at all trivial and can involve tens of hours of labor. So if that's what you have to do in order to have a choice in where you can buy a $1 app, that isn't really a choice. It's not anywhere close to cost effective to do it even if the competitor is charging $0.70 for the app instead of $1.
And you would have to do it every time. Even if you switched to Android, now you're stuck in a different market -- Google Play doesn't have to worry about you buying the next app from Apple, because to do that you would have to pay to switch back.
> Next, we'll see people complaining how google.com should be displaying alternative search engine links on their frontpage because it's too hard for people to type bing.com.
Does Android only work with Google and if I want to use Bing I have to buy an iPhone? How many hours does it take to type bing.com?