Comment by fhood | Hacker News Reader

Comment by fhood | Hacker News Reader

Apple does not actually have a monopoly, Android exists, has more market share, more options and features, and a better ecosystem of compatible smart devices.

If Apple is forced to allow third party app marketplaces it is clear what will happen. Every major player will make their own marketplace and force you to use it to access their software and whatever other software they have paid to make exclusive. Epic is one of the absolute worst offenders for this sort of behavior. So to everyone claiming "you will still be able to use the curated app store", I guess that's true but only technically.

IOS will not be a better place should Apple be forced to go through with this. This is not being an "Apple apologist". I think we all agree that Apple will happily exploit the people forced to offer services through their platform. But if they are forced to take their hands off the wheel they will lose the power that allowed them to push through some fairly groundbreaking privacy protections, including sign-in with Apple, which I personally deeply appreciate.

>Every major player will make their own marketplace and force you to use it to access their software

A lot of comments keep saying this. So why haven't they done it on android? If they wanted to have huge amounts of users use their stores, wouldn't android give them even more of that than iOS?

Why are there all these doomsday scenarios being touted in this thread when what epic is asking already exists on another (larger) platforms, and none of the things that you and others mention happened?

I already have a taste of this on my gaming computer: GOG Galaxy, Steam, Epic Store, EA Store, … All of them wanting to auto-start and waste resources in the background. It's just a waste and a hassle.

And every one of them manages to lose my logged in state and force me to log in again every time I start them, apparently that "Keep me logged in" checkbox is just for show.

Do I sound bitter? It's because I am.

Turing of auto start tends to be an option and steam at least forgets my login so rarely that I have problems remembering my password.

You might want to torch your computer with thermite before whatever it has can escape into the wild.

>Apple does not actually have a monopoly

It depends on what you consider the market. Apple totally have a market on 'iOS App Distribution'. Which does not compete with Android because you can't get apps on each other. This is the same logic in the EU's ruling against Google's Android monopoly:

>Google's app store dominance is not constrained by Apple's App Store, which is only available on iOS devices.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_18_...

> Apple does not actually have a monopoly

This is like saying water is not an essential liquid, there is coca cola and pepsi.

Apple products are not at the level of necessity as water...

A smartphone might be (big stretch)... of which there are plenty of choices.

This is like saying Dasani (Apple) is the absolutely ONLY water brand out there, when you can get Aquafina (Android) and get nearly the same product. Yes, Dasani is only bottled at certain places (exclusive features like iMessage, FaceTime), but Aquafina has minerality (rooting your phone, deep integration with Google services) as well that make it unique.

So you're saying that somehow Google uses Apple as it's main ingredient for Android.. or something?

More likely, I think you thought the comparison sounded catchy, despite the fact that it has nothing to do with the situation.

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