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Comment by nabla9 | Hacker News Reader

Many don't know this, but monopoly is not illegal in the US.

Misusing monopoly power is.

It's not a monopoly, it's a vertically integrated business that is using its cash and marketing to lure in and lock in more developers, who in turn end up being working as unpaid labor for them, increasing the value of their app store, and the virtuous cycle continues. Noone else had pulled that before, apple could do it because phones peaked usability-wise and ended up becoming a fashion item. As long as developers keep being on apple's train, she calls the shots. There is no way to win this game, only to bail.

Guns are not illegal but misusing them is

Um.. yes? What’s your point?

Please explain to me how Apple is a monopoly.

AppStore is the only way to sell/put apps on an iPhones.

iPhones aren't a "market". If that were the case, then Amazon would have a monopoly on Amazon ad placements, and Microsoft would have a monopoly on Excel features.

In terms of overall downloads, Google Play Store probably exceeds what Apple's store processes.

> iPhones aren't a "market"

Interestingly, lawyers/regulators can define a "market" any way they want. The courts can decide.

But, while iPhones are part of the "phone market", "iOS Apps" are their own unique market. Probably only a matter of time before regulators think of it that way.

It definitely seems like a vertical monopoly, which people seem to forget exists.

Vertical integration is not illegal if it's built internally, as opposed to from mergers [1].

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/012615/what-are-leg...

Not OP, but maybe they were alluding to the fact that App Store is the only store a user can use on an iOS device.

https://academic.oup.com/jcle/article-abstract/17/3/503/6210...

They are not a monopoly from user's perspective, but for iPhone apps they are monopoly as the only way to reach iPhone users is by their approval.

Depends if you consider the ~$80 billion / year gross flowing through the app store for iOS apps a market or not.

In fairness, they're a monopoly in a market they invented--the iOS "ecosystem."

This includes:

* the app store

* subscription management

* payments

* any sort of digital media (music, movies, tv shows)

* browser engines...there literally is no way to release a different browser on iOS, even iOS "Firefox" and "Chrome" have to use Apple's WebKit binary

I assume that you are thinking of a pure monopoly - a single supplier.

When we are talking about monopolies in this context, we mean monopoly power, monopsony etc. For example, when a firm’s ability to charge a price higher than its marginal cost with very little change in demand of their product, it has monopoly power.

When deciding if a company is a monopoly, the first thing to do is 'market definition' - defining the relevant market. Is the whole mobile phone market? Can companies realistically compete if they produce only Android apps? It is in any way practical to assume that people carry two phones? Obliviously not.

Seems pretty obvious to me at least. I doubt your claim that not many would know this. Violence isn't illegal, but misusing violence is. Using the toilet isn't against the rules, but misusing it is.

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