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Comment by lockhouse | Hacker News Reader

Game consoles are even worse because you usually have to buy special developer kit hardware. As far as I’m aware only Xbox lets you switch to developer mode on standard hardware.

Also Google takes the exact same cut on the Play Store and yet Apple is still the one that usually gets singled out.

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Because google lets you sideload. Even though almost no one actually does this, the option still exists in theory so you aren't forced to take googles offer.

> Because google lets you sideload. Even though almost no one actually does this

Maybe its because 30% is a relatively small price to pay for the benefits of app stores versus trying to get users to manually install your app via side loading.

Asking Apple to allow side loading and alternative app stores is like forcing Tesla to make a gasoline powered car.

And still claiming warrantee at Tesla when something's wrong the the engine

I understand that few people use F-Droid and similar alternative app stores, but for those of us who do, it is the single biggest reason why Apple gets singled out. F-Droid still exists. I can still homebrew Android apps and run them.

Would I prefer if there was a truly FOSS mobile operating system? Yes. But life is what it is and I'll take the /option/ to use F-Droid over only having the App Store any day.

The top player is always the one singled out. For example, when people protest about excessive packaging for fast food packaging they protest McDonald's, not Burger King.

Interestingly, that's not really what has happened here. In the Epic vs Apple case, iOS represented only 7% of Fortnite revenue while Playstation alone represented nearly 47%. All the platforms pretty much have 30% default markups, though.

>Apple lawyers also took the dominance of consoles as a chance to ask why Epic Games has not sued Sony for the 30% fees it charges to Epic Games. (Sony is a major investor in Epic Games, and it recently put $200 million into the company.) Epic’s lawyers’ rebuttal was to point out the major differences between phones and game consoles, as well as the fact that Sony and Microsoft are more willing to negotiate than Apple. At one point, Sweeney said he would have taken a deal from Apple for lower commissions, if it had been offered. Sweeney also noted that most game consoles are sold at a loss and make money back from sales. Unlike phones, consoles are mainly used to play games. To Sweeney, this was a big reason why Sony and Microsoft’s fees are more palatable.

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