Also the only reason Epic and Spotify are after them is not some altruistic reason but they want to be the guys charging the 30% margin.
It’s a bit of a grey victory but I’ll take it.
The epic game store charges 12%; against which developers are partially handcuffed due to steams price matching requirement.
Apple trying to take 30% of subscriptions while operating a competing service as a value-add that can afford to be a loss leader is highly anticompetitive.
A better Apple (with less adversarial partners) might have tried to structure the commission as a profit share, not a rev share, to keep high and low margin businesses on the platform, but alas.
But of course that’s not going to keep them from asking their government to give them more.
Lots of school kids who get mocked for being "Green Texters" with crummy images and videos in their group texts. They really want their parents to shell out for an iPhone so it stops. Just because non-tech people don't know the cause, doesn't mean it doesn't affect them.
Yes, life would be better if everyone mutually agreed to use things crossplatform all of the time. but they don't/haven't, so there is this friction.
At least in EU they seem to be active (USB iPhones anyone), albeit slower than I'd like.
Also, in democracies with a somewhat free market, you can simply choose not to buy phones that do not ship the port you prefer.
If you can't use iMessage, you'll simply be excluded from group chats.
Speaking exclusively from the cross-platform perspective, things are better nowadays with the expectation of Instagram and Discord, but you'll still be excluded from group chats for not having iMessage.
I think this is a pretty big generational difference. I think most US citizens born after 2000 are well aware of the green bubble stigma as a simple fact of life.
A bunch of teens got together and decided that some things were social stigma aren’t.
I’m sure there’s some schools where you can’t be included unless you are wearing Abercrombie clothing, or have a MK purse. Is it time to step in there too?
What's the point of having the goons if you're not going to use them?
You think it's wrong for the state to enforce a rule that prevents a certain type of behavior. Where does that end? Unsanctioned violence? Environmental destruction? Surely you're not advocating for anarchy.
Ok, so you agree with reasonable limits on the power of these "goons." Do you then think Apple's behavior simply doesn't warrant this kind of enforcement? Why not just say that instead, and explain why?
Spewing random sarcastic libertarian screeds just makes the whole discussion worse.
No, they did not. There is no teenage illuminati pulling the strings. The green bubble phenomena appeared throughout teen social life as iPhones became widely adopted.
> I’m sure there’s some schools where you can’t be included unless you are wearing Abercrombie clothing, or have a MK purse.
These are imagined phenomena which don't have bearing on the real phenomenon in question.
> Is it time to step in there too?
No. If there comes a time where Abercrombie and control widely used social infrastructure, in a way that prohibits non-Abercrombie wearers from participating through technological means, resulting a widely-acknowledged negative social phenomenon, then that'll be time to step in there.
But the Abercrombie thing is imagined, and the iPhone thing is real and has been happening for a decade.
I'm sorry that was your experience, but it's not a widespread phenomenon like the green bubble phenomenon is.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241443505/green-bubble-shami...
Actually we don't even tend to bother even talking about which phones you have. It's just meh. My best friend doesn't even know what iMessage is as an example.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/apples-green-bub...
Might be that US got the free texts first though. Not sure anymore what was the timeline with that.
Also, there are carriers in europe that offer bundle discounts and better data packages for opting out of sms altogether.
It's not about free texting or not, IMO it's either about mobile data or laziness.
It's ridiculous - all I'm asking is for the convenience of email.
So, you decided to try solving a social problem with a technological solution?
Don’t make me tap the sign.
Open SMTP relays never made anyone not get bullied in the email days either. If the apple is a status symbol, then kids will use it to be cruel regardless of the internals or regardless of the services it uses on the backend. They will find something else to ostracize you over.
Using something as an excuse to be a piece of shit is not the same as giving a crap. This isnt an example of a good reason to do this.
Maybe Apple should open up their ecosystem, that way multiple other app stores can compete and drive that percentage price down to zero.