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Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

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Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#31

Post by Nasrudith »

Perhaps it is a matter of my preestablished cynicisms but this seems like a campaign contribution shakedown/stupid election year publicity stunt where they rail against a big bad company for complete bullshit reasons. I don't get why people go with the Apple locked down system personally but they aren't even a majority of the market nor a plurality.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the House gives a shit about interoperability given the DMCA and lack of right to repair laws.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#32

Post by millstone »

Hamuko wrote: post #12
sooheon wrote: post #10

Apple may be robbers, but they're not trolling a public highway, they're demanding fees if you want to drive on the highway that they built. Build a better ecosystem around better devices, better software, better marketing, and better services, and you can also charge whatever you want, or make it free. That is competition. Wanting to drive on someone else's walled highway (which leads directly to eyeballs and open w…

So are we establishing that if you want to create a paid email service with a custom app without wanting to pay 30% of your revenue to Apple, you need to create a competing mobile ecosystem that can rival that of Apple's ($260 billion yearly revenue) and Google's ($162 billion yearly revenue)? How is this beneficial for innovation and for consumers?

Honestly it's probably easier now than it was in 2006.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#33

Post by AnthonyMouse »

sjwright wrote: post #11

If the US Government wants to place limits on certain fees, they should pass a law limiting such fees. Meanwhile, it's a bit hypocritical for the US Government to accuse private corporations of ‘highway robbery’ when they themselves are committing (or failing to outlaw) literal highway robbery in the form of civil forfeiture.

> Meanwhile, it's a bit hypocritical for the US Government to accuse private corporations of ‘highway robbery’ when they themselves are committing (or failing to outlaw) literal highway robbery in the form of civil forfeiture.

Indeed it is. So they should address both, not use the current existence of one to excuse the other.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#34

Post by Hamuko »

sjwright wrote: post #30
Hamuko wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone is welcome to create good end-user experiences with open technologies like PWA Everyone who isn't targetting Apple devices that is. I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it is not possible to publish an application on the Apple App Store without paying. Period end. I also don't see why there's an expectation that Hey has to pay Apple for providing the app. They are trying to bring…

> I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it is not possible to publish an application on the Apple App Store without paying. Period end. I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the same is true for games on the Xbox, PlayStation and nearly every mainstream games console for the past thirty years. Pretty much every games console software title included a healthy cut for N…

>Where was your outrage then?

Where was the game publishers' outrage? Where was the game developers' outrage?

Gaming console makers and game developers have way better relations than Apple and the people developing for the App Store. And the game console makers' cut isn't just pure greed. Sony took an estimate loss of $240-$300 on every PS3 sold at launch just in order to widen out the install base.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#36

Post by mirekrusin »

sjwright wrote: post #11

If the US Government wants to place limits on certain fees, they should pass a law limiting such fees. Meanwhile, it's a bit hypocritical for the US Government to accuse private corporations of ‘highway robbery’ when they themselves are committing (or failing to outlaw) literal highway robbery in the form of civil forfeiture.

That's what they want to do, it will probably end up like that - Apple and others will be capped to how much fees they can charge.

EU did this for roaming charges already.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#37

Post by apexalpha »

ageitgey wrote: post #21

I don't think the pressure on Apple is going to let up. Smart phones are no longer a tech toy and have become a literal part of government and commercial infrastructure. Apple's arbitrary power over the platform is pissing off and embarrassing governments in the COVID era. During COVID, governments around the world have been making major decisions based on mobility data from Apple and Google which shows trends of whe…

In the Netherlands the government uses anonymous data from cell towers to check how crowded areas are. I agree with the part about Apple having too much power over a too big part of our lives.

I don't agree with the public humiliation part of your post, don't really see it. It seems like a stretch to connect the Corona apps to this even though most of the world figured out how to slow down Corona without any of these apps.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#38

Post by apexalpha »

sooheon wrote: post #10

Apple may be robbers, but they're not trolling a public highway, they're demanding fees if you want to drive on the highway that they built. Build a better ecosystem around better devices, better software, better marketing, and better services, and you can also charge whatever you want, or make it free. That is competition. Wanting to drive on someone else's walled highway (which leads directly to eyeballs and open w…

Apple literally shutting down NFC for everyone in the world except for their own payment method is what I would call the 180 degree opposite of 'That is competition'. That's abuse, and it is more and more clear every day, both in Google, Apple as well as other such as Amazon that it's really not fair for the owners of the platforms to also compete with their customers on their own platforms.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#39

Post by rydre »

treebornfrog wrote: post #26
ageitgey wrote: post #21

I don't think the pressure on Apple is going to let up. Smart phones are no longer a tech toy and have become a literal part of government and commercial infrastructure. Apple's arbitrary power over the platform is pissing off and embarrassing governments in the COVID era. During COVID, governments around the world have been making major decisions based on mobility data from Apple and Google which shows trends of whe…

I don't agree that Apple should bend over backwards. IMO contact tracing opens up a new can of worms and is a doorway to more draconian measures that will erode privacy for private citizens.

The leaders elected by the citizens or a different way of governance of other sovereign countries have the right to decide what is best for their citizens. American companies should not try to impose their moral values on others. Many eastern cultures do not value privacy as much as you guys do, and it's fine.

Re: Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair

#40

Post by sooheon »

altacc wrote: post #29
sooheon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a ridiculous meme. If you enjoy the mafia's services, don't be surprised if they ask you to pay. But it's your choice to go to them (ask to be put on their platform and sell to their customers). You can make your own internet corner shop, set up payments and distribution, ignore the Apple platform, and never worry about their #mafiatax.

That choice isn't a real choice though, as it's the consumers' choice to buy an iPhone not the businesses. Businesses only have a real choice about who their customers are when there is free access to the market. The issue here is precisely that you cannot set up your own internet corner shop and ignore Apple, as that means you have no access to consumers who use Apple. Internet distribution channels are inherently o…

> The issue here is precisely that you cannot set up your own internet corner shop and ignore Apple, as that means you have no access to consumers who use Apple

I don't understand why businesses are entitled to have access to consumers who use Apple. If you don't want to pay to play on their platform, imagine a world where Apple doesn't exist, and position your business accordingly. Nothing is actually forcing you to deal with Apple except your own expectation that being on Apple's platform is valuable. Then why not pay for that privilege?

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