Apple’s App Store fees are ‘highway robbery’ – House antitrust committee chair • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by Veen » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

kjakm wrote: post #56

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…

>> Yesterday, the UK announced it was abandoning its own COVID contract tracing app and moving to the Apple model because they couldn't figure out how to make iPhones wake up via bluetooth (because that's a private API only available to Apple). A major western government is facing huge public embarrassment in a public health crisis over what comes down to not having permission from Apple to use a specific API in an a…

They contracted the development of the app to Pivotal, which is owned by VMWare — that's hardly outsourcing to a mate who happens to be a developer.

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

#82

Post by Barrin92 » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

AsyncAwait wrote: post #64

rydre wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Just because the government wants to violate its citizens’ privacy doesn’t mean its citizens want that. If the majority of the citizens want that, then they can outvote their leaders. If the minority of the citizens want that, they either convince the majority to agree, or they keep quit. I haven't bought the iPhone for the privacy stance. Apple is a part of PRISM. There is ZERO % chance that their privacy stance is…

So assuming I do not want my privacy violated, I am simply at the tyranny of the majority?

assuming I don't want to contract COVID because I'm a sick person in the UK, do I need to live free or(and) die by American values because Apple has de-facto replaced a government?

tyranny of the majority is scary to you, neglect by the minority is scary to me. What should happen in a reasonable world is that governments maintain sovereignty and that Apple, in particular on software questions (hardware would be tricky to do), to comply with regional governments.

What's blatantly absurd is that a gadget company even starts to argue with the government of the United Kingdom.

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

#83

Post by Apocryphon » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

deltron3030 wrote: post #62

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…

Apple could profit from "market reality blindness" until now, meaning that not having an app on one of the Appstores is going against the basic expectations of consumers these days because it limits their own freedom (freedom to choose a platform). Nobody wants to be locked in. Apple is using this to their own advantage and tries to ignore this market reality.

A market reality distortion field, if you will.

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

#84

Post by greggman3 » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #68

kmlx wrote: post #55

help me understand. why such big fuss for such a small platform? isn't google's android much much bigger? if apple's app store is still the place to be due to profits made on the platform then apple is doing something right, no? if they stopped would the app store still be the place for apps? p.s. haven't installed an app in over a year. i have no interest in mobile apps whatsoever.

The market share of the iPhone in the US is around 50%

Yes, and the next largest phone maker's market share is Samsung at 20-25%. Android doesn't make phones. Google makes some phones but their market share is tiny.

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

#85

Post by perryizgr8 » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:34 AM UTC

0xy wrote: post #17

jamil7 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sideloading makes the other point moot I'd say since competing third party stores would appear?

I don't think it does. F-Droid exists but is essentially totally unknown on Android.

Only because Google is relatively freer than Apple. Android users and devs don't feel too constrained by Play store rules. If play store were to start behaving like app store, you can bet money f-droid, amazon store and others will rise in popularity.

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

#86

Post by saagarjha » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:35 AM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #69

matheusmoreira wrote: post #5

Apple wants to own iPhone consumers so that anyone who wants access to that demographic must pay the toll and follow their rules. It's far too much power for one corporation. Nice to see authorities are starting to take the matter seriously.

That's fine, but how are you going to construct legislation that specifically targets Apple's walled garden without breaching the Fourteenth Amendment?

> the Fourteenth Amendment

Citizenship rights?

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

#87

Post by hyko » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:36 AM UTC

Why should I pay $99 per year for a hey.com email address? Robbery! I demand the courts lower this to 9¢ immediately, which I deem to be the true value of an email address. Hey are abusing their monopoly power over the hey.com domain...this will not stand! Burn it to the ground! Write to your congressman! I’ll spend my millions fighting this! Over my dead body!

I’ll chase them round the moons of Nibea and round Antares Maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I pay $99 for a fucking email address!

* I’m available for podcast interviews to promote my wares for a very reasonable fee. Hating hey.com is optional. No purchase necessary. Other email providers are available.

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

#88

Post by Apocryphon » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:36 AM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #79

Apocryphon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's set aside the unproven assumptions; so your logic is that if you're a nice platform monopolist, you can charge arbitrary platform access fees. But if you're a bunch of meanies, different laws shall apply to you. I'm sorry, I was under the misapprehension that you were making a serious point. You're not entirely wrong: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/07/report-steams-30-cut... > One source explained that…

FWIW, I completely agree with everything you wrote. I'm not opposed to new laws that set a limit on platform access fees—but such laws can't be targeted at Apple exclusively. They have to be applied to any company which charges fees for access to an exclusive market.

Certainly, but maybe this public outcry and exposure from an antitrust investigation will educate people about the structural problems in this industry and lead to greater change that will apply to more companies than just Apple.

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

#89

Post by greggman3 » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:41 AM UTC

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…

First off I've always been outraged by those things but, secondly

There's a big different between a device used almost entirely or gaming and a device through which almost all personal communication, news, banking, payments, e-money, travel plans, plane and train tickets, medical services, political planning, etc. happen.

A smartphone has pretty much become essential for life. A game console has never been that.

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

#90

Post by rydre » Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 8:43 AM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #80

rydre wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And yes, I avoid products from Chinese companies for that reason and I'm always skeptical of US products too. Sorry, but I'll never buy stuff from companies like Huawei, not until I'll see a strong commitment to privacy, especially when the administration of the host country sees human rights as an existential threat and targets activists from other countries. Stop buying stuff from Google, Facebook, Apple, Microso…

Why are you jumping to conclusions on the double standard? Classic whataboutism. No, I don't use Google or Facebook either. And I've been avoiding Microsoft since the '90-ties.

Good on you, I find it hard to be without Google and Facebook however. I instead choose to give my data to both governments of opposing values. Kill the competitive value of my data.