Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 1001 posts

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#151

Post by jaegerpicker »

justapassenger wrote: post #127
aboringusername wrote: post #11

It feels a bit hypocritical when Apple laughs at FB for complaining about their new tracking pop-up yet when the shoe's on the other foot and Apple may actually have to compete on its own platform they double down and defend their right to be judge, jury and executioner. Apple competing with third party app stores on iOS is going to be amazing. No computer platform should be allowed to prevent sideloading or other st…

Apple isn’t users friend, or defender of the people. It’s biggest company in the word, that tries to make most amount of money by monopolizing markets. And privacy sells nowadays, so they exploit that to grow even more. Of course users get something in return, but that’s not the reason why do that. It’s one of the greatest PR campaigns of modern world, to have people believe that biggest company in the world cares ab…

This is a pointless statement, does Epic have consumers back? LOL hardly. This lawsuit is about Epic cashing in on Apple's work. No one believes Apple the corp is the defender of the people. Apple is great on privacy compared to all the other options, not because they are good people (they may not be or they may be who knows?) but because it's in their best interest to be. This is about two corp's fighting over their right tomato more money off of you and I. People are casting Epic as for the consumer and it's ridiculous!

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#152

Post by kevingadd »

zepto wrote: post #147
kevingadd wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past US regulators have not agreed with your reasoning here. They broke up the original big telephone companies, for example.

Those had an actual monopoly - literally no alternative service provider.

If I want to use FaceTime to talk to my mother, the only way I can do that is by purchasing an iPhone. What's the difference? Do I have to buy my mom a new Android phone and repurchase all her apps and digital content to exercise my Consumer Freedom?

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#153

Post by isodev »

aboringusername wrote: post #11

It feels a bit hypocritical when Apple laughs at FB for complaining about their new tracking pop-up yet when the shoe's on the other foot and Apple may actually have to compete on its own platform they double down and defend their right to be judge, jury and executioner. Apple competing with third party app stores on iOS is going to be amazing. No computer platform should be allowed to prevent sideloading or other st…

> No computer platform should be allowed to prevent sideloading or other stores from competing.

The iPhone is not a computer platform, it's an integrated experience. Raspberry Pi or the PC you assemble is a platform (which you can still choose to do, if you want).

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#154

Post by dpkonofa »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #130
dpkonofa wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't buy Amazon Prime through the app. What people are referring to is the fact that existing subscriptions are allowed to renew without the 30% cut. People are misframing that as an exception for Amazon even though there are several platforms in the same situation that already benefit from the same policy that Amazon now agrees to.

Actually, I'm referring to the fact that Amazon Prime members can rent digital videos without Apple getting a cut. See the Verge article kevingadd posted below.

You weren't the person that I responded to so, frankly, I don't care what you're referring to.

Additionally, movie rentals are already covered by a prior agreement. The article you mention even says that Canal+ and other video services were already using this which is an option where you can allow purchases tied to an existing subscription payment method if you also allow for those purchases in the iTunes Store and integration into the Apple TV app.

There was no special deal for Amazon and trying to present it that way, is, imo, disingenuous. How can it be a special deal for Amazon if it existed prior to Amazon's app changes and other platforms were already making use of it?

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#155

Post by Qahlel »

fhood wrote: post #139

Apple does not actually have a monopoly, Android exists, has more market share, more options and features, and a better ecosystem of compatible smart devices. If Apple is forced to allow third party app marketplaces it is clear what will happen. Every major player will make their own marketplace and force you to use it to access their software and whatever other software they have paid to make exclusive. Epic is one…

> Apple does not actually have a monopoly

This is like saying water is not an essential liquid, there is coca cola and pepsi.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#156

Post by kempbellt »

ginko wrote: post #88
gwd wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how did you work out that the amount apple gets paid (30%) is the "correct" amount? The only way to find out is via competition. The "correct" amount is the amount that everybody is happy to pay. If Epic doesn't want to pay 30%, then 30% is too high for them. That's OK -- nobody is forcing them to pay it. The competition you're describing isn't the cost of running the app store ; it's the cost of maintaining the en…

> New iOS "app store" starts up, but only charges 0.1%. This is possible because they don't write the OS or any of the infrastructure; they're a simple indexer Apple was already paid handsomely for OS development through the device's purchase price. > Apple's revenue drops precipitously Apple has some of the highest margins in the industry. They'll survive. > In order to maintain the OS, Apple either a) raises the pr…

"Apple has lots of money so they can afford to give some of it away because we want them to" is not an argument that Epic can take to court, and it isn't a great argument to support adding app stores.

As an iPhone user I prefer the single app store approach. Multiple app stores fragments the user experience, ultimately harming the experience of owning an iPhone. Especially when apps become exclusives to different stores, because they will.

It's one of the main reasons that I moved away from Android. I completely understand the "open system" argument for Android, but a fragmented user experience is a byproduct of that openness. The last android phone I had came with a Samsung store, Google play, and I believe a Verizon app store. As well, going from my Android phone to borrowing a friends meant learning a completely new UX almost every time. "Oh, you don't have a Samsung Android, so you don't have that particular app store, so you can't get the app... Sorry"

It's been several years now, so maybe that's changed, but the biggest thing that makes me stick with Apple is the consistency of the user experience, in both its OS and app store ecosystems.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#157

Post by m_eiman »

fhood wrote: post #139

Apple does not actually have a monopoly, Android exists, has more market share, more options and features, and a better ecosystem of compatible smart devices. If Apple is forced to allow third party app marketplaces it is clear what will happen. Every major player will make their own marketplace and force you to use it to access their software and whatever other software they have paid to make exclusive. Epic is one…

I already have a taste of this on my gaming computer: GOG Galaxy, Steam, Epic Store, EA Store, … All of them wanting to auto-start and waste resources in the background. It's just a waste and a hassle.

And every one of them manages to lose my logged in state and force me to log in again every time I start them, apparently that "Keep me logged in" checkbox is just for show.

Do I sound bitter? It's because I am.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#158

Post by toomuchtodo »

kevingadd wrote: post #152
zepto wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those had an actual monopoly - literally no alternative service provider.

If I want to use FaceTime to talk to my mother, the only way I can do that is by purchasing an iPhone. What's the difference? Do I have to buy my mom a new Android phone and repurchase all her apps and digital content to exercise my Consumer Freedom?

You can use any number of other chat or video communications apps available on both iOS and Android to chat with your mother (I recommend Signal, but FlownScepter's list is good as well).

Your desire to specifically use FaceTime does not make it a monopoly.

Re: Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint

#160

Post by darknessmonk »

adamdusty wrote: post #120
darknessmonk wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how did you work out that the amount apple gets paid (30%) is the "correct" amount? The only way to find out is via competition. But due to the monopolistic powers of apple, there cannot be competition on their platform. Thus, we do not know the true cost of maintaining this platform - only that apple is able to maintain it with at least 30%. 30% is industry standard. > nobody is forcing you to use the third party…

Nobody is going to not put their app on the apple app store. Look at steam for example. Almost every game on steam can be purchased somewhere else, like icth.io or the game's website. 30% is industry standard among monopolistic players (Google play store, Apple app store, Steam). There are many other storefronts that take less of a cut, and don't require IAP to go through a specific payment system that the platform a…

> Nobody is going to not put their app on the apple app store.

Epic will, and this is what they want

> Almost every game on steam can be purchased somewhere else, like icth.io or the game's website. 30% is industry standard among monopolistic players (Google play store, Apple app store, Steam).

That is a very different use case

Post reply on HN