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

EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 825 posts

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#191

Post by [deleted] »

f6v wrote: post #70
simion314 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not about who is first, is about fair competition, If Apple is the best then they should not be afraid to compete fair, let other web browsers exist, let alternative stores exist, let free apps show a Patreon link, let apps show the user the information that they have the choice to buy outside the store (defend this please, this information can harm the user somehow or it harms the pockets of some rich guy)

I don’t think EU cares about fair competition, rather being petty about not having their own FAANG.

[deleted]

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#192

Post by endisneigh »

m4rtink wrote: post #184
endisneigh wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why people say it’s a general computing device. It’s clearly not nor has it been advertised as such. If it actually was a general computing device you could just install an entirely different operating system onto it. If Apple allowed users to install Android on iPhones but didn’t change iOS would that be an acceptable solution? If so, what’s stopping someone from just getting an Android device now…

That's the whole issue - it is a general purpose computing device but Apple is trying to prevent users from using it as such for their selfish reasons. Not only is that anticompetitive, it's also dangerous (state actors can and do apply pressure on them to censor dissenting apps as Apple is the the single gatekeeper) and wasteful (you can't easily repurchase older unsupported devices due to the artificial limits inse…

But it’s not though, that’s just your opinion - is anything with a PCB a general computing device? In any case I’d love if all things with any computing functionality be made completely open. Fridges, TVs, microwaves - etc

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#194

Post by isbvhodnvemrwvn »

endisneigh wrote: post #187
isbvhodnvemrwvn wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protection of consumers is the common ground.

Would you say televisions and electricity are also comparable for the same reason?

Yes, if the electricity provider required 30% cut for any TV I hook up except for the one they sell, I would like them to be stopped.

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#195

Post by oaiey »

zibzab wrote: post #2

Unpopular opinion: This was a no brainer. Apple wanted 30% (or was it less for subscriptions?) on any business that used apps, no matter if they used apple infrastructure or not. Just think about it: one company is in practice entitled to 30% of what any other business makes (in any industry)!! Also, I think apple brought this to themselves by picking a fight with Spotify (on Watch support).

They were very accurate about the following:

(A) It is only about Music (other cases exists in parallel). (B) They declared that the 30% market share of their devices has a practical vendor-lock-in (so a monopoly without choice there). (C) Apple competes with other Music vendors and cut them by 30% AND blocking them from directly accessing the user AND that they abstract the user away from the App (leaving the other app zero information while they have a monopoly on information)

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#196

Post by breakfastduck »

zibzab wrote: post #6
zibzab wrote: post #2

Unpopular opinion: This was a no brainer. Apple wanted 30% (or was it less for subscriptions?) on any business that used apps, no matter if they used apple infrastructure or not. Just think about it: one company is in practice entitled to 30% of what any other business makes (in any industry)!! Also, I think apple brought this to themselves by picking a fight with Spotify (on Watch support).

Should add, the ruling is not really about the validity of the 30% fee. What EU seems to argue is this: 1. Apple is in phone business, Spotify music. So far so good... 2. Then apple wants to get into the music business too. Now they have an unfair advantage since Spotify must pay 30% to apple while apple music "pays" 0%. So apple use their dominance in one area (phones) to get an advantage in a totally different area…

Apple have been in the music business much longer than Spotify.

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#197

Post by mhh__ »

xxs wrote: post #85
zibzab wrote: post #2

Unpopular opinion: This was a no brainer. Apple wanted 30% (or was it less for subscriptions?) on any business that used apps, no matter if they used apple infrastructure or not. Just think about it: one company is in practice entitled to 30% of what any other business makes (in any industry)!! Also, I think apple brought this to themselves by picking a fight with Spotify (on Watch support).

>Unpopular opinion: Only if you own Apple stock... or well hackernews is overall unfriendly for anything Apple related.

How is hackernews in any way unfriendly to Apple?

Anything involving Apple Silicon goes straight to the top of the frontpage, comments are full of people absolutely gushing over just about anything - I personally don't really care other than that I find it subtly funny the number of times I see people saying "Wow my new M1 Mac is so much faster than [Different Mac that's almost a decade old, but I'm either not used to thinking about Apple products in terms of their internals, or I'm forgetting the passage of time]"

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#198

Post by ClumsyPilot »

slver wrote: post #132
zibzab wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should add, the ruling is not really about the validity of the 30% fee. What EU seems to argue is this: 1. Apple is in phone business, Spotify music. So far so good... 2. Then apple wants to get into the music business too. Now they have an unfair advantage since Spotify must pay 30% to apple while apple music "pays" 0%. So apple use their dominance in one area (phones) to get an advantage in a totally different area…

So then if Apple Music internally pays 30% to App Store, we're all good by this definition.

That like how startbucks UK pays it's company in a different country a fee for using it's brand, and therefore has no profits in Uk and pays no tax here

Totally legit

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#199

Post by endisneigh »

isbvhodnvemrwvn wrote: post #194
endisneigh wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say televisions and electricity are also comparable for the same reason?

Yes, if the electricity provider required 30% cut for any TV I hook up except for the one they sell, I would like them to be stopped.

That’s not really the analogous situation. More like Samsung takes a 30% cut on apps on its Tizen platform. Surely you’d just change TVs no? Or not buy it to begin with?

Re: EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after Spotify complaint

#200

Post by simion314 »

dmitriid wrote: post #73
speedgoose wrote: post #11

I wish one of the outcome would be to allow better web browsers than Safari on iOS.

You mean "allow other browser engines. There are exactly three browser engines of any note: Safari's, Chrome's and Firefox's. iOS allows other browsers and doesn't allow other engines. And considering things like this: https://webapicontroversy.com/ I'm not entirely sure I want Chrome anywhere near my phone.

>I'm not entirely sure I want Chrome anywhere near my phone

There are more browsers that use Chromium engine and nobody forces you to install Google version. I understand the potential issue of a Chrome dominance but Apple could listen for actual developers want and implement those features then you will no longer be forced to use an inferior browser.

Post reply on HN