Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
1–10 of 375 posts
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#2I really hope the concept of "you can't be anti-competitive if you own the entire ecosystem" dies.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#3Good! It's about time that our industry's monopoly of the ages is put to bed.
Apple put us in the kettle and slowly turned up the heat. They delivered good hardware, good software, but at the same time demanded that nobody else have the ability to run JIT, other runtimes, first-class web, browsers, marketplaces, etc. Over time, Apple rose to 50% of the market, all the while exacting complete control and taxing all market activities.
Unfortunately, iPhone is now responsible for a majority of its users' business activities. It's the single plane of control between a user and their banking, commerce, communication, entertainment, and social lives.
We didn't allow this level of control with Microsoft in the 90's and 00's, and there's no reason we should allow the increased scope of control that Apple has now.
They need to lose the App Store.
They need to have an open platform.
They can't run Apple Pay.
Other browsers and JIT runtimes need to be allowed. Marketplaces, too.
This needs to happen to Google as well.
We don't pay the electric company for every app we install. We don't pay UPS for our Netflix subscriptions. Apple isn't providing any additional economic value. They're a tax, and that's it. They're also an impediment to repairing our own devices. It has to stop, and they have to start playing fair.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#4I really hope the concept of "you can't be anti-competitive if you own the entire ecosystem" dies.
The slogans are easy but you need to define what "ecosystem" is so we understand the system-wide implications of these attitudes.
Can I for example go to Walmart and setup my own store inside their store without having to ask them?
Can I do the same in your local mom-and-pop store?
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#5Good! It's about time that our industry's monopoly of the ages is put to bed. Apple put us in the kettle and slowly turned up the heat. They delivered good hardware, good software, but at the same time demanded that nobody else have the ability to run JIT, other runtimes, first-class web, browsers, marketplaces, etc. Over time, Apple rose to 50% of the market, all the while exacting complete control and taxing all ma…
They would just stop making the phone.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#6I really hope the concept of "you can't be anti-competitive if you own the entire ecosystem" dies.
The slogans are easy but you need to define what "ecosystem" is so we understand the system-wide implications of these attitudes. Can I for example go to Walmart and setup my own store inside their store without having to ask them? Can I do the same in your local mom-and-pop store?
Why not?
edit: You changed your comment and added your line about mom-and-pop stores. To which I reply that different rules should apply to multi-billion dollar corporations.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#7Good! It's about time that our industry's monopoly of the ages is put to bed. Apple put us in the kettle and slowly turned up the heat. They delivered good hardware, good software, but at the same time demanded that nobody else have the ability to run JIT, other runtimes, first-class web, browsers, marketplaces, etc. Over time, Apple rose to 50% of the market, all the while exacting complete control and taxing all ma…
They would just stop making the phone.
> They would just stop making the phone.
Stop making their high margin hardware that integrates into paid Apple services? The same phone that works with other massively popular Apple hardware, such as Air Pods? Extremely doubtful.
Apple will not cut off their nose to spite their face.
Maybe you have less faith in Apple than I do. I believe they can succeed enormously without their monopoly. They make great products. Microsoft managed just fine (look at their market cap!)
edit: I'm confused. Are the downvotes from Apple fans that think the hardware sucks without the monopoly? And that Apple can't survive without it?
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#8I really hope Epic will release a gaming phone. It appears they have enough cash, enough clever people, and a good connection to Chinese manufacturers through their partners.
If they make it Android-based but Open Source, similar to how the Unreal Engine contains proprietary components while remaining easy to customize, that could be quite the popular move for grabbing market share from Apple and Google.
I, at least, am unhappy with Apple's greedy behavior and also unhappy with Google's Data Kranken tendencies. So there's at least a niche market opening for a 3rd OS. And I'm not holding my breath for Linux. Instead, I think it'll be something like Lineage OS and its privacy protections but more professionally managed.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#9Sounds like the judge had some very sharp questions, big props to her. It seemed to me like Tim Cook and Apple were not as prepared as they should've been. They didn't have any particularly unexpected/novel arguments, it was basically just constantly repeating the same bland things they've been saying all along about IP and fraud and convenience.
Re: Judge in Fortnite case holds Tim Cook's feet to the fire
#10I really hope the concept of "you can't be anti-competitive if you own the entire ecosystem" dies.
The slogans are easy but you need to define what "ecosystem" is so we understand the system-wide implications of these attitudes. Can I for example go to Walmart and setup my own store inside their store without having to ask them? Can I do the same in your local mom-and-pop store?
It's interesting to consider what the effect of breaking up Walmart into constituent parts (either vertically or horizontally) would be. I'd be willing to bet it'd be a net-positive for the economy. The same is true for the majority of companies that large.