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Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

googleplaydevelopersettlement.com

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Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#51

Post by JumpCrisscross »

water-your-self wrote: post #13
dmitrygr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> has far more marketshare Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2022, controlling the mobile OS market with a close to 71.8 percent share, while iOS accounted for around 27.6 percent of the mobile operating system market.Jan 17, 2023 https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-sha... .

In the united states apple has approx. 50% market share

> apple has approx. 50% market share

Correct [1].

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/02/iphone-us-market-share/

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#52

Post by mattnewton »

nine_k wrote: post #10
midoridensha wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's always bothered me too. I think someone should be forced to admit to wrongdoing, or else keep battling in court to prove their side. That said, how does Google monopolize Android app distribution? You're free to install APKs yourself. So why isn't Apple being prosecuted? There's no such ability on that platform. Why does it always feel like Google is constantly being hounded about stuff that Apple gets off sco…

Isn't paying a fine technically an admission that the accusations are correct, and the compensation is due?

No, it’s simply an admission that the courts could conceivable rule against you, and that percentage chance * the cost of the judgment if they do is estimated to be greater than the settlement fee. Since judgment fines are massive and often open the door for other cases to pile on, the percentage chance you feel you would lose can be pretty small and still make a settlement rational.

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#53

Post by Maursault »

dexterdog wrote: post #38
Maursault wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but also the way they bundle programs in their operating systems, compared to Microsoft browser case in EU. Microsoft was blocking competitors by requiring a fee for every processor sold by a manufacturer that offered Windows, whether that machine was sold with Windows or not, causing any other operating system sold on licensee machines to be more expensive for consumers. It wasn't bundling that was the issue in Mi…

Wait, you can delete apple music? I never use it, but if I ever touch the soft button on.my right earbud it launches and plays nothing because it has no library or account.

Absolutely. Applications on macOS are just bundles in the sense they are just a special kind of directory that contains the executable and supporting files. Any application in the Applications directory will require Administrator privileges to delete, but the entire folder can be deleted if you want, including the Utilities folder and all utilities. With SIP disabled and root access, you can delete everything in macOS piece by piece or all at once.

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#54

Post by zimspy »

allisdust wrote: post #30
thrdbndndn wrote: post #26

Genuine question: how was Apple rarely sued in similar fashion? Not just compared to Android/Google, but also the way they bundle programs in their operating systems, compared to Microsoft browser case in the US/EU. To my untrained eyes, they're worse in almost every aspect. Is it just the boring answer "they have better lawyers", or are there things fundamentally different?

Because they have cornered the market for top 5% incomes while leaving the rest 95% to their competitors. Since their market share is always less, they always get less scrutiny. Outside of developed world, no one uses apple products unless paid by their workplace (for example mac books) or if they are in the top 1% of their country.

Or in my social circles they want to appear to be top 1%.

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#55

Post by ocdtrekkie »

midoridensha wrote: post #19
dmitrygr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> has far more marketshare Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2022, controlling the mobile OS market with a close to 71.8 percent share, while iOS accounted for around 27.6 percent of the mobile operating system market.Jan 17, 2023 https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-sha... .

We're talking about US regulators here, so only marketshare in the US is relevant. Apple has 60% last time I checked.

Indeed though you'll notice the case includes Google's international arms. Bear in mind this is US developers gaining access to the entire global market Google controls access to, which comes through Google's US business.

So for the purposes of this case, the global figure is quite relevant.

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#57

Post by jrockway »

nine_k wrote: post #10
midoridensha wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's always bothered me too. I think someone should be forced to admit to wrongdoing, or else keep battling in court to prove their side. That said, how does Google monopolize Android app distribution? You're free to install APKs yourself. So why isn't Apple being prosecuted? There's no such ability on that platform. Why does it always feel like Google is constantly being hounded about stuff that Apple gets off sco…

Isn't paying a fine technically an admission that the accusations are correct, and the compensation is due?

I don't think so. I've seen a lot of FCC cases end with the entity being sued/investigated making "a voluntary contribution to the United States Treasury". You can make one yourself right here: https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.h...

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#58

Post by davidmurdoch »

capableweb wrote: post #14
elefanten wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the expected value of (the cost of defending vs the accusation + the cost of losing the defense) is sufficiently greater than $100, it makes sense to pay the $100.

So the judicial system is just another version of the financial system, another extension of capitalism rather than being about actual justice?

Always has been.

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#59

Post by cft »

We developed a free social media application back in 2016 that cost us about $500,000 to build. We provided multiple safety filters including world filters, neural net pornography detection for profile avatars, etc. The application had a user profile search function. We had about 100,000 downloads in less than a year. I'm sure that 99.9% of user profiles did not contain any sexual material. Certainly less than Twitter has, where you can search for explicit porn. Google found a rare edge case that our ML model missed and removed the app from the Play store. With a single automated email half a million dollars was gone from my bootstrapped company. Is there anything I can do?

Re: Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation

#60

Post by thrwawy74 »

DannyBee wrote: post #36
midoridensha wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's always bothered me too. I think someone should be forced to admit to wrongdoing, or else keep battling in court to prove their side. That said, how does Google monopolize Android app distribution? You're free to install APKs yourself. So why isn't Apple being prosecuted? There's no such ability on that platform. Why does it always feel like Google is constantly being hounded about stuff that Apple gets off sco…

"That's always bothered me too. I think someone should be forced to admit to wrongdoing, or else keep battling in court to prove their side. " God no. For starters, civil litigation does not have a goal of proving right or wrong, but settling disputes between two parties. This is actually a good thing. But what you are suggesting goes against the very basis of civil litigation systems :). You see the same thing in sa…

I think the courts are meant to settle disputes quickly, not justly. The appearance of swift justice.
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