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U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

nytimes.com

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Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#801

Post by Panzer04 »

screye wrote: post #534
Fripplebubby wrote: post #287

For folks who don't have time to read a 90 page document, the case rests on specific claims, not just the general claim that iPhone is a monopoly because it's so big. Here are those claims: 1. "Super Apps" Apple has restrictions on what they allow on the App Store as far as "Super Apps", which are apps that might offer a wide variety of different services (specifically, an app which has several "mini programs" within…

As someone who never uses Apple devices, iMessage is the only true form of monopoly based control that Apple imposes. Apple's 30% costs are harsh, but it is not like Google or MSFT charge anything less. Such cases always seem to reach a pre-determined conclusion, that has more to do with the political winds of the era, than true legal determinism. Looking at the accusations from that lens: 1. Super Apps - I don't see…

You can't possibly equate the situation on windows or android with iOS. It's trivial to install an app from outside of the app stores on both, whereas it's entirely impossible on iOS.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#802

Post by waltbosz »

mutatio wrote: post #664
waltbosz wrote: post #659

Thought experiment: how would the world respond if Apple decided to go full Atlas Shrugged and just closed their business? Turned off all their servers, closed all the Apple stores, fired everyone, etc.

What are you trying to convey, something along the lines that we should be grateful? I suspect unless they destroyed everything the gov would force them open, after all their products and services have layers upon layers of service agreements, SLAs etc.

I was sincere in my thought experiment idea. I'm curious what would happen.

I expect they would be in beach of contract because of the underlying SLAs, but then what happens if they refuse to comply? Could the board go to jail or be sued? Could company assets be seized?

...

I'm not trying to convey anything. At least nothing along the lines of you should be grateful to Apple.

But it's their ecosystem and their vision for how it all fits together. And there are alternative smartphone vendors, consumers have choices.

Maybe I don't understand anti trust law well enough to see what Apple has done wrong and why they should have to compromise their vision.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#805

Post by twojobsoneboss »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #548

This quote is pretty consistent with my take on what Apple has been up to: > In the end , Apple deploys privacy and security justifications as an elastic shield that can stretch or contract to serve Apple's financial and business interests .

They are a company who’s out to make money and not a non profit, no?

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#806

Post by waltbosz »

ragazzina wrote: post #733
waltbosz wrote: post #659

Thought experiment: how would the world respond if Apple decided to go full Atlas Shrugged and just closed their business? Turned off all their servers, closed all the Apple stores, fired everyone, etc.

How would you respond if Apple started requiring access to all your data to let you keep using your phone? Reading the thread, many people would probably still defend them.

Is Apple planning to do that? I guess my response would be to buy a non Apple phone and sell my old one to someone who doesn't care.

For the record, I have an $180 Android phone.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#808

Post by edvinbesic »

zmmmmm wrote: post #740
endisneigh wrote: post #129

I assert it is trivial to not buy Apple products, easy to make alternatives to Apple products and easy to buy feature equivalent devices to Apple products. In lieu of this what is the problem? If the government has a problem why not say any code should be able to be run on any device? Honestly I’m curious - what’s the problem? There are android phones that are superior to iPhones and let you run anything you want. Wh…

You seem to totally misunderstand the whole concept of what the competition law is about. It's not about whether people can choose not to buy an iPhone, really at all. It's about once they do choose iPhone, is Apple unfairly using their control of the platform to influence whether they choose Apple's product vs a competitor for future things they buy.

Seems to me that if I already own an Android device and am in the market for a tablet, I would probably choose Android again because a lot of the apps that I have bought & paid for include a tablet version as well. Not sure if most would consider that anti-competitive.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#809

Post by nirav72 »

teeray wrote: post #352
brink wrote: post #217

Apple frustrates the hell out of me with their deceptive tactics to create walled gardens while pretending not to. They feign ignorance to keep you stuck and create the illusion of open doors out of their walled garden that are actually broken and they have no interest in fixing. I've been paying for iCloud for my wife's iphone for the last several months because of how difficult Apple makes it for us to export our p…

I just want the auto-sync experience of iCloud photos to my own NAS. Paying Apple $2.99/mo forever just so I can have an offsite backup of my photos is so obnoxious.

Take a look at icloudpd. I’ve been running it as a container for couple of years now and it’s been sync’ing photos down from my iphone to my NAS.

https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_do...

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#810

Post by teitoklien »

thiago_fm wrote: post #382

Meanwhile those monopolies can be good for the employees that work there, they are terrible for the rest of the Americans that don't, and they make up the majority of Americans. I hope that, in the end, America sees that it is feeding those monopolies itself and even considers joining the European Union in believing that regulations are important. When people come and say that regulations have an impact on innovation…

> I'm sure by the end of this arc of those platforms that behave more monopolies, governments will realize that by regulating this space, it creates much more economic activity, jobs, and, of course, more space for innovation.

Like there are in the EU, with amazing tech salaries that too, far superior than the USA ! :(

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