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Apple vs. the "Free Market"

pluralistic.net

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Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#11

Post by phony-account »

AlexandrB wrote: post #6
Doches wrote: post #3

This article reads like an uneducated rant in so, so many ways. Apple rolling over its sleep and squashing Patreon isn't 'enshittification', it's just textbook monopoly abuse. And if you want to rail about the nuance of Apple's business practices you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad"). > The fact that it's a felony to get your Iphone apps from anyone except Apple mean…

> you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad") Why not? Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide?

> Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide?

He should go the whole hog in this radical stance of civil disobedience and just spell the names entirely wrong!

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#13

Post by marxisttemp »

brigadier132 wrote: post #4

Apple's product is its users. All of the privacy changes are not to protect the privacy of their users, it's to ensure that there are no ways to access Apple device users without Apple being the middleman.

I wouldn’t say all of the privacy changes or even the majority of them are to ensure lock-in, but they have certainly been using their privacy stance as a pretext for lock-in.

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#14

Post by roenxi »

brigadier132 wrote: post #4

Apple's product is its users. All of the privacy changes are not to protect the privacy of their users, it's to ensure that there are no ways to access Apple device users without Apple being the middleman.

Which is a great pitch to use Apple devices. The software community seems to hate it but I have a theory that one of the reasons Apple commands such a premium is because regular users don't actually like the software people all that much.

Apple protecting user privacy for selfish reasons is a wonderful thing. It means they are going to keep doing it for as long as they can manage until the legislators step in.

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#15

Post by dghlsakjg »

Doches wrote: post #3

This article reads like an uneducated rant in so, so many ways. Apple rolling over its sleep and squashing Patreon isn't 'enshittification', it's just textbook monopoly abuse. And if you want to rail about the nuance of Apple's business practices you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad"). > The fact that it's a felony to get your Iphone apps from anyone except Apple mean…

This is the guy who invented the word enshittification. He, of all people, is using it correctly.

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#16

Post by AlexandrB »

phony-account wrote: post #11
AlexandrB wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad") Why not? Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide?

> Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide? He should go the whole hog in this radical stance of civil disobedience and just spell the names entirely wrong!

It can certainly be obnoxious (I remember everyone calling Microsoft, M$ in the early 2000s), but if the goal is communicating an idea to an audience spelling it iPhone vs IPhone vs iphone vs Iphone doesn't make a difference.

What I don't get is advocating for radical civil obedience to a company's preferred trademark names.

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#17

Post by [deleted] »

AlexandrB wrote: post #2

What's the conceptual difference between Apple charging 30% for Patreon subcribers vs. charging 30% for purchases on Temu or the Amazon app? This distinction seems completely arbitrary to me. I suspect the only reason it exists is that adding a 30% Apple surcharge to every Amazon purchase would cause too much outrage. Disclaimer: I've never used Temu or the Amazon app, but I'm assuming they don't apply a 30% surcharg…

[deleted]

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#18

Post by sulam »

brookst wrote: post #8

[flagged]

It’s a completely reasonable rant, and timely. You could write largely the same rant regarding digital books and how Apple advantages itself over competitors when it comes to their “fee” and the distortions this causes in the purchasing experience for those products.

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#19

Post by throw0101d »

AlexandrB wrote: post #6
Doches wrote: post #3

This article reads like an uneducated rant in so, so many ways. Apple rolling over its sleep and squashing Patreon isn't 'enshittification', it's just textbook monopoly abuse. And if you want to rail about the nuance of Apple's business practices you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad"). > The fact that it's a felony to get your Iphone apps from anyone except Apple mean…

> you can at least not typo the name of two of their flagship products ("Iphone and Ipad") Why not? Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide?

> Why not? Are we all beholden to the Apple marketing department style guide?

Aren't they proper nouns?

Re: Apple vs. the "Free Market"

#20

Post by brigadier132 »

AlexandrB wrote: post #9
brigadier132 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's the conceptual difference between Apple charging 30% for Patreon subcribers vs. charging 30% for purchases on Temu or the Amazon app? I can name more than 1 competitor to Amazon.

Of course, but I don't use shopping apps so I don't know who does or does not have an app. Temu just comes to mind because of their dismal reputation and obnoxious marketing.

I don't think you get it because you wouldn't have asked the question in the first place if you did.

If there is actual competition in a market, the surplus generated by economic transactions is more fairly distributed by the participants in the transaction. When there is competition, businesses also need to compete and improve their products to drive efficiencies (for better margins) and to make the product more attractive to buyers.

Because Apple is in a monopoly position, the only way to sell to Apple device users is via their app store. If you want to sell on their App store you need to give apple 30% of revenue. To be clear, Apple does not provide 30% of the value here. This 30% is pure rent seeking, once the app is installed Apple provides 0 value.

If you really wanted to equate Apple and Amazon, it would be like Amazon taking 30% of the initial transaction then forcing all revenue generated from products sold on Amazon to give 30% of revenue in perpetuity to them.

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