Google Now Lets Apps Use Third-Party Billing in EU, Apple Yet to Announce Plans

[Sophisticatednut]

A market of one could profitably sustain ‘supra competitive’ prices. So a market of one IS a market. A market is anything the person defining it wants it to be. A market of one is absurd (as Apple is a market of 1 over Apple’s App Store) which is why I wouldn’t use a market of one to suggest improper control over a market.

Apple platforms are a market place. With 3d party offerings. If apple removes 100% of third party developers, then they would no longer be a marketplace, but just a product with first party applications

The EU has specifically said that they have a problem with Apple’s monopoly of the iOS store. I WISH they’d did it without Apple, but they couldn’t.

EU have said they have a problem with apple’s dominant position they abuse. Not their monopoly. The legal text isn’t defined by apples property. Eveeeything uses existing legal definitions from 1999 and 2004

One man’s illegal monopoly is another man’s ‘Gatekeeper’. LOL The number of contrary ideas the EU must maintain simultaneously must be staggering to the EU regulators.

There is giant difference between monopoly and gatekeeper.
A monopoly is just someone controlling 100% of a market.

A gatekeeper controls access to a marketplace.

“Monopolies are 100% legal, but we can’t allow monop—- ah what we meant to say is we can’t allow GATEKEEPERS, yes, see, that’s a new thing and in no way effectively saying that we don’t like monopolies, we just don’t like gatekeepers! Because of their mon— I mean, because of their gatekeeping!!”

That’s a straw man. Gatekeepers are still allowed, they just have obligations. No difference than a bakery must meet food standards unique to factories. They are still completely legally allowed to control 100% of the market if that’s what the market asks for.

 

[webkit]

Sure. It’s like saying WebKit never committed a crime. I’m sure you did, even if it’s as benign as accidental littering.

Sure. But these regulations go beyond all of that. Anti-trust is good when applied appropriately. These are overrwachi g innovation killing regulations.

At least you seem to agree that without antitrust laws and regulations, we wouldn't have the degree of competition and innovation we have today.

How are the EU regulations going beyond "all of that"? They are attempting to prevent dominant companies from having too much power/control in a market as that excessive power/control can stifle competition and innovation.

 

[webkit]

And yet… we have Apple. No matter what anyone says they believe about COMPANIES SHOULDN’T BE REQUIRED TO BUILD THEIR OWN THINGS, the fact is that, approximately 15 years ago, one company looked at the market, decided, “We’ll have to build our own thing” and tried. And that’s how we got the iPhone of today. Not by forcing Verizon, or Blackberry, or Motorola or Samsung or any other company to alter their core business practices to ease the barriers of entry to Apple, but by Apple building what they felt was innovative for the market they wanted to enter. And, for the parts they couldn’t build, they formed strategic agreements. That’s how innovation comes about.

Alan Kay said “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware”. We don’t need to lower the barriers of entry, we need innovating entrepreneurs serious enough about their software to invest in their own hardware. If they’re NOT really serious about software, I don’t want to lower the barrier so their lacking solutions come to market. We’ve got enough of those already!

If companies were required to make their own OS and hardware, we wouldn't have the degree of products or level of competition and innovation we had over the years. The added costs, risks, etc. would've kept many companies from pursing new and innovative ideas.

 

[I7guy]

At least you seem to agree that without antitrust laws and regulations, we wouldn't have the degree of competition and innovation we have today.

I never said laws and regulations were a bad thing in modern society. I did say misused, imo, is bad.

How are the EU regulations going beyond "all of that"? They are attempting to prevent dominant companies from having too much power/control in a market as that excessive power/control can stifle competition and innovation.

I guess an outsider to the EU sees these laws differently than an insider.

 

[Vjosullivan]

It sounds like this plan is already pointless.

Google is reducing their commission by 3%... hooray!

But the developer now has to find some other payment processer who will charge them... guess what... 3%

Who thought this was a good idea?

It's funny... all this time developers were begging for alternative payment processors. And they're finally getting it.

But what they should have been fighting for is lower commissions.

Whoops... 🤣

Still not sure why you think having a choice is a bad idea.
Reduction in commission is a symptom of competition not monopolisation.

 

[I7guy]

Still not sure why you think having a choice is a bad idea.
Reduction in commission is a symptom of competition not monopolisation.

Choice through innovation is great. Through government regulation, not so much. Eduction if commission through regulation is bad.