We had plenty of other Mobile operating systems. Web OS, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry OS. They died when nobody bought those phones. Not really sure where Apple or Google are at fault here. No one is stopping another company from building another OS with a new App Store.
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Apple and Google 'Duopoly' to Come Under Scrutiny in the UK
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iCloud backups are not necessarily a paid service. I'll grant you that 5GB is not nearly enough for today's world, but you can back up the core data on our phone in that space for free. 200GB of iCloud storage is $2.99 / month. That really should be the new free tier.
There are also several third-party cloud backup options for iOS. iDrive, Backblaze, Acronis to name a few. There is no reason for Apple to embed a third-party into the core backup. Perhaps they might stand up a new API to more tightly couple, but still, not required by any competitive landscape.
Also, Cloud backup is not the only option. Apple could just take away iCloud backup altogether and have no need to add Dropbox. All backups are local like in the old days. Still not anticompetitive. Stupid and a bit user-hostile, but not anticompetetive.
With Covid boosts, plenty are making 28k on unemployment. That is why there are help wanted signs posted everywhere... Because people can sit home and not work and still make decent money.
So, since competition isn’t enough for the UK, how many opolies would be satisfactory? A triplopoly? A quadropoly (or would that be a tetropoly?). I think you gotta have at least eleven opolies.
It's like the point is almost within your grasp, but then proceeds slips right through your fingers. One reason that 200GB of iCloud storage isn't free is because Apple knows it doesn't have to offer that, so tens (hundreds?) of millions of consumers continue to fork over money to Apple every month just so they can backup their phone to the cloud. They have locked out competition.
You can backup files and other sorts of data that are stored on your iPhone using other services, but it's disingenuous to pretend that's the same as what iCloud does. Other cloud services could offer what iCloud does if Apple didn't lock out competitors and all but force consumers to use their own services. Whether something would be required based upon the competitive landscape is for lawmakers and regulators to decide.
Apple isn't going to severely hamper consumers' experience out of spite. They're a corporate entity that exists to make money for shareholders, not a person with feelings. I'm sure Apple would love the ads coming from Google and Samsung about iPhones going back in time and requiring local backups now. Not to mention Apple would likely still retain the majority of cloud customers even if other options were available and would thus be cutting off their nose to spite their face by killing off their own paid service, just so they didn't have to allow others a share of that revenue with other competitors in the market.
$28k equates to about $13.70/hour.
Around here places like McDonald's pays more than that.so around here (Bay Area) that's not it.
There is still reluctance for a lot of people going for service jobs due to Covid.
There aren't drives of people sitting on unemployment that could or would be working. Unemployment is different in every state.
What I'd be interested to know is, is it even possible for Apple to create a service that backs up the way iCloud backup works if they didn't control the storage service being backed up to? How would the subsequent restore feature work when setting up a new phone?
Actually, it looks like it is just beginning; but they, in this case, is the government. Is that what we want?
This just a repeat of investigation into Apple’s & Google store revenue under the guise of it being pro consumer.
according to the abusive and "just bend over more and take it " responses i received, YES.
/thanks for 1980-1988!
I don't know the technical ins and outs, but retrieving a backup from a different source doesn't exactly strike me as an overly complex problem to solve.
then, humans used email and landlines to communicate and the mobile technology was not as developed as today.
hopefully some new companies that are branching out today can compete tomorrow.
Just as with the AT&T case, people totally misunderstand the Microsoft antitrust case because all they read were the headlines. The IE/Netscape issue was pretty far down on the list of what MS was doing wrong, but was one of the few things the press could make relatable to the average person.
IMO, you missed the mark. What about the android competitors who offered phones for far less than Samsung? They don’t count?
As far as IAP…use android.
What I mean is in terms of the encryption and how that also would integrate with the backup of messages, photos, which are separate things to an iCloud backup.
Are we sure Apple would be capable of delivering all of that without also controlling the cloud data storage?
Nothing slipped my grasp - as you'd realize if you actually read my comments. I don't accept the premise that a direct analog to iCloud backup or TimeMachine has to exist. You talked the ability to back up a phone to something other than iCloud - the primary concern is the data on my phone. Being able to mirror a phone or have an alternative DR capability is beyond that need. There are alternative for backing up phone data already.
I conceded the point the 5GB is ridiculous in today's data volumes. And it is laughable that you actually took the time to write that last paragraph. Was it not obvious from the "stupid and user-hostile" comment that suggesting they would eliminate cloud backup was not a serious point?
Of course you don’t accept that comparable iCloud alternatives should be allowed to exist. That would imply that Apple is being anti-competitive. I’m not sure what your point in bringing up the elimination of iCloud was if you admit such a thing would be an absurdity.
The point was that there is no requirement to allow any cloud backup. They could go back to the early days when all backups were local. That would not be anticompetitive, but it is an option. It would also be hard to legislate that any company must develop and deliver a particular capability.
I do not believe that a direct analog to iCloud backup should be required. Just like I don't believe a direct analog to backing an Android phone to anything but a Google Account is required. There is a difference between OS / hardware backup (restore / disaster recovery) and a backup (files, folders, content, some settings).
Though there is something to the privacy push, I do believe that it serves Apple's own needs to justify their walled garden and accompanying profits. It's "We're all about security and privacy!" rather than, "We want all money associated with using the iPhone; we don't want any competing stores or platforms on the iPhone!"
Granted I would probably not use a different store as privacy and security might get corrupted, but ...this no choice thing is as much about Apple's money as it is about privacy.
Granted I would probably not use a different store as privacy and security might get corrupted, but ...this no choice thing is as much about Apple's money as it is about privacy.
I agree. Like do we really need to waste more resources making more phones people don’t want. Guess as long as the planet suffers who cares right!
It would definitely be an odd world if every time Apple added some new functionality it had to make provision at the same time for a competitor to compete with that new functionality. On that basis we might as well just have a government mandated operating system.
Duopol?! Like seriuosly?
apple iOS crushed blackberry (both BB10 and their bastardized Android ~ despite that company’s handheld brand unwilling to have a peaceful death). Android and iOS killed Microsofts Windows after they screwed over Nokia, serves them right).
competition won.
nithing to really regulate.
maybe th EU should start looking at their own leaders practices pay and shady business within and all levels of government and see WHAT is really unconstitutional before looking at businesses
Id like to see a full 5yr audit of those in power pushing for this and seeing what undocumented or un authorized from payroll income they have!
Attachments
5 OS were around:
ios
android
windows mobile
bb10
webos
also the browsers are open sourced coded which eu shut down Microsoft for bundling junk browser using proprietary browser code in windows. WebKit browsers get the best of the best. It’s like the eu is against open market competition lol.