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Apple Prevails Again

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maclaptop

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 8, 2011
1,453
0
Western Hemisphere
Apple Prevails Again

(Disclaimer: I'm not bashing Apple, simply sharing my thoughts & an article I believe is fair & accurate)

I once admired Apple for all the good they did. Apple was my Computer Company of choice.

Yet the tide has turned and I'm concerned. Now their an entirely different company.

Throwing all class and dignity away, they are highly skilled, ruthless predators. No one is safe.

If you love Apple, I encourage you to read the article below.


I submit for you're review:

http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?nid=...views.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20062030-82.html?
 
I heard that Walmart and Boarders are going to start charging a percentage for every book they sell in their stores.:D
 
Julien said:
I heard that Walmart and Boarders are going to start charging a percentage for every book they sell in their stores.:D
Click to expand...

That's not the same, and you know it. Apple is playing the part of the 800lb gorilla right now because they can. Apple isn't selling a Netflix subscription with an in-app purchase, what they're doing is facilitating the transaction. For that service, Visa/Mastercard/PayPal/Amex/Discover and every other transaction facilitating company around charges a small (on the order of 3-5%) fee. Apple is demanding a 30% fee. That, in and of itself, isn't so bad. The bad part is when Apple uses the ecosystem to say that "If you want to play on our playground (which happens to be the hottest around at the moment), you HAVE to use our transaction processing system if you use anyone else's." It's blatantly anticompetitive and should scare developers and users alike. I suspect if they keep on this same path, they may have some federal antitrust investigations in their future. I love Apple, I love their products and their design sensibilities, but I can't support them on this one.
 
dbarnett said:
I love Apple, I love their products and their design sensibilities, but I can't support them on this one.
Click to expand...

I feel the same about their products and have a house full of them.

However, the present way they conduct business really illustrates how much they've changed, culturally, morally, and consciously. Apple is so powerful and successful there is no reason to pull some of the stunts they do.

When will they ever learn that when in the lead, you can race away from everyone without looking back and tossing out nails to blow out their tires. There is no dignity in that.

Apple used to be a Class Act. Now? Not so much, and that's expressing it kindly.
 
If you think 30% to facilitate a netflix transaction is bad look at the number BestBuy charges netflix to sell one of their cards in store.
 
dbarnett said:
That's not the same, and you know it. Apple is playing the part of the 800lb gorilla right now because they can. Apple isn't selling a Netflix subscription with an in-app purchase, what they're doing is facilitating the transaction. For that service, Visa/Mastercard/PayPal/Amex/Discover and every other transaction facilitating company around charges a small (on the order of 3-5%) fee. Apple is demanding a 30% fee. That, in and of itself, isn't so bad. The bad part is when Apple uses the ecosystem to say that "If you want to play on our playground (which happens to be the hottest around at the moment), you HAVE to use our transaction processing system if you use anyone else's." It's blatantly anticompetitive and should scare developers and users alike. I suspect if they keep on this same path, they may have some federal antitrust investigations in their future. I love Apple, I love their products and their design sensibilities, but I can't support them on this one.
Click to expand...


I notice arguments such as yours always neglect to mention the tens of millions of potential customers Apple brings in the market they have created.
 
rdowns said:
I notice arguments such as yours always neglect to mention the tens of millions of potential customers Apple brings in the market they have created.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and the rest have a competitive number of users, so no, I don't think numbers alone are the reason they're charging 6-10x the going rate and then forcing people to use their service as an option if they want to play in the iOS ecosystem. iOS is a desirable ecosystem because of how hot it is right now and Apple is leveraging that to it's fullest extent, in arguably immoral and illegal ways. If Microsoft bundling IE with Windows was ruled to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, this move by Apple is way over that particular line. This move intentionally stifles competition and it will bite Apple someday either through antitrust litigation or developer defection (which will lead to less value for the users).
 
dbarnett said:
iOS is a desirable ecosystem because of how hot it is right now and Apple is leveraging that to it's fullest extent, in arguably immoral and illegal ways. If Microsoft bundling IE with Windows was ruled to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, this move by Apple is way over that particular line. This move intentionally stifles competition and it will bite Apple someday either through antitrust litigation or developer defection (which will lead to less value for the users).
Click to expand...

Apple is the Lindsay Lohan of the tech sector :eek:

They can get away with anything.

Those who know Apple's history well, are honest and not in denial, know exactly what I'm talking about. There have been many "close calls" that suddenly went silent. After all there isn't anything that a massive cash "donation" won't make go away.
 
Apple did nothing wrong and they deserve to gat paid to support the infrastructure. There are plenty reader apps. These guys need to stop complaining, take some community college business classes and come up with a new idea.
 
bruinsrme said:
What do they charge?
Click to expand...

It's not really a "charge" thing netflix give the cards to a store and then the store sells the cards for the price netflix would costs. Another way you could look at it the store "charges" 100%. I have no idea the way other companies do it, or even if netflix still does this. This is just how it used to be when I worked in retail.
 
How in the world do we always come back to this argument that says "Hey Apple, it's your device, your OS, your marketplace, your customer base that WE, some app devloper, want access to. However, if you even think about charging us to do so, we'll raise hell and complain". Dumbest...arugument...ever...
 
btrav13 said:
How in the world do we always come back to this argument that says "Hey Apple, it's your device, your OS, your marketplace, your customer base that WE, some app devloper, want access to. However, if you even think about charging us to do so, we'll raise hell and complain". Dumbest...arugument...ever...
Click to expand...

Nobody is arguing about 30% on the app's price is unfair and while 30% on the in-app purchases are ridiculous compared to industry standards, that's still doesn't cross the line. It's when Apple forces developers to use in-app purchases that the line is crossed, specifically when they do so knowing that it makes the business models of their competitors unsustainable in the most popular mobile market around.

You may think that just because Apple created everything it means they're immune from criticism, but think about Microsoft including IE in Windows or any other antitrust case around. When you control the bulk of the market (and they do for apps) and you make anti-competitive moves, you end up in hot water.
 
I think in the end, Apple will come to an "accommodation" with Amazon.com and allow the continued existence of the Kindle app for iOS and still allow the buying of audio books from Amazon's Audible division outside of Apple's purview.

The reason is simple: the LAST thing Apple wants is an antitrust lawsuit from the FTC or the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division in the USA or European Commission antitrust authorities, which could happen if the only way under iOS you can buy e-books is through the iBooks book store or audio books through the iTunes Store. That is illegal under the tying arrangement provision of the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act.

Remember, Apple--until it loosened the provisions of requiring Apple's own developer apps to write iOS apps--in my opinion probably came very close to being sued by Adobe Systems and/or subject to a governmental investigation on why Apple did this. Apple does NOT want themselves subject to a "discovery" process during the initial phase of such a lawsuit, which could unveil a lot of potentially very unsavory business practices that could permanently damage Apple's reputation.
 
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