It really doesn’t matter how much better than the old way of doing things Apple’s App Store is. That’s not the issue. The issue is that Apple locked down the phone so that no software can be installed initially. Then, they decided to reverse course and allow software but only if you go through their App Store where they get to take a cut.
I’m not saying the App Store is bad. I think it’s good and has benefitted developers. That doesn’t make it not anticompetitive. To go back to your brick and mortar analogy, I could go to many different retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, Micro Center, etc.) and buy the same piece of software. Maybe somewhere would have it on sale and I would get a discount. The App Store is like the US government passing a law that says that only Best Buy is allowed to sell software now. That would have been decried as anticompetitive 20 years ago (and rightfully so). The App Store is the modern day version of that scenario. Doesn’t matter if it’s million times better than what came before. Apple is forcing all developers and all customers to go through its App Store to get software and collecting a cut in the process.
You keep making assertions that are flawed. If I want a Big Mac, I can only buy it in one place….MacDonalds. They control their entire operation just like Apple. I can’t go to Burger King and demand a Big Mac (or demand that they sell Big Macs, or indeed any other burger).
There are other Burger joints around and you can indeed buy from them. Android is a viable alternative to iOS, and has many App stores (in fact >1,000). If your choice is a Big Mac, you go to MacDonalds. If you only want a burger, you have many choices.
I‘ve yet to see an antitrust case against MacDonalds for not selling Whoppers, or indeed, not selling any other burgers.
I can’t walk into Ford and order a BMW. Which is a shame as my town has a Ford Dealership and not a BMW dealership. I can’t demand that Ford start selling BMW’s for my convenience. I can’t order a Ford with a BMW engine, or even demand that they accomodate that request. If I want a BMW, I HAVE to go to the next town.
The reason being it is NOT illegal to have a monopoly on your own products, it is actually expected. It‘s not illegal to get ahead by having a better product or service. It’s not illegal to get ahead through happenchance. It’s not illegal to get ahead through better business acumen.
Apple’s product is the entire stack….hardware, OS and App Store. These products have always been sold together and have never been available individually. If they licensed the OS and App Store to other hardware vendors but tied the OS to the store, then maybe you could claim anticompetitive behaviour. But they don’t.…hardware, OS and App Store is a single product. How they choose to monetise this is entirely their choice and the market is free to choose.
And they have chosen, year over year with increasing sales of all their products and with the top customer satisfaction ratings in every category, every single year. Good luck showing harm to
consumers when this is the case.
Anti-competition laws specifically look at harms to consumers.