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If Apple is forced to allow 3rd party app stores, I expect the first thing they will do is put security warnings on them to scare off the majority of users. Cue another legal battle.

If they are forced to allow alternative payment methods, I would expect a change in app store developer conditions along the lines of "Apps including 3rd party payment options must cost a minimum of $X to purchase from the app store. Free and low cost apps will are not permitted to use 3rd party payment schemes." Then I would expect them to make Fortnite users pay that entry fee every damn season.
I do not understand why Apple does not just allow side loading since that would end Epic's legal battle and possible legislation regarding their App Store. All they would do is mimic Google's rollout by having users manually enable side loading with a security warning.
 
Love apples response to this

seriously Epic **** off. Your fight with apple is in America not South Korea but boy it took one country with a law like that just for epic to desperately want back to the apple store….. one country and they think they BLOODY WON EVERYTHING in relation to that fight

no epic that how it doesn’t work. But hey…. You will never match to apple
 
Love apples response to this

seriously Epic **** off. Your fight with apple is in America not South Korea but boy it took one country with a law like that just for epic to desperately want back to the apple store….. one country and they think they BLOODY WON EVERYTHING in relation to that fight

no epic that how it doesn’t work. But hey…. You will never match to apple
All Apple is doing is showing why their needs to be legislation to end their App store monopoly.
 
Nope, Apple's contract is still legal in South Korea until the law changes. But a change in law does not mean that a previous offence is forgiven. Epic are banned from the AppStore and Google Play, that ban happened long before this law will come into effect. Apple can if they choose say that all is forgiven and let Epic in, or they can decide to continue not working with a company that has proven to be untrustworthy.
Yes, exactly. That’s an accurate explanation.
 
So, what your saying is that EPIC or any large developer get to set up shop in Apple's AppStore. But, at the very end of the purchase, they don't owe Apple ANYTHING during the sale? When they have other means?
Competition will favor Apple's IAP. Consumers want convenience. If a consumer is forced to go outside the app experience just to purchase some IAPs, they probably wouldn't bother with it. Besides, most developers would want to stick with Apple's IAPs since they don't have the resources to set up their own payment system nor the accounting to take care of those micro transactions.

In any way, seems like regulation will be the moving force here regardless of anybody's opinion.
 
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So you're saying it's not a monopoly but a cartel. Either way, it's anti-competitive.

That’s called market standard. Every product or service has a certain price point or industry standard they follow which is also regulated by governments. Same as every bank follows the same interest rate or car manufacturers pricing their cars based on what the competition or market allows. None of these examples are anticompetitive since none restrict the competion by any means. Developers are free to distribute their apps however they want. They aren’t forced to do anything but also don’t get to have a say how companies run their business. Don’t take it if you don’t like it. Same logic applies to everything in life. Sense of entitlement a personal issue. Not a worldwide flaw.
 
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which Apple, in all likelihood will NEVER comply and would rather exit the market altogether. Apple still have that retribution feel that Steve Jobs had in order to preserve his legacy.

Apple has made deal with LG to sell phones in the store but they are ready to walk away from that if they have to deal with government that gets in Apple’s way.
id rather apple leave then give them what they want imo. screw em.
 
Indeed you are. Monopoly is legally defined differently in every jurisdiction. USA legal definition is not the same as EU definition or to Korean legal definition.
Hell In the UK a firm is said to have monopoly power if it has more than 25% of the market share in a market.
Apple has monopoly power (more than 25% of the market share by your definision) in the iOS app distribution market.

This is stated by a US judge...
 
Thousands of API's that the developer pays when he renews his annual membership, that the user of the device pays when he buys an iPhone or any other Apple device. Everything else is Apple's abuse of its users and developers.
Yeah right. Are you a developer? As a simple example... I have an app I have built for iOS/iPadOS. It has things called fonts... and a PDF viewer. I can build that in Xcode in a few minutes. The fonts on the device are licensed already for each user. It also has a built in PDF API for building PDF files and displaying them.

I had to move this to an Android platform and licensing for just this component for a small number of users was THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. Now take that to other things Apple provides from MP3/M4A/MP4 compression to Metal for video, or encryption, etc... it would be an insane amount to license all of that. The $99 you pay annual doesn't cover any of that.
 
The fact Epic have a 12% fee on their store with healthy profits shows the fees on App Store could be lower, ...
Citation needed on profitability of Epic Games Store.

...but is artificially high as iOS users don’t have a choice. This the effect of monopoly artificially upholding costs as no competition can offer lower fees as it’s against their agreement.
Also the effect of the stores for all consoles and multiple stores for android phones.

Or that apple have 15% fees for some but not others.
with consistent rules.

The fact apple changes under legal pressure and not competitive pressure is also against their case.
The small business program and 15% subscription revenue after the first year were made without legal pressure.

Unfortunately when you have active legal proceedings you can't second-guess what the court might like. E.g. Apple can't drop revenue collection to 15% across the board knowing that would still cover their infrastructure costs, then have someone like South Korea mandate that
Apple support terabytes of downloads for someone like Epic for $99/yr.
 
Apple has monopoly power (more than 25% of the market share by your definision) in the iOS app distribution market.

This is stated by a US judge...
Both you and me have a monopoly power (more than 25% of the total comments posted by the same definition) in this particular Macrumors forums. Should we also be sued by the rest of folks who feel they can’t be heard?

FYI, 25% market share threshold is set by UK. NOT US.
 
id rather apple leave then give them what they want imo. screw em.
Apple wouldn't want to leave S.Korea, and I bet the board of directors wouldn't allow them. S.Korea is in the top 10 of largest GDP per capita in Asia. Apple also has a close relationship with Samsung, and having a presence there would be preferable for the business.

Apple was willing to even put local preinstalled app on Russian iPhones. Apple will adjust things to comply with the regulation while maintaining preference on their own IAPs. Since this issue is happening in many countries, Apple probably is working on a permanent solution.
 
Don’t underestimate the power of just being part of App Store.
Yeah, I’ve done that. My app would get a whopping 10 views a week absent any marketing aside from the app’s page on the App Store. And that’s in a quiet category where it had a relatively high chance of cropping up in the category page organically.
Your app automatically gains trust and confidence of the user while being presented to them.
Speak for yourself. I trust no one solely based on the fact that nanny Apple says the app is okay.
 
Epic hosts only games and they were happy to charge 60% to host other software and game developers in their brick and mortar stores in the 90s.

I never said it’s ok just because everyone does it. Don’t forget that it is Apple - not Epic or anyone else - that reduced such fees from 60%-70% to 30% when the App Store launched. How low is low enough exactly? The cost of everything is so much higher in today’s world but despite that Apple never increased the rate. So again, how low is low enough? So far what I am seeing is a general consensus towards not paying anything but still have all the quick privileges.

I would like you to give us an example which company ever changed things spontaneously without any underlying goal. You single out Apple for only responding to legal pressure. There is a market standard for everything and fees are one of them. That’s how business field works.
And fortunately for us people.
But everyone else is doing it, making it okey for us to do it.

this have never worked as nether a legal or moral argument.
The fact Epic have a 12% fee on their store with healthy profits shows the fees on App Store could be lower, but is artificially high as iOS users don’t have a choice. This the effect of monopoly artificially upholding costs as no competition can offer lower fees as it’s against their agreement.
Or that apple have 15% fees for some but not others.
The fact apple changes under legal pressure and not competitive pressure is also against their case.
When Epic makes its own hardware, platforms and API and decides to do more than just games, then you can challenge the industry standard 30% fee. Until then, you lose the argument based on pure financials, law and quite frankly common sense.
 
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Both you and me have a monopoly power (more than 25% of the total comments posted by the same definition) in this particular Macrumors forums. Should we also be sued by the rest of folks who feel they can’t be heard?

FYI, 25% market share threshold is set by UK. NOT US.
Is this an Economic market? Does it affect public interest? Are there barriers to entry?
 
Yeah, I’ve done that. My app would get a whopping 10 views a week absent any marketing aside from the app’s page on the App Store. And that’s in a quiet category where it had a relatively high chance of cropping up in the category page organically.

Speak for yourself. I trust no one solely based on the fact that nanny Apple says the app is okay.
Then figure out how to get on your feet without Apple’s help if you have more faith in your own skills of promoting, distributing and monetizing your app. Try that with the operating cost of $99 a year which is what a developer account cost in iOS ecosystem.

If you are complaining something doesn’t work for you then do something that you think will give you a better result. Sounds easy right? According to you it is. No wonder engineers don’t do well running businesses.
 
Is this an Economic market? Does it affect public interest? Are there barriers to entry?
The answer is yes (based on your own take of concepts) to all your questions. Macrumors is an ad supported site. All of us is part of the user monetization scheme and it does affect public interest as we both dominate the algorithms in here. This is essentially a verbal polling site where the loudest people (you and I) dominate the public opinion. Are there barriers to entry? Nope. You can sign in with your own will and leave with your own will. But, judging from your stance, you would label this site as a monopoly since you can’t post comment here from another site.
 
The answer is yes to all your questions. Macrumors is an ad supported site. All of us is part of the user monetization scheme and it does affect public interest as we both dominate the algorithms in here. This is essentially a verbal polling site where the loudest people (you and I) dominate the public opinion. Are there barriers to entry? Nope. You can sign in with your own will and leave with your own will. But, judging from your stance, you would label this site as a monopoly since you can’t post comment here from another site.
Yeah, what's cute. But, no, this will not stand in Economics or in court.

Just based on the fact that there are no barriers to entry, disregarding all else, this would be called "perfectly competitive", not "monopolistic".
 
All people saying “boo-hoo, Apple bad, Epic good” seem to be forgetting that what Epic did wasn't just “not complying” with App Store guidelines, they did something fundamentally much worse from an ethical standpoint.

Had they submitted a version of Fortnite with their own payment platform visible, it would've been outright rejected (I'm not even going into whether that would be the right thing to do or not, but it would objectively be the obvious one); had they kept doing so, Apple might even have suspended/banned their account on the grounds of Epic behaving like a [relatively benign] troll. And in that event, with this rule change mandated by South Korean courts, Epic would be well within their right to ask for a revision of that suspension/ban, and even take Apple to court (by the way, they would likely win that case, IMHO).

Except that was not what happened, at all; Epic purposefully deceived Apple by submitting a build of Fortnite with their own payment platform HIDDEN from view, thus precluding App Store reviewers from even knowing they were breaching App Store guidelines in the first place, and only after having said build approved and available for download in the App Store did they remotely toggle that platform's visibility and accessibility to end-users.

To add insult to injury, they tried to paint themselves as the victim and Apple as the villain on the media. Any goodwill points and sympathy they might have earned otherwise (and their case would've been, I'll readily admit, very solid), they very consciously jeopardized (and indeed chucked down the drain when it comes to any Apple customer or parent with half a brain and a spine).

TL;DR: Epic behaved in borderline criminal and deceitful fashion, and Apple was and is well within their right to enact and enforce a lifetime ban on Epic. Also, on that regard, remember when we still had NVidia GPUs on Macs? Yeah, me neither.
 
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Competition will favor Apple's IAP. Consumers want convenience. If a consumer is forced to go outside the app experience just to purchase some IAPs, they probably wouldn't bother with it. Besides, most developers would want to stick with Apple's IAPs since they don't have the resources to set up their own payment system nor the accounting to take care of those micro transactions.

In any way, seems like regulation will be the moving force here regardless of anybody's opinion.
Again, they get to do what they want on Apple's platform but, right at the end. They don't owe apple anything for the store they lived on just before the purchase was made. Many developers may not bother with this, true. But, the fact that it can happen means it will happen for enough of them. The only real solution to this is another store. Which in my very humble opinion is just wrong to force on these companies. Yes, you can do the same thing on a Mac or PC. However, these are not Mac's or PC's. They are designed very differently from each other. While merging many of the same features a PC/Mac has. It's still different. A motorcycle and a car are both forms of transportation, but that doesn't mean the are the same. They are built differently for different use cases. Yet for some reason there are those that think they are the same, and there will be no harm no foul to "making" Apple and Google come up with a complete redesign on how their relative stores "work".

Is it just a payment at the end that has people all angry? Cause if it is, then someone needs to answer my T-Shirt question/situation I proposed in this thread. I get to use everything your store has, but not owe the store owner or shop owner anything for selling my stuff there. That's just not how it works. I don't get to put a cash register in anyones store for which my merchandise is being sold in. Bypassing the stores register and well, paying anything to the store.
 
The thing that I hate about SK's approach is that it doesn't fix the real problem.

It's MY iPhone, not Apple's iPhone. I have the right to install software from any source of MY choosing on MY iPhone. Apple's illegal monopoly app store MUST be stopped.

I don't care if Apple charges 90% on their app store. I just demand the option to opt out of it.
 
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