So buy an iPhone or an android? The consumer only has two options? Google is also being sued, so Epic is clearly saying that there is a monopoly in the smartphone App Store market, not the console market. Plus, consoles like the Nintendo switch are solely gaming devices and don’t event have a browser, whereas the iPhone can do much more than gaming and has a browser. I think it is baffling that a consumer is fine with giving up the right to browser downloads of apps or being fully informed about other methods of payment other than in-app purchases, as it should be the consumers choice! Macs do just fine with security by allowing browser downloads and other payment methods.
I find that responses like this are indicative of one larger overarching issue.
Nobody can really define just what a computer is and isn't.
Here, you are arguing that an iPhone is a computer because it has a browser. Yet in another thread, people are arguing that an iPad isn't a computer because you can't code on it (and the iPad and iPhone run pretty much the same hardware and software). Heck, the playstation has specs that could rival any low end computer. Sony just chooses to limit what people can do on a playstation console and market it as being specifically for gaming and entertainment. Why shouldn't I be able to run Excel on my console?
Some people make the argument that stores like Playstation are entitled to collect a commission on games they sell because they sell their console at a loss. To which I respond - so what? That's a choice. Just like it is a choice by Apple to sell their hardware at a handsome profit, and I don't see why that in any way makes it illegal for them to collect a 30% cut from developers, or sell other accompanying accessories and services at a profit as well. It just means that Apple is good at what they do.
Last I checked, I can't exactly side load games onto my Nintendo Switch either, so I think it's BS that Epic has this double standard where they are specifically attacking Apple while leaving the consoles alone.
Apple has never marketed the iPhone as a computer, and just because it is supposedly indispensable to modern life doesn't make it one either.
My question still stands. What makes a "general purpose computer"? Is it the hardware? Is it the OS? Is it something else? I do not deny that smartphones are nifty. In my world, that doesn't automatically make them "general purpose computers" that need to be held to a different standard compared to consoles.