Epic Games CEO Renews Attack on Apple and Calls for Single, Universal App Store

[boss.king]

Ok, you are right, but what about Us others that don't want this solution, im happy whit the closed store a control over everything, even if its in some cases too hard i accept it, if i dont like it then ill go to Android, so why do you need to stay with Apple when you need something else.

I'm mostly happy with my iOS experience, I just think it has room for improvement. I'm not saying you have to leave the platform.

Apple is a Monopoly ... like where ? https://www.statista.com/chart/22702/andoid-ios-market-share-selected-countries/ its from 2020 but the situatation hast changed much, or you are just making it UP because you think so.

Do you know what a monopol is ? Here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

monopoly-like (no, Apple isn’t a monopoly, spare me your explanations) - hmm ok, on the phone market we have two plattforms ... so is now Apple responsible for failure of the MS Phone Devices ... you cant mean this serious.
If you really mean that "spare me your explanations" then why are you even asking / writing here ?

I specifically said Apple is not a monopoly. You've even quoted me saying it. Maybe "monopoly-like" is what tripped you up, but I even went the extra mile of clarifying that Apple is not a monopoly. Seriously, just read the words I actually wrote.

 

[Analog Kid]

Epic: “Apple isn’t a monopoly. What the world really needs is a monopoly.”

 

[londonhogfan]

The way this works is through a "https://moviesanywhere.com/" approach. Everyone is acting like it's some crazy idea, but movies have already figured it out. I buy a movie on Vudu and I can watch it through any of my linked movie "stores" the same can be done for games.

 

[bwillwall]

This is quite literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Epic's entire case was around breaking Apple's monopoly and now they are openly asking to be handed their own monopoly across the whole game device market. Yeah, I'm sure this will do wonders for their case against Apple.

I cannot fathom what they are thinking by asking for this. xD

 

[DanTheMan827]

The difference is that phones have cameras, location tracker, and all these other sensors, contacts list, and other usage data that apps can request access to. PCs didn't have these. A sideloaded app can easily trick your mom and grandma to giving them access to these extremely private data.

PCs have all these...

I hate when people try to make smartphones and tablets seem like anything beyond just the next step in computers.

They are absolutely computers, they should be treated like them...

 

[DanTheMan827]

Apple doesn't have a monopoly. You want a less locked down experience? Use a competitors' product.

If we remove Apple's locked-down solution then we reduce consumer choice, we don't increase it, since now people who want that experience can't have it.

A locked down experience can be had on anything that allows more... all you need to do is choose to not use or install anything from outside of the App Store, it really isn't a hard concept.

No one is forcing you to sideload

 

[Pro Apple Silicon]

EPIC and Apple do have one thing in common: they constantly promote ideas that no customer actually cares about.

 

[haruhiko]

Let's face it, Apple is using it's monopoly power to force developers to use their app store in order for them to install apps on user's phone(and have to pay a tax to do so). How Apple got away with this for so long is beyond me. Imagine if MS locked down Windows and Apple iTunes had to pay MS 30% for every music and app store transaction that occurred on MS windows. Woulda been unheard of. iPod may never existed and digital music downloads may be $1.50 per song vs. $0.99/each.

Bottom line, Mobile Phone OS is no different that desktop OS and the restriction imposed for owners of iPhones from being able to install apps outside app store is outrageous and can't last forever.

Hahahah fortunately the world isn’t full of people who think like you. Unfortunately there are some.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Here is US marketshare as of May: iOS is 53%.

Mobile smartphone OS market share U.S. 2018-2024| Statista

Apple's iOS continues to hold the largest share of the smartphone operating systems market in the United States, claiming more than **** of the market in 2024.

www.statista.com

worldwide marketshare is irrelevant when each country is it's own. It's about how it effects it's own citizens.

Your country, Apple might have 70% and Google is 30%, or vise versa.

Why not just have the US pass regulation limiting the number of iPhones that can be sold in the US in a fiscal year? If it’s just the US that has a problem with their citizens buying iPhones, restrict the purchase of iPhones. Done! Then, if they have a problem with their citizens buying Android phones, restrict the purchase of those as well.

 

[BulkSlash]

"What the world really needs now is a single store that I run so I can make all the money off of it"

There you go Tim Epic, I've fixed your statement for you.

 

[polyphenol]

Huh? A duopoly is different from a monopoly otherwise it would be called a monopoly.
And world wide apple does not have the market share to be a monopoly.

Why should they open up the App Store FOR IPHONES to everyone. You say “phones” - there are plenty of phones out there that are not built and developed by apple. And there’s plenty of choice in those app stores. Use that… just like windows.

It can be hard to tease apart definitions of monopoly, duopoly and oligopoly as they operate in the real world.

 

[Jimmy Goodwood]

I think Apple should just make an example of Korea, and pull completely out of the market there when it comes to phones & tablets. If the Korean people want Apple then they will have to lobby their government to roll back the intrusive law. Government should stay out of businesses and let the free markets decide what works and what doesn't. Apple customers have been quite satisfied with the app store system the way it is now, and Apple has sent billions developing it. If Apple complies with this on Korea, it will just spread to other countries, and eventually ruin the Apple experience. They should just take a hard line, like they did with Epic. Squash this now before it spreads, maybe a bit of short term pain, but the alternative is a disaster. Next they will be trying to tell Apple that they have to sell their products in any retail outlet that wants to sell them, and the buyers can use any payment method they want to, no matter how secure to insecure it happens to be. Government should stay out of business period.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Ran by epic I’m sure

 

[mox358]

I agree with him that Apple has too much control over what customers are or aren’t allowed to use on their phones and that their power over the developers who add value to their platform is verging on monopoly-like (no, Apple isn’t a monopoly, spare me your explanations), but a universal app store isn’t the solution. Companies should be allowed to run their own stores.

I think the only reasonable solutions are that Apple should either allow users to side load apps from elsewhere or loosen the restrictions on what can or can’t be in the app store (provided that it’s not malicious or an outright scam).

We may disagree on sideloading but I think you are absolutely right about loosening restrictions. Game pass and even Facebook’s gaming thing should be allowed, as long as they aren’t being scammy and trying to bypass things like ATT.

I’m even cool with a payment provider API, so stripe or whoever could register with Apple and be used instead of the App Store, but still provide security and vetting. Which should theoretically allow the same features like subscription management and child account support that we all enjoy.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

This makes no sense. By definition, to OPEN something increases, NOT reduces.

It actually gives us no choice. You either want closed or open p, if you remove closed what else do you have?

 

[aleksoctop]

Sweeney is about as out of touch with reality as Musk.

 

[zarmanto]

It kind'a feels to me like Sweeney thinks that since he won a little bit in the South Korean courts, maybe he can leverage that small win to offset his huge loss in the US courts. Thing is, this nonsense about "one universal store" is a hard full field Hail Mary, and he knows it.

As I see it, it's all about jealousy and petty rivalries. I keep thinking that if we were to watch closely enough, we'd soon see the "one dollar" scene from Trading Places play out, with Tim Sweeney handing the bill over to Tim Cook. (Reference)

 

[Minato1990]

Can’t he just shut the **** up?!!
God damn dopefiend ayo

 

[aleksoctop]

He is just jelous that Epic and his Games are not Firts in the Stores ... an Democracy in Korea ? What, that Guy don't know anything about Democracy and other Countries.

"DeMoCrAcY iN kOrEa"
~Guy who's business is funded by the CCP

 

[djcraze]

What we need is something like Movies Anywhere for apps. It would be amazing if I could transfer my purchases to Android, or any other platform.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

What we need is something like Movies Anywhere for apps. It would be amazing if I could transfer my purchases to Android, or any other platform.

Each streaming entertainment platform should just make their video and music service work properly in all web browsers for that.

 

[WiseAJ]

I bet his "friends" at Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo want this universal app store as well. No way it will hurt their profits as well right?

This guy is a joke. I wish I could go back to the last year when I had no idea who he even was.

 

[ender78]

No one is forcing Apple to become like Andriod, I think the goal is to prevent Apple from abusing it's monopoly power by taxing 30% to install apps on it's customer owned devices. if apple was 10-15% marketshare and there are a dozen OS Options to choose, It would not be an issue, but facts are Apple designed it's Mobile OS to be restrictive in order to gain only by only allowing apps 1 way in. The design is deliberate, and the their case is to secure the mobile phones. I guess that would be fine but why the need to take 30% then? Why not have the app store, but let companies use their own payment system? Or have fees that are reasonable that doesn't' make them look like crooks. Motives don't match up to what they say.

Apple gets to set their own business model. They have decided that the best way to fund continued development of IOS is to take a 30% commission for use of the App Store and IOS APIs. 30% is not a fee for transaction processing it is a fee that covers transaction processing and a host of other functions. Developers willingly singed up for this business model.


I purchased the iPhone and have recommended it to others because it is a closed ecosystem which I trust Apple to manage. Tim Epic is telling me my choice of a closed ecosystem is not mine to make.

Google recently announced in Korea that those wanting to bypass its App Store and offer alternative payment methods would simply have their commission reduced by 4% and would need to fork over the rest to Google. That is what I expect Apple to do as well.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

1: I can tell you Apple vs Epic is very likely going to SCOTUS for sure at this rate.

2: What Sweeney is asking for is monopolistic and is very likely will get DOJ involved.

3: After all this is done, Apple will likely ban Epic (as in entire company) from Apple’s development program from life and very likely will ban the company from owning any Apple products for life.

 

[ender78]

Walmart sells brand name items and some of those brands have their own stores too. There are mobile phone shops that sell multi brand items and yet those brands have their own stores. As I said, the principle of his idea works in the real world so why not in the digital world?

We've taken it for granted the idea of one store selling everything we need, for the most part people have accepted Amazon for selling everything online that we need so why can't there be one app store that has everything that we need? Why is the concept so difficult to understand or accept but yet we accept it everywhere else? Is it because it involves Apple and because this is an Apple forum, anything that goes against Apple's ecosystem is automatically rejected because that is what appears to be happening here in this case.

Walmart charges vendors for the privilege to distribute their product in store, that is not free. They also charge a premium for end cap space. Walmart can and has forced vendors to only allow themselves a specific profit margin. That is the cost of doing business with Walmart. Want to move 1000 skids versus 100 units of a product, make a decision as to where your product is sold.

The 30% commission that Apple charges helps subsidize the billion users that use free apps.