Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Epic Games Files Complaint to Support UK Antitrust Watchdog's Apple Probe
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Some people just come onto this forum to complain. The user you replied to is one of them, I guess just ignore the troll.
The whole Epic law suit is somewhat a bad joke. Then again one can view it as an exercise in which western legal system is turned against itself. The fact remains that even though Tencent has 40% ownership it has power over Epic Games decision making due to its financial power and ties.
When we examine Epic Games Store on PC we are met with controversy over alleged data mining and drive towards exclusive distribution rights. Let’s face it, its all done on money from Chinese government funds which Tencent is using. One can ask why Chinese government is actively financing western game companies and trying to push software on every possible device. Maybe they just want to be “king of gaming“ or maybe they just like to have application on every possible device which can install other applications. Nah, its just gaming...
When we examine Epic Games Store on PC we are met with controversy over alleged data mining and drive towards exclusive distribution rights. Let’s face it, its all done on money from Chinese government funds which Tencent is using. One can ask why Chinese government is actively financing western game companies and trying to push software on every possible device. Maybe they just want to be “king of gaming“ or maybe they just like to have application on every possible device which can install other applications. Nah, its just gaming...
I see a lot of people making this point but completely missing the following:
If an app I want is currently available in the App Store but in the future is only available in a different store, if I want that app I HAVE to use the other store whether I want to or not because the developer removed the app from the store I want to use.
The choice to only use the apple App Store is therefore no longer my choice and becomes the developers choice instead, or I have to do without the app. Both options are bad for me.
Love it. Fanboi's defending Apple because they are Fanboi's. Apple doesnt give a **** about anyone except their profits. Apple makes good products but from time to time someone needs to have a look at their practices.
Everyone knows that Android OS has been treated as a competitor to iOS by the press and the tech industry since it originally appeared on the market. The whole "open" vs "closed" thing was treated as the defining difference for consumers and developers very early on when it came to choosing an Android or iOS device. What's the result? Android hardware typically has a larger market share than Apple but generates less revenue for developers. What's the general conclusion for that? That iOS customers are more likely to spend money on software than Android customers. So, obviously, the market that Epic is describing (where customers given an "open" market are better served) doesn't actually exist in practice.
Why not add something about what practices you think should be looked at and why?
One creates user friendly devices and software for productivity.
The other had an online game addictive like tobacco with loot boxes and had Nazi and pedos openly grooming kids.
Anyway I only play retro games because it puts me in a happy mood to remember the days before Zuckerberg and Dorsey fill the world with hate, misinformation, scams and lies.
The days before Andressenn Horowitz invented crypto behind a fake Japanese personality and ruined the world with this climate polluting criminal pyramid schemes on top of more pyramid schemes that raised money for fascists and cyber crime.
In a few years I hope to retire and throw all computers and communication devices in the trash and never go online again. I advise everyone do the same if these monster CEOs and Vampire Capitalists are still trying to manipulate the world and be everyone’s Overlord.
They think the word ‘decentralized’ will fool people that nobody is overlording and we will be free. Don’t believe it.
I hate that Epic (and their coalition of whiners) wants to turn my iPhone into an Android PoS.
if they win it will eliminate free choice for consumers. The choice of Open vs Closed. Many iPhone users choose iPhone because of its closed nature in comparison to Android and these idiots want to take that choice away and in essence poison the Apple.
if you don’t like the way Apple operates then sell your Apple gear and buy an Android (you’ll probably make money even since Android phones are a dime a dozen) and don’t develop for iOS. No one is forced to own or develop for Apple. But if you want access to Apple’s customer base you need to follow their guidelines and support their ecosystem with their fair split.
I choose Apple for its closed and protected system and I don’t want to support any Developer that wants to destroy that thinking their entitlement deserves access to me for free.
if they win it will eliminate free choice for consumers. The choice of Open vs Closed. Many iPhone users choose iPhone because of its closed nature in comparison to Android and these idiots want to take that choice away and in essence poison the Apple.
if you don’t like the way Apple operates then sell your Apple gear and buy an Android (you’ll probably make money even since Android phones are a dime a dozen) and don’t develop for iOS. No one is forced to own or develop for Apple. But if you want access to Apple’s customer base you need to follow their guidelines and support their ecosystem with their fair split.
I choose Apple for its closed and protected system and I don’t want to support any Developer that wants to destroy that thinking their entitlement deserves access to me for free.
There's no need to be rude.
LOL, yes they screwed up the colors and the graphics on their icon of a Union Jack!
Like p
Closed AppStore. Only allowing developers to go through Apple to make a profit.
As soon as Apple loses one case, or one legislative change in any jurisdiction, anywhere in the world, and a law or judgement is written that Apple has to allow alternative payment options in their appstore, or alternative appstores on iOS, the jig will be up everywhere.
Apple has to win every case.
Epic need only win once.
Apple has to win every case.
Epic need only win once.
Lol, ok buddy.
If that were true, Android would have the same mythical protections that somehow disallow bad actors to slip nasty payloads into side loaded apps & they’d be exactly on par from an app quality standpoint.
No, they want to allow individual consumers to turn their phones into something more like Android. Just like the right to burn a flag doesn't mean you have to burn a flag, the right to have alternate appstores doesn't mean you have to use them.
Apple will still be able to offer an Appstore, they will still be able to offer their own purchasing platform. If these things are truly valued by developers and consumers, if they are good enough to thrive in a competitive marketplace, they will thrive. I can't see why you would be worried, if they're as good as Apple claim.
Or, lobby your government to implement regulations so that Apple is compelled to allow competing payment systems, or competing app stores, that people can choose to use, or choose not to use.
Regulation and lawsuits by government consumer protection organisations, is why Apple now offers cheap battery replacement for out of warranty phones, rather than their earlier policy or requiring people to buy entire remanufactured iPhones, just to get a fresh battery.
Apple has been dragged, kicking and screaming every step of the way towards making their products conform to the expected norms of consumer products all around the world. It's reasonable to assume the software side of things will follow the same path.
iOS has the security infrastructure to ensure a "bad" app from a "bad" appstore can't compromise your data, any more than a "bad" app from Apple's appstore can, and Apple's appstore has many, many "bad" apps. Perhaps if they had meaningful competition for developer and customer revenue, they would actually police the Appstore such that the reality would match their claims. Competition in appstores will make Apple's appstore better. It's nothing to be afraid of.
We don't see macOS burning down in a hellswamp of insecurity with independent appstores, iOS will be no different.
Let's get down to it, what you're really afraid of, is that Apple's Appstore and payment processing is so bad, and so hated by developers, that all the apps you want to buy will dump Apple's systems the first chance they can get. You're afraid of this, because you know deep down, that Apple's offerings aren't actually good value for what they do, but rather are the very textbook of the decline to mediocrity that goes hand in hand with any rent-seeking monopoly.
But you shouldn't worry - if the apps you like won't stay on the App store, someone else will make functionally equivalent apps that will - Apples App Store and Payment Processor is a "sweet solution".
And if you absolutely HAVE to use an app from a developer using a non-Apple billing system, do you really think they're going to make it any worse in terms of friction to Apple's system already? I can already use touchiD on my iPhone, to make purchases with my credit card on my Mac. That's exactly the experience you'll get with 3rd party appstores or payment processors - it'll be just like buying with Apple Pay on the web.
Last edited:
mrochester brought up a good point with regard to this actually leading to a lack of choice for consumers in #29, this is a concern I share very much. While I'm sure a good chunk of developers would cross-publish, some would not, especially the big ones that are better equipped to build out their own app store. Companies like Microsoft (just for example) might decide to do their own app store to bypass Apple, and now if I want Office (or need it for work) I have to go out to yet another app store and take that risk.
There is also a second thing I think people get confused on here, and that is what the "market" people are accusing Apple of having a monopoly in.
The iOS App Sore, is NOT a "market" that one can have a monopoly over. That'd be like saying Walmart has a monopoly over Walmart stores. I think the only relevant market here is the smartphone market in which Apple is one of two major players in. One can argue that two players isn't enough, and I think that type of discussion is a fine one to have, but that is not the discussion that Epic is trying to make. Also in this vein, the fact that there are only two major smartphone variants (iOS and Android) has come about on its own accord; pretty much via free market forces (Windows phone was there for a bit but died off). Apple has not gone out and bought other smartphone makers (their competition) to ensure that they retain their position in the market. Eg. They did not do the equivalent of what Facebook did with Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. The barrier to entry in the smartphone market is a high one for other companies to enter; but nothing about what Epic is doing is attempting to deal with that.
The trend world-wide in competition policy, is in fact the opposite. iOS as a platform is being defined as a self-contained market. Android as a platform is being defined as a self-contained market.
Apple is being judged for how it, as the gatekeeper for one of those markets, restricts competition for alternatives to Apple's services (payment processing, app binary download hosting, storefront sales) within that market. Just as if they prevented alternative email or camera applications.
Competition law is not the simplistic thing Apple's supporters would like to believe it is, and "Smartphones" as a whole, is not some arbitrary stopping point to the level of granularity that competition law is designed to regulate.
No, I'm afraid of developers being so cheap they use a subpar payment system that compromises my personal financial data because those systems don't want to invest in the level of safety, security, and ease of use like Apple's native system is.
Developers are going to get a ice cold bucket of water dumped on their heads if this gets dismantled when they realize what operating like Android does to their profits. There is a reason why the App Store is more profitable than the Play Store. and it comes down to Piracy. Why pay for an app when you can just download a cracked copy of it and install it super easy (complete with spyware and malware!) Just watch as developers lose money.
Unfortunately it will affect all developers even if they are perfectly and rightly happy with Apple's current system.
How come then that the UK government will quite happily probe Apple's apparent power and alleged abuse of it but they point blank refuse to probe Rupert Murdoch's power and obvious abuse of it?
Oh wait, that is right because they are all as corrupt as each other and anyone who votes for any politician is a dam fool!
Oh wait, that is right because they are all as corrupt as each other and anyone who votes for any politician is a dam fool!
The more worrying impact is that it will leave us consumers with the choice of android or apples version of android.
Yes, it is called the Union Jack and is the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The point being that the U.K government is looking into Apple and it's alleged abuse of power.
The clue is that Northern Ireland considers itself and wants to be part of the U.K, most citizens there do that is, some do not.