Not my experience as European at all. Lots buy cheap garbage but that’s a different story. Hate? Nope. Much too important a feeling to attach but to a company outside of these forum doors.
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Epic Games Takes Legal Battle With Apple to Europe With Antitrust Complaint
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Not my experience as European at all. Lots buy cheap garbage but that’s a different story. Hate? Nope. Much too important a feeling to attach but to a company outside of these forum doors.
They want to control Apple’s Platform, but remain in control of their own. Microsoft and others have proved iPhone users can access games without being in Apple’s curated store. Develop your own platform that uses your store and use a browser to access. That means you have to bring your own customers and not try to get a free ride on Apple’s work.
let's hope Apple calls their bluff and suspends the App store in Europe and see how long before Apple users make noise to get the store back.
you buy an Apple phone, you know it has one store. you are not being mislead.
if you want choice of installs, you buy an Android phone. simple.
i like the fact Apple have rules and vet the apps.
i also like the new privacy upfront policy to tell the user what info they capture and use.
if they dont want to be transparent and honest with you, why would you use their app?
Sue? Probably. Win? Different question entirely!
I'd rather say this is a difference between two kinds of capitalism: pro-business and pro-market.
In pro-business capitalism, governments make decisions that benefit established businesses, sometimes raising the barriers of entry for new businesses. Any political system that allows lobbying naturally leans towards pro-business, because the established businesses have the means to advance their interests.
In contrast, pro-market capitalism strives to keep the barriers of entry for new businesses low, sometimes at the expense of established businesses. The EU is one of the few major entities with significant pro-market tendencies, and even that is more by accident than by design.
EU member states would like nothing more than preferring domestic businesses over their EU competitors. Because the EU is supposed to be a single market, it can't allow that. Member states are legally required to treat domestic businesses and businesses from other member states equally. This is the single most important thing about the EU to remember. As the EU exists to enforce free competition between businesses from different member states, the same attitude leaks to its other operations.
In particular, the EU really dislikes anti-competitive business practices, especially when they threaten the single market principle. If the anti-competitive practices are unavoidable, the EU regulates them to create competition. For example, if you own a mobile network or a power grid, you are legally required to let your competitors use it for a fair price. When the EU sees a major business, it always thinks about regulating the market to let new businesses compete against it.
I really hope Epic fails, the 90s was a terrible time, having to enter your credit card info into every site, having to scour the web for app downloads and hoping they aren't viruses. Bringing back this concept really freaks me out
Oh well it’s a good job the UK are no longer part of Europe then if Apple go down that route.
The EU commission come out with the most ridiculous things. A few years back the slapped google with a hefty fine for having the play store, search engine and Gmail installed on android devices. They said it was anti competitive.
If I was apple and lost in the EU I would slow the updates to all epic games/programs. Just make it a horrible experience on the iPhone.
How do you figure its not far fetched? They made the device, wrote the IOS to there specifications, have a site for developers to upload there software for sale.. The developer had to agree to there "RULES" other wise they could not sell there application. This isn't FING rocket science. There house there rules , you don't like it MOVE ALONG. Go and demand, tell, communicate to "DELL" that you demand or we're going to sue you because you don't make computers to do or run a certain way or certain application or applications.
If any national or supranational body rules that Apple has to allow the side-loading of apps or alternative stores, you will still be free to use the App Store only and keep in the ecosystem. The only difference is that people who don't wish to will have the option not to. If Apple can't keep the App Store afloat while competing with other stores and options, that's on them. Plenty of retailers have failed to adapt to change.
MS said that once and...
Their Eula(agreement) prohibits a used Windows, incl. OEM from being resold: POW! MS+Adobe lost in the EU, we can officially resell used OEM Software licenses.
Their OS, their rules, their Internet Explorer: POW! They had to add a dialog showing other browsers to users in the EU.
Their OS, their rules, their Media Player: POW! They had to remove MediaPlayer preinstallation in the EU, sued by RealNetworks.
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I think Epic's point is that of that 30%, 100% of the users are required to use the manufacturer's own App Store, and it is that 100% which is the problem. I know, know, "just buy a different device" or "allow multiple app stores" -- you'll never get one side to agree with the other, as they have different definitions of a market, which is why they are going to court.
And I'm honestly with you on this one. If Epic does win on the merits, I hope developers will keep Apple's IAP system as an option because it is so much easier to use. I'd happily pay an extra 30% on everything just for the convenience and to keep Apple going.
If Epic wins, all will stay more or less the same, just with more options and freedom.
Pro Apple people in here are just being hysteric for nothing.
It would just be like on macOS.
E.g. the ones who want's to buy Affinity Apps from AppStore buys from AppStore, and can give Apple a 30% bonus for doing nothing.
The ones who want's to buy Affinity Apps from affinity dot serif dot com, buys from there.
I bought them directly from the Affinity website, because I find they deserve 100% of the money and not anything less.
I hope Apple is forced to open iOS some day, and to enable side loading, and also set any default app as the user wants. Just like we shall be able to use and install browsers which comes with other render engines.
There are many areas where Apple tries to become monopoly, but if we wait till they reach >90% market share, it will be too late to fix the market.
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If Epic can have their own store, you better believe Facebook will make their own store too - without all those pesky Apple privacy rules.
It wasn't to support the people.
It was to support the French government, who now have more tax revenue.
It was to support French businesses - who now have an extra 3% of margin.
Epic is required to pay that for in-app purchases. There is nothing which requires in-app purchasing - people can go pay on the website, for instance, and currency associated with their apps is available on all platforms if they paid on PSX or XBox (which BTW charge Epic 30% for in-app purchases).
Epic sees a phone as a general purpose computer and Apple does not. Of course, Epic sees the phone this way because it would mean tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue (Fortnite IAP, Epic Games Store for other publishers)
That would only work for (some) software, and doesn't work for virtual items or add-ons (where the real money is).
Which is kind of a bummer as I would rather have sideloading than a change to IAPs.
Yeah, and what's the issue if they have a choice?
I dislike Facebook too, but why should people who likes it not have access to?
I mean we have 2021 and people know how they use their data, it's not a secret anymore.
They are a greedy company just like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon & Co. in their zones, that's the nature of being a company.
But yes, Android Manufacturers who includes Facebook,CoD,MSOffice in their firmware, and don't allow it to be uninstalled, shall be sued, it's also anti competitive.
The issue then comes when none of those choices give me more of what I want.
I see your earlier post on the Mac App Store, which is currently a barren wasteland precisely because developers can publish their apps elsewhere. How is it a better experience for me to have to visit numerous different websites to download the apps I want, compared to being able to search for and download them all within one single marketplace?
Same here. Say Facebook is able to offer their own App Store one day and moves their apps off the iOS App Store to their own store where they presumably will not be subject to Apple’s scrutiny and vetting process.
Therein lies the problem I have with all your suggestions. Yes, users technically get more choice, but from what I can see, we are not necessarily getting more of what we want, but instead just being saddled with more issues that we have to contend with.
That I find is the narrative that’s missing from all this. For all the issues that developers have with Apple, one cannot deny that the App Store has ultimately been a massively net positive for users, and so far, companies like epic and Spotify have done a poor job of explaining why I as a user ought to be invested in their fight, and what I stand to gain out of it at the end of the day.
They will keep all the benefits, and users will be saddled with all the externalities.
How is that better for me as the end user?
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