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I can agree that apple has the right to its cut on payments done through App Store, but apple not allowing Spotify to direct people to its website seems shady
Until you look at it from this perspective. This is directly from the apple epic trial I believe. Allowing developers to advertise other means of subscribing is no different than Verizon allowing Apple to encourage the purchase of an iphone at an Apple store with a sign in the Verizon store. Now why would any retailer, digital or otherwise, want a vendor partner to advertise another location to purchase their goods?
 
Every single day, more android phones are sold than iPhones.
iMessage? Not available on android.
tv+? Not available on android.
Fitness+? Not available on android.
Apple News? Not available on android.
On top of this, anyone who uses Apple Music on android is actually giving 30% of their monthly subscription to Google, since it goes through the play store.
Apple is nowhere near taking over the Internet. I mean, not even close.
I never said taking over the Internet. The Internet is a network so I'm not sure what that even means.

However, Apple is taking over all the services and features on iOS devices.
 
Yes, I spent money and they gave me a product. Is that not capitalism? Does your work get to tell you what you do in your home because they paid you to do some work for them??

The US government have not stated there is a monopoly. How could they? Apple is 50% of the market in the USA and 20% worldwide. Unless there is no reasonable alternative to Apple (Samsung, LG, Sony, OnePlus etc...) then the world monopoly doesnt make sense.

And can you be a monopoly on the platform you created? If so then hello Sony, Xbox, Nintendo.. you've got some massive problems ahead.. Also, should anyone who makes ANY device that could potentially have installable software / updates open that to ANY third party App Store of whatever by law?

People need to think through what they are asking for..
You need to do some reading. Start here.


Then read the House Judiciary subcommittee report.
 
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I would say the whole way Apple exploits synergies around its entire ecosystem is pretty unprecedented and a phenomenal business. However, they will go as far as they possibly can until some sort of regulatory break is applied. That's just capitalism. The good news is that after the total pig's ear of a breakup that was AT&T, any regulation is going to be light.
 
Spotify has a much stronger argument than Epic, though. They're a direct competitor to Apple, so the 30% cut, which Apple Music does not have to pay, puts them at a marked competitive disadvantage. And unfortunately for Apple, #1 doesn't count for much if they're found to be using their position as the platform owner to compete unfairly in a given market. This is going to change sooner or later – it's just a matter of whether or not Apple or the Courts make the change; Apple would be wise to do it themselves in order to limit the scope and severity of the change.
Apple is not actively preventing Spotify from competing. That's the issue I have here. Spotify can exist without Apple. They can sell to Android users or any PC/Mac/Linux and the assortment of devices outside of the Apple ecosystem.
We have to remember that Apple created their mobile device. They can sell it with or without any third party developer application running on it. In fact, that is exactly how it started. So there is no way you can force Apple to allow another store or other developer to sell direct to an Apple customer. Just like you don't see any physical stores that have direct payments to the product vendors by the customer. You go to the register that is owned by that store, not the manufacture of the item your purchasing. GAP or Coach does not sell other brands in there store, because they don't have to. You don't go to GAP or Coach to by Levis or Prada or Gucci. You can go to Macy's (in the US) and purchase a variety of brands, but you pay Macy's. You can buy any game that BestBuy sells, but you don't pay EPIC or Microsoft or iD at the register. You pay BestBuy.

If the argument is that Apple should let the developers have the ability to put a link on the app to redirect the customer to a web page for direct payment. My answer to that is NO. It's the same thing as above. It's Apple's appstore, they house it and they maintain it. Just like any store, payments goes to the store register, not to anyone else.
 
You do realise it’s us that have the cost passed onto us, right? Spotify do use other platforms like Android so if they follow your advice and not offer a service on iOS, again it is is that lose out and are stuck with less options for music streaming. It seems completely counterproductive from a consumer point of view to not support lower costs for services IMO.
Yeah, Apple always makes you pay a premium, be it for hardware or software, but at least you have a nicely curated App Store not some virus-ridden buggy Android Market, and you can always use Apple Music instead of Spotify if you don't want to pay more.
 
Yeah, Apple always makes you pay a premium, be it for hardware or software, but at least you have a nicely curated App Store not some virus-ridden buggy Android Market, and you can always use Apple Music instead of Spotify if you don't want to pay more.
Or neither in my case. I don’t pay £3 more a month for an app and justify it because I’m an iPhone user though. Fair play if you’re fine with that though. I just use something else.
 
Here we go. Stop the 30% and just charge the annual rate which will be whatever company market cap or how many users of the app there is. Problem solved.
 
If I recall, wasn’t iTunes originally a transactional service? I don’t remember it starting off to be a streaming service. If so, that is not a good comparison.
it's a great comparison.

It's Music available on the platform. Spotify is music on the platform.
- how you listen to your music or the source doesn't change the competition for users to use your service.
I want to listen to Da Baby, James Brown, etc ... the music source (if good) mostly doesn't matter, the pricing will affect the end user directly - but on the same platform its about choice/availability of the medium (music)/and quality of the medium ... which service meh doesn't matter as much as the medium

Music.
 
Spotify has a much stronger argument than Epic, though. They're a direct competitor to Apple, so the 30% cut, which Apple Music does not have to pay, puts them at a marked competitive disadvantage.
Spotify was founded AFTER Apple got in the music industry with iPod and iTunes. Streaming is just natural evolution of listening to music in 2021.
 
How about this scenario. All iOS software developers left the platform in protest. Enjoy your iOS device with no software!
Then let that happen. Apple will have two choices then. Change or let the iPhone die.
 
And Nintendo makes a profit on every console sold so the argument that walled gardens are okay as long as the hardware is initially sold as a loss leader is okay doesn’t work there either
I honestly do not buy this argument that PS5 and Xbox are sold at a loss. Because if so, they have MAJOR issues with all the scalping, low supply and now games being $70.
 
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wah-wah-wah. Apple began getting into this digital Music business 20 years ago. They laid the groundwork like it or not for the modern streaming platforms and services, not to mention a platform for access to their apps and how to build their apps. which has also been replicated by other mobile OS developers on other platforms. While i despise these corporate conglomerates being the only choice, these other services are only making a single component of something that is dependent on someone else's proprietary services.
While I agree, Apple got there using innovation. That from Apple is not we have seen in a while. Sadly.
 
There's a pattern I'm noticing here where companies who're offering a competing, albeit inferior product are upset because Apple has developed a platform that appeals to millions and then offers a superior product that works with their platform.

Wanting to use said platform to sell your product is OK but it's still not their platform. I struggle to understand the logic of how it's anti-competitive. There's nothing stopping Epic or Spotify or any other competitor, developing their own hardware and software platforms to compete with Apple.

This is what Microsoft, Samsung, LG, Google, Huawei, etc do, is it not? I'm no legal expert in any of this but in the end it just sounds like a company that wants to actually hurt competition by dismantling a major player in that game just to take home more profit.
I guess people and companies think you can’t improve your existing offerings. Apple was in the music industry WAY before Spotify was even founded. So what is the end game? Apple cannot even mention Apple Music because that’s anti competitive since Spotify is not mentioned. Duh of course companies promote their own products. I don’t see Microsoft promoting PlayStation.
 
They don't have to have to go to the App Store, because they didn't have to buy an iPhone. They could've bought one of the other 99% of current phones on the market. This is really getting ridiculous.

'OH BUT THEY ALREADY GOT AN IPHONE THEYRE TRAPPED"

No more than I'm trapped because I bought a bunch of games for Playstation, but now I want an X-Box, and I can't use my Playstation discs.

STOP THIS RIDICULOUSNESS. ITS NOT A MONOPOLY.
Or that I’m trapped in Windows since I use Visual Studio 2019 and ReSharper. I don’t want to move to Rider on macOS so I’m trapped with Windows! Plus I spent quite a bit of money on Visual Studio. Just like your games example.
 
Spotify is NOT alone !

Epic & Spotify get the headlines, but there are others, perhaps many others, building their case against AAPL.

IMO, it is just a matter of time before Apple has competition at-least with respect to App Discovery.

Think of it as an important Bill Murray Baby Step towards full-blown third-party App Stores !

It's just a matter of time !
 
Silliness. If you want to complain about the 30% fee, fine. Say that it's excessive, fine.

But when so many others charge the same fee - and one focuses exclusively on Apple as being a boogeyman for charging it - then you look more than a little bit like a fool.

I am baffled as to why so many see Apple as evil for charging this fee. If you want the fee lowered, fine. Then go after the industry that charges it, not just one company.

Silliness.
 
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What’s stopping people from signing up for Spotify at the Spotify website, then signing in with their active account in the Spotify application?

That’s how Amazon handled video rentals last time I tried(it’s been over a year, not sure if this has changed). That’s how my Netflix and HBO subscriptions work.

They could even remove the option to subscribe via the app which would force users to sign up on the web. Is that prohibited?

Honestly, Apple’s approach is somewhat inconsistent in the App Store with game streaming vs video streaming so I understand why Spotify and Epic are interested in going the legal route, but they knew and AGREED to the rules as soon as they signed up so… 🤷🏽‍♂️
 
You need to do some reading. Start here.


Then read the House Judiciary subcommittee report.
scientists find water to be wet!
of course they hold monopoly power over their iPhone platform. One that they created for their own devices.

the issue (as being discussed with the epic case) is whether any company can create a platform and be sole distributor on that platform. Which is what PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo have.

remember these are not natural resources or products that lend themselves to natural monopolies. This is all self built through their own investment and inginuity. To claim that Apple is creating hardship for a market that they built is Kind of crazy.

furthermore, should epic allow stores and alternative currencies on their “fortnite platform”? where do you stop?

if Apple shut down the App Store would it be illegal that there is no way to get apps on an iPhone?
 
I can agree that apple has the right to its cut on payments done through App Store, but apple not allowing Spotify to direct people to its website seems shady
If the App Store was a physical store, would the store allow a sign on the package: if you order direct from the manufacturer's website, you can buy 30% cheaper than when you buy in our store?

With physical stores nobody has a problem ALSO looking on the internet if cheaper options exist, even if there is no sign on the package telling me I could also order direct from the manufacturer.
 
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The company that turned podcasts from free to a subscription based model complains Apple makes them pay for things.
 
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best buy does not take 30% of wow subs
best buy does not take 30% of pay tv subs
best buy does not take 30% of you internet cost
best buy does not take 30% of your cell phone plan
best buy does not take 30% of your xm sub
best buy does not take 30% of your grocery store bill
best buy does add some % to the price they pay to buy the product. That % is probably not 30%, but substantial.
 
That's not what Spotify wants. If that were so, they'd want me to pay Universal Music, Sony, et. al. directly for streaming music. Spotify is not the manufacturer in this case – they're the distributor, just like Apple. But unlike Apple, they're forced to pay a 30% cut of their revenue. Were Apple not the platform owner, and were this 30% cut not an obvious and significant competitive disadvantage for Spotify, this wouldn't matter. But they are and it is, and this is where the problem lies. Spotify has a strong argument that Apple is using it's position as the platform owner to stifle competition, and I believe that eventually they'll win that argument.

Epic, on the other hand, has none of this and is screwed.
Spotify is keeping more than 30% actually. When a radio station plays music, they have to pay the right holders just like Spotify has to (at least in my country). Except that Spotify pays significantly less than radio stations. I'm pretty sure that it is more than 30% difference.
 
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