one of those links i personally find interesting is "content creators."
on the top end, it appears that a handful of the apps in the Google Play Store make the lion's share of the revenue (e.g. Facebook, Google itself, and some really strong game companies).
at the same time, i've heard estimates that 50% of the independent app creators earn less than $500 per month. and it's getting worse.
in short, the android app market was quickly populated by a huge number of independent app creators (who presumably thought it would be a good, durable, new line of business). but, for the most part, these app creators became a low-income-neighborhood/swamp around the top app creators.
but Google still (indirectly) benefits from this arrangement because it offers the appearance of a free, open, lucrative, land of opportunity -- a healthy marketplace.
> who presumably thought it would be a good, durable, new line of business
Building an app isn't any different from starting a company. If you're a self-employed app developer, there's a strong chance that your app will just be yet another random app with not key differentiation.
Apps are just as competitive as other markets, and often even more as the barriers to entry to creating an app go down. This is the same with content: when creating content became almost free (hosting is free, you have a camera in your phone already, basic video editing is free) that lowered the barriers to entry, dramatically increasing competition and therefore reducing the available profits.
So, by reducing the cost of creating content, Google made its store and the ad business more profitable.
Now on some of the "monopoly" arguments being thrown around: people usually define monopoly in two ways:
1) Causes harm to consumers
2) No harm to consumers (usually benefits) but drives other companies out of business
If you're proposing (2), you're arguing that the government should be protecting less efficient companies.
one of those links i personally find interesting is "content creators."
on the top end, it appears that a handful of the apps in the Google Play Store make the lion's share of the revenue (e.g. Facebook, Google itself, and some really strong game companies).
at the same time, i've heard estimates that 50% of the independent app creators earn less than $500 per month. and it's getting worse.
in short, the android app market was quickly populated by a huge number of independent app creators (who presumably thought it would be a good, durable, new line of business). but, for the most part, these app creators became a low-income-neighborhood/swamp around the top app creators.
but Google still (indirectly) benefits from this arrangement because it offers the appearance of a free, open, lucrative, land of opportunity -- a healthy marketplace.