Having a large customer base is not an argument against them being a monopoly. Quite the opposite, it is evidence of it being a monopoly.
> Charging a fee for giving developers a huge market that spends money is not exactly unfair.
It is unfair if they are engaging in anti-competitive practices to prevent competitions from competing.
> What would make it fair? Lowering the fee?
Allowing alternative apps stores to compete against apple's would make it fair, and giving users the option and ability to do this, easily. So, specifically I should be able to install a Steam, or epic app store, on the iphone, without apple having any ability at all to stop me, or take a cut.
> What actual harm is Apple inflicting on the market by their behavior? Developers make less money? That isn't good enough.
Of course it is. If you have a monopoly, then the harm is on the customers of the market. That includes both buyers and sellers. That is how monopolies work.
And also, it is not just developers making less money. Instead, the monopoly place in the market, prevents developers from passing on the savings to the consumer.
So the fee would have to be literally 0%, for me to even accept the idea that consumers aren't harmed by it.
A monopoly needs to dominate the market. Apple is not, it does not dominate the smartphone or mobile OS market. People on here can't get past this basic fact.
> It is unfair if they are engaging in anti-competitive practices to prevent competitions from competing.
Which has been proven untrue - because there are 2 million apps on the marketplace. The rules are out there. I haven't seen a case where the rules were violated and nothing was done.
> Allowing alternative apps stores to compete against apple's would make it fair, and giving users the option and ability to do this, easily. So, specifically I should be able to install a Steam, or epic app store, on the iphone, without apple having any ability at all to stop me, or take a cut.
This is a significant risk to the product. Opening it up means that the quality of the product and consumer suffers. The competing app store is the Play Store. Feel free to switch to that OS.
> Of course it is. If you have a monopoly, then the harm is on the customers of the market. That includes both buyers and sellers. That is how monopolies work.
Sigh. It isn't a monopoly, but I'll humor you. Go ask any iPhone user what they think about the app store. I highly doubt you'll find any significant figure upset.
> This is a significant risk to the product. Opening it up means that the quality of the product and consumer suffers.
Thats still a monopoly on apps sold on the iPhone.
You are just giving arguments as for why you support Apple's monopoly on the iPhone app store market.
> A monopoly needs to dominate the market.
Also, related, there does not even need to be a monopoly for anti-competitive practices to be illegal. Anti-competitive behavior can still be illegal, even if there is not monopoly.
> the competing app store is the Play Store
No, actually. The play store cannot install apps on the iPhone. That is the market that Apple has a monopoly on.
Not when they're different markets. Even EU's antitrust case against Google found that Google "dominant in the markets for [...] app stores for the Android mobile operating system." Which means Apple is the same for iOS app stores.
Having a large customer base is not an argument against them being a monopoly. Quite the opposite, it is evidence of it being a monopoly.
> Charging a fee for giving developers a huge market that spends money is not exactly unfair.
It is unfair if they are engaging in anti-competitive practices to prevent competitions from competing.
> What would make it fair? Lowering the fee?
Allowing alternative apps stores to compete against apple's would make it fair, and giving users the option and ability to do this, easily. So, specifically I should be able to install a Steam, or epic app store, on the iphone, without apple having any ability at all to stop me, or take a cut.
> What actual harm is Apple inflicting on the market by their behavior? Developers make less money? That isn't good enough.
Of course it is. If you have a monopoly, then the harm is on the customers of the market. That includes both buyers and sellers. That is how monopolies work.
And also, it is not just developers making less money. Instead, the monopoly place in the market, prevents developers from passing on the savings to the consumer.
So the fee would have to be literally 0%, for me to even accept the idea that consumers aren't harmed by it.