
Is Apple Rent Seeking with the App Store? (2018) - avthar
https://stratechery.com/2018/apple-app-store-follow-up-aws-arm-servers-intels-impending-choice/
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mardifoufs
People seem to be using that term way too much for anything that involves
making a profit. Rent seeking has a narrow definition in economics and
providing access to a wide consumer base cultivated through years of hardware
and software development definitely does not fit in that definition.

It's weird to just forget the value added through the whole ecosystem by Apple
and say that they make "30% for doing nothing" which is only true if you
ignore... everything? It's like saying a downtown store is rent seeking
because it's only selling stuff they didn't make at a higher mark up.

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alexashka
Rent seeking: Rent seeking (or rent-seeking) is an economic concept that
occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal
contribution of productivity. [0]

What Apple is doing is artificially _limiting_ what an app can do with regards
to specific functionality made possible by having a web browser embedded in
your app, because they want to be a middle-man in every financial transaction.

That is _all_ Apple is doing. They're not adding shit, they're _limiting_
existing functionality because they can set arbitrary bullshit rules that have
nothing to do with customer satisfaction or productivity and everything to do
with Apple's profit margins. That's what rent seeking is.

Every large company does this - they grow at all costs, usually using their
investor buddies' money until they run most competition out of business and
then proceed to squeeze their suppliers into borderline extinction through
monopolistic abuse.

These criminals do it to everyone and they do it across companies too by
forming anti-competitive backroom deals between each other. [1]

[0]
[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp)

[1] [https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-
requires-s...](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-six-
high-tech-companies-stop-entering-anticompetitive-employee)

~~~
hellisothers
If Apple were the only game in town I would be right behind you, but they’re
not, Android is right around the corner with open arms, a larger global market
and everything!

If Apple is “not adding shit”, why are we even discussing this, why aren’t
they being run into the ground by Android?

~~~
alexashka
You're taking a sentence within a context, removing it from said context and
asking why the sentence does not work in a different context of your choosing.

That is an illegal move :)

Regarding only game in town:

You're saying that if I claim to have been raped by someone I decided to go on
a date with, that you'd be sympathetic if this rapist were the _only_ other
human in existence, but since there are _other_ human beings I can now go on
dates with, there is no problem that needs to be fixed?

Well, alright then, as long as we have choice, having been raped is not a
problem I suppose.

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vaxman
That's ancient history!

They're approaching two trillion dollar market cap. That's like filling the
Great Lakes with Grade A honey and not expecting any bees to come sting yoh
azz. Once the economy and political scenario stabilities, the hammer will
fall. As for what that means, one only needs look at what happened to Bill and
Steve when they chose to fight rather than capitulate and then realize how
much opportunity Tim Apple has already had to avoid what's now inevitable.

IMNSHO: If Apple doesn't license alternate app-stores to be operated by
qualified third-parties (on a per-consumer opt-in basis) and support the
iPhone development tools on non-Apple systems, there will be a similar
outcome. I'm just hoping if they go foreign, it's someone from Italy or Norway
that takes over --I may have 40 years experience, but in my family, I'm
considered mid-career and will be stuck with Apple for decades to come.

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aurizon
yes, Yes, Absolutely, they add zero, extract lots = rent seekers...

