How on earth can it be a monopoly when it has the market share it does?
It's not a monopoly, it's an abuse of market power, which does not require monopoly status but which is still forbidden by antitrust laws. It doesn't matter that they've always done it this way, because the antitrust laws have existed for longer than Apple has.
And many of Apple's arbitrary decisions have no basis in security or ensuring family-friendly products. They exist simply to maintain or bolster Apple's market position.
Of course these decisions are made to bolster Apples market position - however, the important point here is that they do it through making great products. That’s always been the Apple priority. They’ve been making top of the line products consistently for two decades. These decisions bolster the products and ergo bolster market conditions.
Making products the consumer is satisfied with is not anti consumer behaviour. What else can you ask for from a purchase?
Making products the consumer is satisfied with is not anti consumer behaviour. What else can you ask for from a purchase?
??? That's some powerful kool-aid. The issue is not that Apple makes shiny-looking products that many people like, and the quality of Apple's physical products is not a defense to their actions in other markets.
The issue is that Apple is abusing it's market position derived from the sale of those shiny products to bolster its market position in other markets like mobile apps, SaaS (see, e.g., Spotify vs Apple Music). That is what is illegal.
See - this an issue I always have with this conversation. You equate me saying good products to a shiny box.
Apple make the best in class devices within its markets, the iPod, then the iPhone & iPad and of course the Mac.
Yes - the Mac is subjective & anyone who uses anything else - props to you, I don’t have any beef with people who choose Linux or Windows.
But the reason I choose Apple is because their product and software ecosystem the one I love the most out of any big player.
BSD foundation, unix terminal, fantastic video, photo and especially audio drivers on macOS, and I like the iOS ecosystem.
You can sync the first ever iPod to the same music library, using the same interface on either a 2007 iMac or a brand new MacBook as a brand new iPod touch. Supporting a product for that long, at such quality is not anti consumer. Try that with a zune on windows 10. Apple cares about the quality of its products (hardware and software) in so many ways that benefit an end user.
Let’s not forget (in terms of Spotify vs Apple) that Apple revolutionised the music industry with iPod and iTunes - I believe that Apple wants to release software, devices and services that benefit the consumer.
You may disagree, but that’s ok. Telling me I’m drinking kook-aid isn’t constructive. And to be honest, we’d probably agree on 90% of your pain with Apple. But this trend of other major and super dubious companies trying to paint them as a ‘bag guy’ in the industry is absolutely ridiculous. Microsoft? Google? Facebook? Epic?
That’s three hefty anti consumer companies there; tracking, ads, micro transactions, pc exclusives - I wonder why they’d be challenging a super profitable competitor that’s about to start shipping it’s own CPUs on the Mac, essentially challenging the PCs hardware ecosystem on performance as well as the software. Especially one who is implementing user opt-out for data harvesting on its next mobile OS.
> the reason I choose Apple is because their product and software ecosystem the one I love the most out of any big player ... we’d probably agree on 90% of your pain with Apple
Sounds like you’re a bit conflicted. I also chose an Apple phone and tablet because they seemed like the best choice available at the time, despite being part of the Apple “ecosystem” which prevents these devices from interoperating with my non-Apple devices.
If Apple wants to control its developers, it should hire them and pay them wages and benefits.
The app store is just another version of the gig economy, and Apple is stomping around it like a typical tyrannical boss.
Of course that is anti-consumer behaviour. It means Apple lacks a professional and credible relationship with its developers, and that clearly lowers the quality, the variety, and the accessibility of the apps for sale in the store.
It's not a monopoly, it's an abuse of market power, which does not require monopoly status but which is still forbidden by antitrust laws. It doesn't matter that they've always done it this way, because the antitrust laws have existed for longer than Apple has.
And many of Apple's arbitrary decisions have no basis in security or ensuring family-friendly products. They exist simply to maintain or bolster Apple's market position.