I don't want to change my phone. I want to change my App Store. Why can't I? Because the App Store is a monopoly.

It can easily be argued that the app store is just as much the product as the A13 chip.

Except it isn't. There is no fundamental technical limitation that prohibits Apple from allowing third party app store. It's only because of their arbitrary policy.

I would say it's actually quite hard to argue that. Consumers upgrade their phone primarily based on hardware specifications.

This simply isn't true, the market is too diverse to make any assumption like you just did. Some do upgrade based on "hardware specs." Go ask your mom what mhz are. Yea, I'll wait.

iOS is the large reason people choose iPhones over Android. The phone is simply a portal to iOS.

Without the OS the phone is essentially a brick. To argue the hardware is the only product is an absolute falsehood.

I agree with you that iOS is the product, but I agree with the GP that the capital-letters App Store has very little to do with it.

To re-use your mom as the argument:

* Go grab her phone and point at any given app, and ask if it's available on Android too.

* Ask her if she knows the differences are between the Play Store and the App Store.

* Ask her if she thinks there is any material difference between getting applications onto an Android phone versus an iPhone.

She presumably doesn't know anything about these things, makes the assumption that apps are apps, and leaves it at that.

The App Store didn't exist before iOS, it was created for it. It is not a separate product.

None of these questions get you anywhere. You made the claim that hardware was why people upgraded - which is false because of the diversity of the market and the fact that the hardware is only a portal to what they want. You haven't dealt with the argument - that the App Store is a separate product from an iPhone. It isn't.

And have the same issue with Google Play? They also take a 30% cut.

Android can easily sideload applications or use other app stores. It simply isn't a problem there.

Google Play is allowing Epic to do it. Fortnite is still on the Google Play store.

(The writing has been on the wall and Google is already adapting - they sent out surveys last month to some developers about dropping the 30% fee and charging developers an annual listing fee instead - possibly also fees for bandwidth/storage used like a hosting company does. The survey also mentioned plans to spin off the Google Play store as a separate non-Google company.)

Not anymore: https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368363/epic-google-fort...

Aha, saw that myself an hour ago too. Wish I'd downloaded Fortnite now when I could. Thanks for the correction.

The Google survey I received specifically asked about experiences as a developer with the Epic Store, whether I thought customers would pay a subscription fee for access to the Play Store & Android updates, and whether I would trust the Play Store & Android if they were no longer owned and run by Google/Alphabet. So it will be fascinating to see how the court rulings change the tech landscape.

Install F-droid, or one of the Chinese markets.