Through iOS devices Apple has created a market of users they are the very protective gatekeeper for.
Windows PC user market. Not locked down. Though MS has a store you have Steam, EGS, GOG, Origin, UBS etc for games alone. Let alone productivity apps.
Android market. Not locked down. Though google play store is the gorilla other stores exist. I like F-Droid.
EPICS Unreal game engine? Doesn't have a locked down market of users. It would lock the business into a payment scheme though.
Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo consoles. I fear they are similar in terms of gatekeepering to users and should be subject to whatever outcome Apple is. They seem a bit more open to begin with though so are likely to be less affected. It also makes them not the prime offender, though offenders all the same.
Ultimately, want to sell to an Apple iOS user? One choice.
Separately then, is this anti-competitive or simply smart business? I'd answer : Why not both? The business wants to make money and until the law steps in, they will do it.
Well, the government used to enforce antitrust laws.
Microsoft got into a huge anti-trust battle over simply bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. Compare this to the state of iOS, which is in far worse shape - internal APIs that only Apple apps can use, Safari can never be completely removed or replaced, the App store shenanigans, etc. It's a testament to the complete capture of Washington by corporate lobbyists that Apple gets away with it.
> Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo consoles. I fear they are similar in terms of gatekeepering to users and should be subject to whatever outcome Apple is. They seem a bit more open to begin with though so are likely to be less affected.
These firms invented the mode Apple is using. Consoles have sold at a discount and made up the revenue in licensing since the Atari 2600.
The just released $399 iPhone SE could easily be serviceable 10 years from now given Apple’s track record for providing OS and security updates on older devices. Part of the reason that they can do this is that they can realize revenue from some users late in the phones life.
You don’t see this sort of deal happening in the Android world where the incentives are much more aligned towards more frequent hardware purchases and less long term support. It’s good for consumers to have choice not only in hardware, but also in business models.
This is true. I installed two stores for games. Only one autoloads.
And I have a few programs I have bought entirely outside these stores.
This suits me.
And that is the main complaint for a lot of people. The option for users to suit themselves. We can vote with the wallet and go non-apple. But we're allowed to express desires and wishes too.
This is the problem with companies 'forcing' their proprietariness at the expense of interoperability.
Devices have been a lot more usable over the years but there does seem to be quite a lot of deliberateness when it comes to preventing competition, especially so for devices.
In the West, if Apple/Google/Facebook/Twitter decide they don't like something you're doing, you're pretty much off the radar and at a massive disadvantage in whatever market you're in.
Its not just bad UX. Its horrific for privacy. Epic games on windows load a rootkit in to the kernel that starts a boot even while the game is not running.
I was doing Unreal Engine development on an airgapped machine. I was annoyed to find out it requires the Epic store. There's also no offline install option. I hate updating the app each time I run it, only then checking for an update to Unreal Engine.
I also hate having separate apps for different games. I tend to avoid most of the stores even if I want to play those games.
Through iOS devices Apple has created a market of users they are the very protective gatekeeper for.
Windows PC user market. Not locked down. Though MS has a store you have Steam, EGS, GOG, Origin, UBS etc for games alone. Let alone productivity apps.
Android market. Not locked down. Though google play store is the gorilla other stores exist. I like F-Droid.
EPICS Unreal game engine? Doesn't have a locked down market of users. It would lock the business into a payment scheme though.
Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo consoles. I fear they are similar in terms of gatekeepering to users and should be subject to whatever outcome Apple is. They seem a bit more open to begin with though so are likely to be less affected. It also makes them not the prime offender, though offenders all the same.
Ultimately, want to sell to an Apple iOS user? One choice.
Separately then, is this anti-competitive or simply smart business? I'd answer : Why not both? The business wants to make money and until the law steps in, they will do it.