B) Why didn't the Judge ask what kind of 'margin' Apple or MS gets for desktop versions of their apps? Because it's not 30%.
C) Asking 'when did Apple become a monopoly because they were not 15 years ago' is irrelevant: when did Standard Oil become a monopoly? AT&T? Certainly not the day they started out. These issues are shades of grey.
I'm tired of judges ruling on issues they don't understand, we need more expertise, just as they have in medicine.
Perhaps the most fundamental issue here with respect to 'Nintendo' comparisons - is that Gaming Consoles are purchased for Playing Games. That's it. All market participants know the stakes.
A mobile phone is an entry point to every line of business imaginable - it's a very broad platform and Apple has tried to take cuts of incidental businesses for all sorts of things.
The analogue would be AT&T charging you for 'every kind of business you did over your phone'.
Or Verizon charing you 30% for 'any kind of business you do over the internet'.
Or the electricity company for 'anything you use electricity for'.
Apple is leveraging the broader terms of mobile access: voice, browser, basic apps, which gives them a duopoly over mobile devices with Apple - into a crazy monopoly over their own platform.
Many markets are not rational in the way we would like them to be and have to be regulated, this is very common with single points of access: phone, water, electricity, energy, drugs, hospitals.
This looks like a prime opportunity for some creative and thoughtful regulatory response.
What lock in? Nobody is forcing Epic to develop for iOS and Fortnight is available on pretty much every other platform. It's literally the antithesis of lock in, no matter how much you dislike Apple or its perceived unjust influence.
How ridiculous.
A) It's not the margins, it's the lock-in.
B) Why didn't the Judge ask what kind of 'margin' Apple or MS gets for desktop versions of their apps? Because it's not 30%.
C) Asking 'when did Apple become a monopoly because they were not 15 years ago' is irrelevant: when did Standard Oil become a monopoly? AT&T? Certainly not the day they started out. These issues are shades of grey.
I'm tired of judges ruling on issues they don't understand, we need more expertise, just as they have in medicine.
Perhaps the most fundamental issue here with respect to 'Nintendo' comparisons - is that Gaming Consoles are purchased for Playing Games. That's it. All market participants know the stakes.
A mobile phone is an entry point to every line of business imaginable - it's a very broad platform and Apple has tried to take cuts of incidental businesses for all sorts of things.
The analogue would be AT&T charging you for 'every kind of business you did over your phone'.
Or Verizon charing you 30% for 'any kind of business you do over the internet'.
Or the electricity company for 'anything you use electricity for'.
Apple is leveraging the broader terms of mobile access: voice, browser, basic apps, which gives them a duopoly over mobile devices with Apple - into a crazy monopoly over their own platform.
Many markets are not rational in the way we would like them to be and have to be regulated, this is very common with single points of access: phone, water, electricity, energy, drugs, hospitals.
This looks like a prime opportunity for some creative and thoughtful regulatory response.