Epic Sues Apple and Google due to Fortnite getting pulled [2020-08-13, 2021-05-03]

[zed]

But be honest about it.

yes lets be honest about it

Honestly Apple paid less tax percentage wise than the average US worker

http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/taxing-wages-united-states.pdf
"In the UnitedStates, the average single worker faced an average taxrate of 24.0% in 2019, compared with the OECD average of 25.9%"

15.94 % 2019 Apple Inc 's Annual Effective Tax Rate

perhaps you're upset about them not getting away with $750 a year

Personally, I think there should be no income tax on ppl.
A straight wealth tax of 5% a year of everything over a million dollars would be more the sufficient to supply the US government that what it collects now, open books/reporting on this.
If anyone is caught flagrantly cheating this 5%, then they can have that 5%, the government takes the other 95%

 

[wco81]

That's fine, we can have another discussion about tax policy, make a thread.

But this is about supposed anti-competitive behavior, antitrust law enforcement.

 

[zed]

Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new “app fairness” policy
The software giant has picked a side, and it's with Epic and Spotify.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...s-nose-at-apple-with-new-app-fairness-policy/

 

[manux]

I have to give respect for Microsoft for doing the right thing here. Compete by providing better store than forcing some kind of monopolistic lock in. Maybe if MS had seen light earlier windows phone and uwp wouldn't have been such a flop. Trying to close down phones was wrong move and it bit pretty badly back at them. I bet developers would have jumped in if they were not forced to do UWP.

 

[BRiT]

Thats an odd position, for Microsoft, to take given console stores are exclusive.

 

[manux]

Microsoft probably did the math how much they would loose if they have to pay apple tax. It's not like their cloud gaming service etc. would be allowed to apple devices without giving a cut,... I doubt whatever happens in phone/tablet/desktop os realm would carry over to console world. Consoles are such a niche they will probably stay closed until end of time, or at least until there is similar amount of consoles out there as there are phones.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Apple Uses App Store As A Weapon Against Competitors, Says Former Director
October 9, 2020

Former App Store director Phil Shoemaker made a bombshell revelation to the House antitrust committee for their report which details Apple’s use of its policies to discourage competitors from thriving on iOS. It consistently disallowed apps from competitors, under the guise of App Store policies, that it would later introduce itself without any issues.

As per Phil, Apple disallowed subscription-based gaming services over the years that would allow customers to download games. However, it later launched Apple Arcade, which violated its own App Store own guidelines.
Phil said: "Apple's gaming service, Apple Arcade, is a type of app that was 'consistently disallowed from the store,' when offered by third-party developers, but Apple allowed its own app in the store 'even though it violates existing [App Store] guidelines."

As per Phil Shoemaker, these App Store guidelines are arbitrary and arguable, and Apple uses them as a weapon against competitors. What makes this statement even more concerning is that this has come from an ex-Apple employee, who worked for more than 7 years at the company. Phil grew the App Store review team from 4 to 300 employees, and worked at the company from 2009 to 2016.

https://wccftech.com/apple-uses-app-store-as-a-weapon-against-competitors-says-former-director/

 

[wco81]

Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new “app fairness” policy
The software giant has picked a side, and it's with Epic and Spotify.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...s-nose-at-apple-with-new-app-fairness-policy/

Just a restatement of their current policies. Before the Windows App store, people could download and install software from wherever on their PCs. For decades, people got software from their PCs from various sources before MS created the Windows App Store.

There might even have already been third-party stores on Windows.

So the PC isn't exactly where a lot of software development efforts are currently focused.

But they have an exclusive Xbox store and if they had had any kind of traction on Windows Phone, you know there wouldn't be any third-party stores. I don't even think they allowed side loading on Windows Phone.

 

[wco81]

Judge rejects Epic's request to be put back into the iOS App Store.

"In short, Epic Games cannot simply exclaim 'monopoly' to rewrite agreements giving itself unilateral benefit," Judge Rogers writes in denying Epic's request for an injunction restoring Fortnite to the App Store. "The current predicament is of its own making."

If Epic truly wants to protect iOS users' access to Fortnite for the time being—as Judge Rogers writes and Apple has agreed to publicly—it can simply release a version of the game with the contract-breaking Direct Payments option removed. "To assist, the Court even offered to require the 30 percent [payment required by Apple's IAP program] be placed in escrow pending resolution of the trial which Epic Games flatly rejected," the judge writes. "The refusal to do so suggests Epic Games is not principally concerned with iOS consumers, but rather, harbors other tactical motives."

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...s-fortnite-as-epic-games-trial-moves-forward/


Grandstanding politicians may not care about contract law but judges have to look at the facts and the law.


A small developer posted a comment on one of Ars stories about the case. Said that he had 10k downloads of his paid app on the App Store, 2k downloads on Google Play. He then found a site tracking side loads and it indicated his app had been side loaded 8k times.

Bet he's all for supporting side loads on iOS.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Hope this is the right thread.

Cydia creator sues Apple over anticompetitive practices

Apple has been getting an increasing amount of criticism for its App Store policies on iOS lately, leading to numerous lawsuits, the most infamous one being Epic Games V Apple, in which Epic also accuses Apple of anticompetitive behaviour. As reported by The Washington Post, Cydia’s lawsuit against Apple accuses the company of maintaining an “illegal monopoly”.

Cydia creator, Jay Freeman, explains his argument, saying: “Morally speaking, it’s your phone and you should be able to do whatever you want with it. You should get to decide which applications you put on it, and you should be able to decide where you get those applications from.”

“Were it not for Apple’s anticompetitive acquisition and maintenance of an illegal monopoly over iOS app distribution, users today would actually be able to choose how and where to locate and obtain iOS apps, and developers would be able to use the iOS app distributor of their choice”.

Cydia creator sues Apple over anticompetitive practices | KitGuru

 

[wco81]

See, the widespread resentment about Big Tech market valuations in the stratosphere is bringing them out of the woodwork.

It's not about Apple's practices, it's about their stock price. These opportunistic types figure the public sentiment will back them.


I did see a headline that they expect Services revenues to go higher than iPhone revenues by 2024? That's going to make the haters' hair catch on fire.

 

[Xmas]

It's not about Apple's practices, it's about their stock price. These opportunistic types figure the public sentiment will back them.

Public sentiment backing them (if that's the case) is probably much more about their practices than their stock price, though.

 

[zed]

Looks like epic has already forced apple to amend their ways
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...ut-of-app-store-revenues-for-some-developers/

 

[MfA]

Apple just wants to avoid US/EU anti-trust measures, which would likely be far more invasive.

I think in 10 years Apple will need to be plain broken up, they're going to own consumer computing ... and because unlike Microsoft it's a combined hardware/software monopoly and includes multiple markets and service platforms it will be far more difficult to dislodge than Microsoft ever was by pure competition (Apple could conveniently hitch a ride on x86 while they needed it for instance).

 

[Malo]

The last thing I want for consumer technology is everything to be priced like a BMW 7 series with the functionality of a go kart.

 

[glow]

I mean, functionally for most people (IMO), a BMW 7 series doesn't do much differently from a go kart. Paying 7 series money at that point is more about the other, non-critical aspects of transportation. Well, at least for me. Then again, I used to take the train to work. Now I just roll out of bed and start working.

 

[Malo]

I mean, functionally for most people (IMO), a BMW 7 series doesn't do much differently from a go kart. Paying 7 series money at that point is more about the other, non-critical aspects of transportation. Well, at least for me. Then again, I used to take the train to work. Now I just roll out of bed and start working.

That's my point. I'd like my vehicle to have more than a go and stop pedal, even if the engineering if that vehicle is amazing and it costs twice of a similar vehicle. That's why I like my cheaper vehicle with lots of functionality and options. Each to their own, I just don't like how Apple products are designed, they're far too simple.

There's a market for both and that's good.

 

[wco81]

Apple just wants to avoid US/EU anti-trust measures, which would likely be far more invasive.

I think in 10 years Apple will need to be plain broken up, they're going to own consumer computing ... and because unlike Microsoft it's a combined hardware/software monopoly and includes multiple markets and service platforms it will be far more difficult to dislodge than Microsoft ever was by pure competition (Apple could conveniently hitch a ride on x86 while they needed it for instance).

Broken up in which ways though?

They've only made small acquisitions so most of the growth since 2000 was organic and through new products, like the iPod and then the iPhone.

The suit vs. FaceBook is to reverse the huge acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

 

[wco81]

Public sentiment backing them (if that's the case) is probably much more about their practices than their stock price, though.

General public doesn't know anything about these supposed anticompetitive practice.

It's not like playing Fortnight cost way more on iOS than any other platforms, because the whole brouhaha about App Store fees are largely unnoticed by most iOS users.

Now Cydia, which is known only to a fraction of the iOS user base, is claiming illegal monopoly! A lot of people choose iOS in spite of or in some cases because of the walled-off garden, curated approach. There's no great clamor for access to pirated apps full of malware in general.


So these developers are drafting on the general antipathy to the richest.

 

[MfA]

Broken up in which ways though?

By that time, probably a half dozen ways. They are going to push everyone out, especially in mobile computing and online services.