Epic Sues Apple and Google due to Fortnite getting pulled [2020-08-13, 2021-05-03]
- Thread starter eastmen
- Start date
Here is Sweeny's response with the actual email he wrote:
There it is indeed, if Sweenies email is correct, then thats someone from Apple blatantly lying
Give me money or I kill you. And please, give money other people, too.
Ike Turner
Veteran
Here's Apple's response with the actual Opposition/Response to Motion they filled:
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.364265/gov.uscourts.cand.364265.36.0_2.pdf
Small bit:
3 consoles and PC gaming with a healthy balance between them all. Not one company controlling access to most high income customers for software like Apple does for mobile phones (and tablets and to a lesser extent laptops).
Apple has risen around 20% marketshare in the US to hit 52.4%, which is around 105 million phone users, if I read the following correctly. From the graph it looks Apple iOS to be 52.4% of US market, with Google Android at 47% using May 2020 data.
https://www.statista.com/statistics...by-smartphone-platforms-in-the-united-states/
U.S. smartphone subscriber share by operating platform 2012-2020, by month
Published by S. O'Dea, Aug 17, 2020
Apple iOS continues to hold its large share of the smartphone operating systems’ market within the United States, claiming more than half of the market in May 2020. Apple’s share of smartphone users has risen around 20 percent since early 2012; however, their sustained growth in the United States goes against a global trend that has seen their market share of smartphone shipments drop to around 10 percent.
Apple growing at home
Apple, an American company with its headquarters in California, has developed the most valuable brand in the United States with more than 105 million iPhone users in the country. This figure is forecast to increase over the next few years and can in part be attributed to Apple smartphones ranking highly in customer satisfaction. Seven different models make up the total sales share of iPhones in 2019 – the biggest seller is the iPhone XR.
Android still the one to catch
Android, however, still holds the largest share of the United States smartphone operating systems’ market and has done for many years. Vendors Samsung, Motorola, and LG have all adopted Android as their mobile OS and sales of their devices make up around 50 percent of all smartphones sold in the United States. Sales of Samsung smartphones alone account for 28 percent of the sales market and this could rise in the future with studies showing their Galaxy series of devices rank highly for customer satisfaction among Americans.
https://www.statista.com/statistics...by-smartphone-platforms-in-the-united-states/
U.S. smartphone subscriber share by operating platform 2012-2020, by month
Published by S. O'Dea, Aug 17, 2020
Apple iOS continues to hold its large share of the smartphone operating systems’ market within the United States, claiming more than half of the market in May 2020. Apple’s share of smartphone users has risen around 20 percent since early 2012; however, their sustained growth in the United States goes against a global trend that has seen their market share of smartphone shipments drop to around 10 percent.
Apple growing at home
Apple, an American company with its headquarters in California, has developed the most valuable brand in the United States with more than 105 million iPhone users in the country. This figure is forecast to increase over the next few years and can in part be attributed to Apple smartphones ranking highly in customer satisfaction. Seven different models make up the total sales share of iPhones in 2019 – the biggest seller is the iPhone XR.
Android still the one to catch
Android, however, still holds the largest share of the United States smartphone operating systems’ market and has done for many years. Vendors Samsung, Motorola, and LG have all adopted Android as their mobile OS and sales of their devices make up around 50 percent of all smartphones sold in the United States. Sales of Samsung smartphones alone account for 28 percent of the sales market and this could rise in the future with studies showing their Galaxy series of devices rank highly for customer satisfaction among Americans.
Apple makes about 2x what google makes from apps.
Because they make products which appeal more to more affluent buyers, who also are willing to spend more on apps. and services.
The average selling price of an iPhone sale is higher. So it attracts people who have more money to spend.
As for marketshare, Apple is like in the single-digits in a lot of European countries. Only one where they have a decent share is the UK.
The 50-55% that iPhone may have in the US, which I think fluctuates depending on the time of the year -- that is how new is an iPhone relative to the competition like Galaxy or Pixel or whatever -- still does not make the iPhone a monopoly in the US.
In any event, it appears Epic makes more money from Fortnite on consoles. Or at any rate, they don't make 50% or more of their revenues and profits from iOS.
Not that Epic can credibly claim their livelihood is at stake.
But Apple is the more dangerous trust, because it holds all the margin. The console market is competitive, the mobile phone and tablet market are hopelessly broken at the moment.
Mobile phone market is broken?
It's matured and a lot of people are willing to go longer between upgrades but broken?
Tablet market isn't that big. iPad sales peaked in terms of volume a long time ago. Some people are trying them as laptop substitutes but that's about it. I personally use an iPad every day and have bought several over the years but I think most people are fine with a phone and a laptop.
I don't understand how margin makes Apple "more dangerous." That margin isn't guaranteed by any means. Sure they can squeeze suppliers maybe. But they leave a lot of price bands underneath them. They're not going to get great growth of iPhones priced over $1000.
So there's a lot of opportunity for decent phones in the $400-500 or even lower price range.
Apple is chasing maybe 5-10% of the market willing to spend over $1000 on a device every couple of years. Bulk of their sales are the $700 base iPhone 11 or the $400 iPhone SE. So far Apple hasn't tried to make their equivalent of the Internet Explorer and tried to kill Netscape. Or their version of Windows Media Player to kill RealPlayer or Quicktime for Windows.
Fortnite isn't some killer app. like Mario or Halo. Or the browser from 20 years ago or the video codecs from 10-15 years ago.
None of that is convincing evidence that Apple does not engage in anti competitive behavior in a market in which they are dominant.
And what's the evidence for the so-called anti competitive behavior?
And which market are you referring to that they dominate?
There is no law against being "dominant" in a market. Only if you're a monopoly in that market.
For instance, Amazon is dominant in the cloud services market but are they a monopoly?
Or Sony has a "dominant" market share in the current console market but are they a monopoly? If they were, they probably wouldn't be able to sign games exclusives to keep them off Xbox. But MS isn't complaining that Sony is engaging in "anti competitive behavior" are they?
And which market are you referring to that they dominate?
There is no law against being "dominant" in a market. Only if you're a monopoly in that market.
For instance, Amazon is dominant in the cloud services market but are they a monopoly?
Or Sony has a "dominant" market share in the current console market but are they a monopoly? If they were, they probably wouldn't be able to sign games exclusives to keep them off Xbox. But MS isn't complaining that Sony is engaging in "anti competitive behavior" are they?