Apple has again emerged victorious in its legal battle with Epic Games

[Nhomnhom]

Guys .... Apple and Google having totalitarian control over the most important computing platforms to the general public is not a good thing.

Can you imagine if Microsoft wanted total control over Windows software AND a 30% cut of all business being transacted on the platform? Everyone would think that was outrageous. Same for Apple and MacOS. Or Linus Torvalds and Linux.

But the mobile platforms are bigger than those at this point. And people cheer Apple on ... I don't get it.

And they also don't compare to consoles at all, which are very singular purpose entertainment devices. iPhones and Android devices are computers now, and many people's primary device and sole way of interacting with small/medium/large businesses around the globe. I know I've harped on this, but no, no company should have that much power and control over every day lives of everyone.

Who are you too say what a good thing for the general public is? They have been voting with their wallets on this for a long time. Plenty of people go out of their way to buy Apple products in great part because of that controlled experience that comes from their OS being so controlled. The first thing I did when I got my Android tablet was to get rid of the shitty store and apps the manufacturer included and on my phone I never ever felt the need to side load anything. I actually wish that google wouldn't let manufacture include so much garbage on their Android phones.

Steam, PlayStation, Apple Store, Play Store they get their cut because they were the ones that created those ecosystems and it extremely lame that MS and Epic think that they should be the middle man instead. Epic Store provides so little value that people refuse to use it even when they give games away for free, same goes for MS and their cheap games.

The worst thing of all is MS pretending that they didn't try to control software on Windows, they just failed to do so and now want other companies that succeeded with their stores to be punished.

 

[Deleted member 417]

I hope Apple crash and burn. People can slag off Epic but they gave me the unreal games in the 90s, they get a pass.

Apple on the other hand? They can kiss my arse. Ipod, iTunes and the iPhone that led to the cancer that is SM.

I'm not an apple fan

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Oh crap, I forgot to get my free games last week!

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Honestly with all the banking stuff I do on my phone the last thing I want on it are random third party stores (which is easy to get on Android).

I used to do all kind of jail breaking/sideloading/custom rom BS on these devices, but these days it's just too risky.

So if a manufacturer wants to make a closed garden ecosystem go for it, if it sucks it sucks and nobody will buy into it.

 

[KiryuRealty]

Guys .... Apple and Google having totalitarian control over the most important computing platforms to the general public is not a good thing.

Can you imagine if Microsoft wanted total control over Windows software AND a 30% cut of all business being transacted on the platform? Everyone would think that was outrageous. Same for Apple and MacOS. Or Linus Torvalds and Linux.

But the mobile platforms are bigger than those at this point. And people cheer Apple on ... I don't get it.

And they also don't compare to consoles at all, which are very singular purpose entertainment devices. iPhones and Android devices are computers now, and many people's primary device and sole way of interacting with small/medium/large businesses around the globe. I know I've harped on this, but no, no company should have that much power and control over every day lives of everyone.

Look at market share.

Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.

Google, on the other hand…

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Look at market share.

Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.

Google, on the other hand…

Either way, as far as I know you can still load some ROMs that are google free on a lot of Android devices.

This is pretty hard to dislodge a dominant player in that kind of environment, where part of the control is the size of the phone market, the number of players at different levels (carriers, phone manufacturers, chip makers, distributors, major investors and what not). You need to convince a lot of people before you even get to try to convince the end client if you want to gain a significant foothold in the market in a short amount of time, or even just build a niche market.

Look at how long it took for Blackberry to be dislodged from the corporate/government world.

 

[Dr Bass]

Look at market share.

Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.

Google, on the other hand…

In the US they more than 50% share at this point

And Apple buyers spend FAR more than Android users, making them far more valuable customers to actual businesses.

And I put Google in there too, even though you can open up Android phones for "side loading" (i.e. what what we used to downloading or installing software), it's not user friendly or really that known outside of hardcore users.

Again, Apple can crush a huge number of businesses on a whim. They simply should not have that power. Mobile devices are too important to today's climate to allow two companies to completely control their ecosystems, down to skimming a huge portion off the top. It's like mafioso type garbage at this point.

 

[ghostz]

Look at market share.

Apple is nowhere near a monopoly.

Google, on the other hand…

Apple does control some insanely high percent of the premium market (phones over 400$). Most android devices are like $150 or less, essentially equivalent to iPhone 6s.

iPhones are so much better than android tho, I could never use that shitty OS.

 

[KnittedKnight]

Good. The communications showing Tim Sweeney talking big game and trying to strong arm Sony into cross-play as if Fornite was omnipotent was a crazy read. As much as I welcome their presence on the PC storefront market (fuck Valve), they been overreaching. Mind you, Sweeney is hustling fishing for idiots so I can't fault the man for pushing hard for his bag. Just so happens there are others with big bags too that you just can't push around. The status quo is preferable.

 

[KiryuRealty]

In the US they more than 50% share at this point

And Apple buyers spend FAR more than Android users, making them far more valuable customers to actual businesses.

And I put Google in there too, even though you can open up Android phones for "side loading" (i.e. what what we used to downloading or installing software), it's not user friendly or really that known outside of hardcore users.

Again, Apple can crush a huge number of businesses on a whim. They simply should not have that power. Mobile devices are too important to today's climate to allow two companies to completely control their ecosystems, down to skimming a huge portion off the top. It's like mafioso type garbage at this point.

And yet, they are not, by any definition, a monopoly.

 

[nongkris]

Thankfully international regulators have not all been drinking the kool-aid like some of the people in this thread. I'm pretty sure EU, Japan, and South Korea all have some sort of legislation about opening up app stores coming or already here. Sideloading is only a part of it. The real kicker will be if they make Apple drop the in app purchase requirement for digital goods that they don't apply to physical purchases.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

iPhones are so much better than android tho, I could never use that shitty OS.

I'm not sure how anyone can use an iPhone for anything. I just tried a 13 pro for a few months when they came out, sold it to get a Pixel 7 PRO because of the OS, it's just unbearably limited (not as bad as before, but still just annoyingly limited, like I can't get a browser that's not a reskin of Safari WTF).

 

[anonpuffs]

I'm not sure how anyone can use an iPhone for anything. I just tried a 13 pro for a few months when they came out, sold it to get a Pixel 7 PRO because of the OS, it's just unbearably limited (not as bad as before, but still just annoyingly limited, like I can't get a browser that's not a reskin of Safari WTF).

iphones are for basic bitches. I wish google would stop being fucking lazy, though... some basic functionality that iphones have should be standard on android but stuff like RCS is still an optional feature.

 

[ghostz]

I'm not sure how anyone can use an iPhone for anything. I just tried a 13 pro for a few months when they came out, sold it to get a Pixel 7 PRO because of the OS, it's just unbearably limited (not as bad as before, but still just annoyingly limited, like I can't get a browser that's not a reskin of Safari WTF).

That will change but I’m not sure what other you could want a browser to do that isn’t covered in safari.

iPhones just have unrivaled performance across the board

 

[Box]

If Epic wins? Will it will effect gaming consoles? Every publisher will have his own digital store on my PS5.

I would honestly quit gaming if that happened

 

[Shmunter]

Fuck Epic. I'm no Apple fan but over time their products are starting to appeal to me, there is something to be said about the benefits of a more closed system. I don't want some trashy MS store or Epic store popping up on my PlayStation so I would be a hypocrite to criticize Apple for not wanting that on their system.

I don’t see apple as a comparison to consoles. They produce general computing devices and sell their hardware at massively inflated prices, high quality aside. Consoles work on the traditional razor blade model and need eco system subsidy to sell the hardware to the masses.

It sucks with apple you can’t eg run an emulator on a crazy powerful M1 iPad for example. There is no justification for such arbitrary restrictions.

 

[Satoru]

Honestly with all the banking stuff I do on my phone the last thing I want on it are random third party stores (which is easy to get on Android).

I used to do all kind of jail breaking/sideloading/custom rom BS on these devices, but these days it's just too risky.

So if a manufacturer wants to make a closed garden ecosystem go for it, if it sucks it sucks and nobody will buy into it.

Android has very good permission settings for any app including those installed from other sources, including the option to, for example, only allow apps to access features (storage, gallery, camera, etc) while in use. The risk is not nearly as big as people make it out to be.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I don’t see apple as a comparison to consoles. They produce general computing devices and sell their hardware at massively inflated prices, high quality aside. Consoles work on the traditional razor blade model and need eco system subsidy to sell the hardware to the masses.

It sucks with apple you can’t eg run an emulator on a crazy powerful M1 iPad for example.

There is nothing stoping consoles from being a general computing device (see the Steam Deck) and a console like the PS5 hardly requires any subside to sell.

This entire premise is clearly a trap and the same arguments will eventually be used for MS and Epic to be able to put their stores and services on PlayStation/Switch without paying anything to Sony/Nintendo.

I hardly see any Apple or Android users begging for additional stores and middle men. MS is probably acquiring so many publisher assuming they'll be able to leverage their size to force people to install their garbage store.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

That will change but I’m not sure what other you could want a browser to do that isn’t covered in safari.

plugins from their sources and proper video handling would be a good start.

 

[ghostz]

plugins from their sources and proper video handling would be a good start.

What’s wrong with video handling?