SpamSandwich said: Where’s the conflict of interest if the prior association was divulged and it no longer exists?
Conflict of interest = potential for bias. He doesn't need to be currently lobbying for Google/Apple or hiding his lobbying career with Google/Apple in order to be viewed as potentially biased in an antitrust case involving those specific companies.
It's been about 12 years since he had any connection to those two but you are correct it's about appearances more so than an ability to be non-biased.
When a person leaves a job in which there’s a potential for conflict of interest or potential competitive conflict, they are typically contractually restricted for a year, sometimes longer. Certainly not ten or twelve years. There’s no conflict of interest here.
I don't think so either. I get that there may be an appearance. But given that the DOJ leadership clearly wants this looked at (with the blessing of the big boss himself), it's hard to make a case that they'll go easy on Apple et al just because this guy used to lobby for them a decade ago. As I posted above, the mere existence of these probes shows the DOJ is taking a closer look at antitrust than its predecessor.
Now Apple’s app store policies are under attack both here and elsewhere. Supporters of Apple’s app store like to claim that third party app stores will open the floodgates to spyware, malware, and all manner of nastiness. They also claim Android is already there but we never see objective reports of just how many Android users have had their bank accounts emptied out, their private photos stolen, or their devices locked down by ransomware. Where are those statistics? If this comes to past will there really be a thriving third party app market? How many developers will actually choose to distribute their apps in third party app stores rather than Apple’s official one? Are there thriving third party app stores for Android because I’ve never heard of one other the Google’s own store. The fake techies are always pounding their chest over SIDE LOADING!!!
Popular app stores for Android: Play Store, Amazon App Store. OEM app stores from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and others. Major Chinese App stores like Tencent's MyApp, Baidu's Mobile Assistant, 360 Mobile Assistant. Xiaomi also has a dedicated Game Center App Store. There are many more large players in the Android app universe, and a ton more medium and small players. That revenue pie gets split 6 ways from Sunday. That's one of the reasons US and EU regulators are looking at Apple. iOS revenue gets split one way and one way only.
Take out China, the MAJORITY of Android App downloads are done through Google Play store only. Amazon's App store - should be dormant by now, given that they have stopped making phones for last 3-4 years. Samsung's is not a comprehensive one as far as I know. There are few select apps, developed specifically for Samsung phones out there. But even then, Google play store is present in ALL of Samsung's phones (except China, where they have miniscule presence) and majority of Apps are installed in Samsung's phones through Google play store only. Bottom line is - Other App stores exist for namesake only outside of China.
My own personal experience with side loading of Apps/Games - I remember installing (side loading) .apks of few Apps/Games back in 2014 in my first Android phone. But I have NOT side loaded ANY apps/games in the last 4.5 years in any of the Android phones. Only recently, I tried to install Google Camera app's apk in my phone unsuccessfully for about an hour and gave up. Only in that 1 hour window, I had enabled the sideload option in my phone. Otherwise, it is disabled always. So I am leaning towards lkrupp's view on this - There is NO need for another App store as far as iOS is concerned, and sideloading is a thing of past even in Android world. It is definitely NOT needed in 2019 let alone future, considering the practical advantages (Trust, Security) of installing only through the official app store.
Now Apple’s app store policies are under attack both here and elsewhere. Supporters of Apple’s app store like to claim that third party app stores will open the floodgates to spyware, malware, and all manner of nastiness. They also claim Android is already there but we never see objective reports of just how many Android users have had their bank accounts emptied out, their private photos stolen, or their devices locked down by ransomware. Where are those statistics? If this comes to past will there really be a thriving third party app market? How many developers will actually choose to distribute their apps in third party app stores rather than Apple’s official one? Are there thriving third party app stores for Android because I’ve never heard of one other the Google’s own store. The fake techies are always pounding their chest over SIDE LOADING!!!
Popular app stores for Android: Play Store, Amazon App Store. OEM app stores from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and others. Major Chinese App stores like Tencent's MyApp, Baidu's Mobile Assistant, 360 Mobile Assistant. Xiaomi also has a dedicated Game Center App Store. There are many more large players in the Android app universe, and a ton more medium and small players. That revenue pie gets split 6 ways from Sunday. That's one of the reasons US and EU regulators are looking at Apple. iOS revenue gets split one way and one way only.
Take out China, the MAJORITY of Android App downloads are done through Google Play store only. Amazon's App store - should be dormant by now, given that they have stopped making phones for last 3-4 years. Samsung's is not a comprehensive one as far as I know. There are few select apps, developed specifically for Samsung phones out there. But even then, Google play store is present in ALL of Samsung's phones (except China, where they have miniscule presence) and majority of Apps are installed in Samsung's phones through Google play store only. Bottom line is - Other App stores exist for namesake only outside of China.
My own personal experience with side loading of Apps/Games - I remember installing (side loading) .apks of few Apps/Games back in 2014 in my first Android phone. But I have NOT side loaded ANY apps/games in the last 4.5 years in any of the Android phones. Only recently, I tried to install Google Camera app's apk in my phone unsuccessfully for about an hour and gave up. Only in that 1 hour window, I had enabled the sideload option in my phone. Otherwise, it is disabled always. So I am leaning towards lkrupp's view on this - There is NO need for another App store as far as iOS is concerned, and sideloading is a thing of past even in Android world. It is definitely NOT needed in 2019 let alone future, considering the practical advantages (Trust, Security) of installing only through the official app store.
For the sake of conversation, sure take out China. Realistically, you can't... and shouldn't. Take out China and there's really no sense in discussing the topic. Trying to exclude a huge part of Android to make a point makes no sense. Amazon's app store has plenty of apps for their Fire tablets. Samsung's app store is still well known and thriving on it's platform. Being comprehensive wasn't a component of lkrupp's question. He asked if there were any other thriving app stores besides the Play Store. The answer is undoubtedly yes.
You're entitled to your opinion regarding alternative app stores. I think it's wrong but, hey, opinions amirite? Having a choice is not a bad thing. The market should decide if an alternative app store is worth exploring.
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I don't think so either. I get that there may be an appearance. But given that the DOJ leadership clearly wants this looked at (with the blessing of the big boss himself), it's hard to make a case that they'll go easy on Apple et al just because this guy used to lobby for them a decade ago. As I posted above, the mere existence of these probes shows the DOJ is taking a closer look at antitrust than its predecessor.
Take out China, the MAJORITY of Android App downloads are done through Google Play store only. Amazon's App store - should be dormant by now, given that they have stopped making phones for last 3-4 years. Samsung's is not a comprehensive one as far as I know. There are few select apps, developed specifically for Samsung phones out there. But even then, Google play store is present in ALL of Samsung's phones (except China, where they have miniscule presence) and majority of Apps are installed in Samsung's phones through Google play store only. Bottom line is - Other App stores exist for namesake only outside of China.
My own personal experience with side loading of Apps/Games - I remember installing (side loading) .apks of few Apps/Games back in 2014 in my first Android phone. But I have NOT side loaded ANY apps/games in the last 4.5 years in any of the Android phones. Only recently, I tried to install Google Camera app's apk in my phone unsuccessfully for about an hour and gave up. Only in that 1 hour window, I had enabled the sideload option in my phone. Otherwise, it is disabled always. So I am leaning towards lkrupp's view on this - There is NO need for another App store as far as iOS is concerned, and sideloading is a thing of past even in Android world. It is definitely NOT needed in 2019 let alone future, considering the practical advantages (Trust, Security) of installing only through the official app store.
You're entitled to your opinion regarding alternative app stores. I think it's wrong but, hey, opinions amirite? Having a choice is not a bad thing. The market should decide if an alternative app store is worth exploring.