teejay2012

Can someone clear this up for me? Fortnite is still not available for download on the iOS App Store. I understand you can play through cumbersome web site or cloud gaming workarounds. So how does Epic complain about Apple and anti steering when the app is not even on iOS?

The US administration is a conflicted position. Normally such blatant attacks on US companies would have elicited a forceful response with possible trade sanctions. However with your DOJ going after the same companies in the US, any action is awkward. Since these DMA regulations are part of EU law, Apple and others will need to show that while the laws may be clear, the application to US companies is selective and unfair.

This is like ripping old DVD movies 'you own' to your NAS to stream at home. While not legal, it has always been in a grey area and is tolerated because it is beyond control.  However companies really do not like when you go beyond personal use and share movies on the web. Try it if you don't believe me. Emulators are legal, but unless you own proprietary system and game ROMs, running these on your phone is illegal. Plain and simple.  It is not an argument that you are preserving and archiving nostalgic games,  like preventing the pyramids being lost. [insert face palm here]. I would love to see the judge's face if that was your defence in court. A general observation and question about how emulators even made it on iOS. There are people that think that because they want something, they should just get it. The recent EU and DOJ actions are partly in response to this sort of attitude, and from what I would guess to be a minority of iOS users and developers in the world. It will be of interest to see where the dust settles after the current 'Whac-A-Mole' saga for emulators ends. . 

Japan is one of the few countries in which Apple could be seen as a monopoly given the market share. It will NOT leave Japan so really it is about determining if Apple broke current laws or Apple needs to be controlled by laws yet to be written. It has become a common theme across the world where (my opinion) a vocal minority of users and developers have pushed government legislators to punish Apple for both its success and its 'dig in your heels' responses.  I think most users and many developers, did not care that much about any of this, or shrugged their shoulders at the status quo. I never needed an alternative app store or a Gameboy emulator. The average cost of an app is only 79 cents. Spotify and Epic not going to give any deals. I know how to get subscriptions using developer web sites...  But public opinion and government regulator blood (money from Apple) thirst have now escalated beyond PR containment. Could this have been averted if Apple had made changes to anti steering and app stores and commissions? I am not actually sure,  but I doubt it. But now Apple is having to react and defend and ultimately, change. But I have my doubts that iOS or Apple innovation will be better by all this.

hammeroftruth said:

teejay2012 said:

This story reminds me of my first 'Mac' which was actually an Atari ST computer with a dongle called Spectre created by the legend David Small that plugged into the ST cartridge port. Worked amazingly well to emulate a Mac Plus, but required original 128K ROMs that would physically plug into the dongle plus a Macintosh Operating System 6.0.8 disk . There was a lot of exclusionary, 'you are on your own' text  which transferred the problem of obtaining the Apple ROMs to the purchaser. Despite rumblings of legal challenges, Data Pacific who marketed the dongles was never shut down. I guess the market was too small for Apple to care. I am not sure of the market for vintage Nintendo game ROMs, or why financially Nintendo would care. But I suspect they do care.

I remember that!  They also made one for the Commodore Amiga, and I still have it somewhere in my stashes of old stuff. I remember it was so tough getting those Roms. Dealers who had broken Macs would NOT sell the Roms and Apple was trying to shut it down. 

That was a pretty sweet machine for its time. 8bitGuy has some really nice Amiga restoration videos if you wanted to check out.