equality72521

mjtomlin said:

MrDavidFTurner said:

Wow, I like apple but the fan boy level on these comments is ridiculous. It seems the majority of you guys are pro-market place monopolies. @RadarTheKat: This is not the same as a movie theater charging higher prices for wares as the movie theater doesn't compete against the chip and coke manufacturers. Apple is running a marketplace and completing in said market place. When I as a consumer have no other way to get the Spotify App on my phone but via Apple (marketplace owner) who then places said company at disadvantages to the marketplace owners own offering then you have an anti competitive & anti consumer model. To others.... Spotify is beating Apple in free and paid sub numbers. I'm sure they are probably losing money but then the streaming business hasn't ever made money. Apple only does ok because its really a value add to there real product of hardware so they don't really need to. @Genovelle: while your comment is right in the sign up process of Spotify being able to stop Apple getting 0% of the sign up dollar. The issue is around competitiveness, traditionally under monopoly laws we have not allowed the market place owner (Apple) to complete directly against the a vendor (spotify) This was due to the unfair market position the market place owner resides in. There is no difference here and we should all be concerned about Apple, Google, Amazon etc all pulling this garbage as it is not good for the consumer at all. Consumers are lazy so having extra steps one has to go through disadvantages Apple's competitors compared to the home grown offering. @Jungmark: yes and as we are seeing the negative effects in that space. Consumers are being left with less choice, no other options to purchase different products easier or often worse products. It has also lead to abuses in negotiation of contracts for a fair price of goods from suppliers which hurts employees and other suppliers down stream... Seriously you all need to get out of your apple fan boy bubble as this is a massive issue which goes beyond just Apple.

Hmmm...

#1 Apple has no monopoly position in any market.

#2 IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU WANT TO SELL, YOU PAY THE SAME PRICE AS EVERYONE ELSE. If you decide to sell something that Apple is also selling, that's your decision, but you can't expect to be offered a better deal than anyone else. You can't also expect a "free ride", when you're offering a service that is possibly taking revenue away from Apple. (A Spotify subscription could mean lost iTunes sales and a lost Apple Music subscription.)

#3 You do not have to sign up for Spotify via the iOS app. You can sign up on the website and then use the iOS app to access your music - Apple gets nothing from that.

#4 Apple Music does "ok", because Apple doesn't offer a free tier eating away at those profits.

#5 Apple shouldn't be allowed to compete with a 3rd party service? So, you're basically saying Apple needs to ditch iTunes, iBooks, Apple Music, iCloud Drive, etc.? FYI... Apple had to start offering their own services because their users HAD NO CHOICE. That's how iTunes started. That's why the iPod was developed. Mac users were left out in the cold because Microsoft refused to support it with their proprietary DRM scheme. Apple offers a lot of their own services because they don't want their users left out again.

#6 Consumers are left with less choice!? There's not a single competing service Apple has banned from its platform. Users can choose whatever service they want with iOS. In fact, I'd dare say iOS has the most choice. Any and every developer wants to offer their software and service on iOS, because it's been documented that those users are more likely and more willing to pay for it.


This argument is completely ridiculous when you consider Apple's products are usually the most expensive on the market. People have to make an effort and consciously decide to purchase these products and enter the platform. It's an informed decision, not something made "on a whim". Consumers who buy these products are not getting less of a choice or being forced into or remain in it. If they can afford these products, they can more easily afford something less and something that's supposedly more compatible with everything else.