fred stein

This became political when the US congress and the EU started poking. Putin joined too. Epic prepared their lawsuit and provoked Apple. Apple responded predictable and the papers were filed immediately. 

Is Apple's 30% fee fair? Apple provides all the tools and services to all developers for a tiny sign up fee. Plus Apple provides provides security and privacy for both consumers and developers. For developers, they offer some protection against copy cats. The BIGGEST benefit for Apple developers is access to the BEST demographic in purchasing power to all developers - it's 5th avenue, Knightsbridge.

First: Competition is good, it's great, it may help defuse the naive politicos that see big tech as monopolies. 
Second: In most cases mentioned above, Apple's enhancements make the Apple experience better but have negligible impact on Google's revenue.
Third: Two exceptions:
- Maps: Maps provide a starting point for many revenue generation and customer stickiness items. Apple is finally catching up.
- Extensions ++: Several services require Chrome browsers, which then forces some users to default to Chrome. Again Apple is catching up
Fourth: Apple's Pixel seems more like an experiment, than a business. We just saw Microsoft drop their experiment in retail stores. Google may drop Pixel some day. Pixel is a barely OK business. The problem is that Pixel can only take revenue from Android clone partners, none from iPhone.

Covid-19 accelerates the digital transformation. Apple's benefits will endure. The current bump may create a tough compare in a year or so. Nevertheless, new subscribers to music, TV+, Arcade, and now Peacock will keep paying.

Only 3 lbs. Folks will upgrade. Graduation present coming up. Father's day. I'm long overdue to upgrade myself.

Key comparison omitted:

Smartphone market as a whole down 17%. iPhone down only 12%.