lorca2770

blastdoor said:

A plan to invest in China was reportedly blocked by the White House, but now Intel is set to create a new plant in Ohio.

That would never have happened under Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, or Obama. 

There are many, many bad things about the Trumpazoid, but the fact that his presidency hit the reset button on trade and industrial policy cannot be denied, and I think it is probably a positive thing. 

 

And Wal-Mart, the biggest merchant in the world with more sales than Apple, and Target, and Ford Motor, and on and on. Just look at the label of your t-shirt. Commerce is part of it. You are too. Being holiest than thou is constant in USA

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

Oh good. Now Apple is going to track everything you do on your iPhone and use it to bill developers. Meanwhile they are cutting back on iPhone 13 production due to lack of demand. Apple makes a lot more money from the sales of iPhones than they do from their app commissions. Developers and users can and do routinely work around Apple's existing restrictions using their web browsers. Perhaps Apple should drop the commissions entirely and focus on selling hardware?

crowley said:

mjtomlin said:

crowley said:

lorca2770 said:

Let me see if I understand. If my fashion boutique categorizes all the people entering the store, passing by the racks of clothing, by age, look, style, by the location of where the trendy stuff is, by the lighting of the store, and how it influences the purchases, and on, and on. Then, make the proper arrangements and division of the potential of the clients browsing, purchasing, abandoning the stuff that they don’t like, what colours are more popular…, and I keep track of all the variations. Make a successful shop; and I refuse to share the information with the lazy guy across the hall. And, I grow because of my ingenuity, solutions, innovation, and as a result I leave the competition on the dust…, then, I am forced to share my data…?

Jayzzzuuuzzzzzz.

It's more like a shopping mall owner also running a store within the mall, and using its knowledge of how people move through the mall to the benefit of their store and the detriment of the other stores.  Or even changing the way the mall works to push people into its own store.

The problem is the platform owner, or company in a position of power, that is able to steer traffic and customer behaviour, and also being privy to a large amount of customer data, is able to use that to a competitive advantage in other, unrelated, or largely unrelated commercial activity.  Google uses its power in search to push its web browser, web applications, shopping, and other services.  Apple uses its power in operating systems and app stores to push its associated applications and services.  This kind of use of power is what antitrust is all about.

It's not much different from Microsoft pushing Internet Explorer in the 1990s, which they were convicted over, in the USA.

Yeah, the dynamic is a bit different than what you're trying to portray here.  Apple doesn't license platforms, operating systems, or eCommerce "stores", whereby a 3rd party can make use of those to deal directly with their own set of customers. Apple sells devices/services/products to people, so they have what is known as a direct relationship with their customers. A mall owner definitely does not have a direct relationship with every person that walks into the mall. So Apple is more like a shop owner - who owns their own building on their own land. They sell their own stuff along with goods from other 3rd parties.

Quibble about the analogy if you want, it makes little difference to the substance, and the main point still stands. Apple has, and uses, the power of being the platform owner to push their own services ahead of others that exist on their platform.  They use a competitive advantage that some jurisdictions might call an abuse of position and an antitrust violation.

avon b7 said:

lorca2770 said:

Let me see if I understand. If my fashion boutique categorizes all the people entering the store, passing by the racks of clothing, by age, look, style, by the location of where the trendy stuff is, by the lighting of the store, and how it influences the purchases, and on, and on. Then, make the proper arrangements and division of the potential of the clients browsing, purchasing, abandoning the stuff that they don’t like, what colours are more popular…, and I keep track of all the variations. Make a successful shop; and I refuse to share the information with the lazy guy across the hall. And, I grow because of my ingenuity, solutions, innovation, and as a result I leave the competition on the dust…, then, I am forced to share my data…?

Jayzzzuuuzzzzzz.

Perhaps you missed the part about failing to adequately inform customers of how their data was being used and how they were using aggressive means to accumulate that data in the first place.