{"id":29841,"date":"2020-08-21T16:55:41","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T20:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=29841"},"modified":"2021-06-18T07:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T11:11:38","slug":"apple-files-response-to-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/21\/apple-files-response-to-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Files Response to Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ina Fried<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“If developers can avoid the digital checkout, it is the same as if a customer leaves an Apple retail store without paying for shoplifted product: Apple does not get paid,” Apple said in the filing.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Apple says Epic has no antitrust case against it because it can’t possibly monopolize the mobile app market, given competition from Google. (Epic maintains that Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store are in fact discrete markets, each a monopoly in its own right.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Dieter Bohn<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

It might be a strong argument! I’d have more sympathy for it if developers had the choice of any other way to distribute software on iOS.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple is making the argument that the App Store is more than a marketplace, that it’s inseparable with offering SDKs and developer tools like TestFlight, ARKit, and even stickers.<\/p>\n

I don’t know that those things need be bundled. They’re not on the Mac.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Sacha Sayan<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

A better analogy is if the customer goes to the farmer’s market, and the grocery store gets angry because they’re not getting a cut.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Steve Troughton-Smith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I’m not on team Epic, and I’m definitely not on team Apple. The way Apple thinks about the developers that bring life to its platforms is disgusting<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I don’t know whether there was an internal change in the last 18 months or if the mask has simply slipped, but Apple has made a lot of official statements lately that are really tone-deaf from the perspective of a developer. It doesn’t seem to understand or value our contributions or remember that apps existed before the App Store.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n