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The lock-in problem at the heart of the Apple monopoly lawsuit (www.theverge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/10657352

The lock-in problem at the heart of the Apple monopoly lawsuit

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[–] filister@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's exactly the lock-in. To be fair, Android are trying similarly to lock-in their users, but at least Google isnot locking their apps to one mobile OS, plus we still have F-droid and a lot more freedom and power over how to use our devices.

[–] IamAnonymous@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

This isn’t an example of lock-in by Apple though. Developers are free to develop android apps but most of the independent developers don’t because of the different android versions and manufacturers, at least initially.

[–] evident5051@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That is not a lock in though? It's just personal preference to avoid paying double for apps.

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No, it is lock in. If apple allowed for multiple app stores other than their own, then users could pay for an app on one app store, and then not have to pay again on another, potentially even on non-apple devices.

I encountered this when I first purchased minecraft bedrock edition on the amazon kindle. Rather than repurchasing it on the google play store when on a non-amazon, I simply tracked down the Amazon app store for non-amazon devices, and redownloaded it from there. No lock in to Amazon or other android devices, both ways.

Now, the Apple app store would still probably not work on androids... but now they would actually have to compete for users on the app store, by offering something potentially better than transferable purchases across ecosystems.

I suspect the upcoming Epic store for iOS and android may be like that... pay for a game/app on one OS, get it available for all platforms where you have the Epic store. But the only reason the Epic store is even coming to iOS is because Apple has been forced to open up their ecosystem.

[–] evident5051@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Erm, that's not the same thing that the comment was referring to. We're talking about paying twice for essentially the same app on two different operating systems.

That's different from the lock in that you are referring to. Your explanation involves installing the same purchased app on two devices running Android.

Also, I have a lot of apps and games that only require me to make a one time purchase on either Android or iOS.