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Apple just kicked Fortnite off the App Store

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1704 points ardit33 | 5 comments | 13 Aug 20 19:03 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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lordleft ◴[13 Aug 20 20:04 UTC] No.24147974[source]▶
Imagine if Microsoft did this on PCs. a) prohibiting the installation of non-windows store software (sideloading) and b) insisting that all purchases done via apps give them a 30% cut. I think this is a ridiculous practice on the behalf of Apple.
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s3r3nity ◴[13 Aug 20 20:13 UTC] No.24148143[source]▶
Imagine if Microsoft only had 14% global market share.*

[*] https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share

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reissbaker ◴[13 Aug 20 20:22 UTC] No.24148324[source]▶
iOS market share in the US — which certainly is something US courts would care about — is nearly 60%. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/united-sta...
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1. pneill ◴[13 Aug 20 21:12 UTC] No.24149270[source]▶
60% != 100%. There is consumer choice.
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2. reissbaker ◴[13 Aug 20 21:23 UTC] No.24149453[source]▶
The threshold the US government uses is 50% market share, with exclusionary behavior. 100% is not required (and would be a crazy requirement to have; even Microsoft in its heyday couldn't have been prosecuted with that kind of threshold).

The question isn't whether Apple has a large enough market share in the US for the courts to get involved — it very clearly does — the question is does it exhibit exclusionary behavior to the extent courts should get involved.

(I think it does exhibit exclusionary behavior, but I can see that being much more open to interpretation than the simple fact that it clears the 50% threshold.)

Regardless, my comment was just correcting the statement that Apple doesn't have a majority market share in any market, when in fact it has majority market share in the US market.

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3. hn_check ◴[13 Aug 20 21:46 UTC] No.24149800[source]▶
Your comment does not correct that statement, and uses erroneous data to claim otherwise.

Apple does not have more than 50% marketshare of smartphones in the US. In most analyses it is between 41-43%, with an absolute high of 46%. Android accounts for the rest. And of course worldwide iOS is dwarfed by Android.

https://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/smartphone-os-market...

EDIT: Of course this was down-arrowed. The citation of StatCounter is akin to claiming that the rodeo's parking lot has 80% pick-up trucks, therefore pick-up trucks have 80% of the market. It's absolute nonsense but it somehow appears on HN repeatedly. Never change, HN. Never change.

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4. newbie578 ◴[13 Aug 20 22:00 UTC] No.24149998[source]▶
You should read more about a definition of a monopoly. It does not mean 100% of market share.
5. reissbaker ◴[13 Aug 20 23:01 UTC] No.24150732{3}[source]▶
That's a fair point that I didn't realize. That being said, it looks like the Apple App Store has well over 50% of the market (assuming "the market" means percentage of sales by revenue), so I think it's a moot point anyway; Epic is suing Apple for its monopolistic practices with the App Store, and it looks like app sales on that do clear the 50% threshold even if device sales don't. https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/07/03/apples-app-store-...