The Supreme Court is letting an antitrust lawsuit against Apple proceed, and it’s rejected Apple’s argument that iOS App Store users aren’t really its customers. The Supreme Court upheld the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Apple v. Pepper, agreeing in a 5-4 decision that Apple app buyers could sue the company for allegedly driving up prices. “Apple’s line-drawing does not make a lot of sense, other than as a way to gerrymander Apple out of this and similar lawsuits,” wrote Justice
Merrick GarlandBrett Kavanaugh.
Apple’s argument that users of the App Store aren’t Apple’s customers was completely bonkers to begin with, and obviously solely designed in service of Apple’s new services narrative. Remember – with the new Apple-as-a-Service, Apple’s isn’t really interested in just selling you a product – the company wants to milk you for all you’re worth. Giving customers any sort of stronger position in the App Store and similar services only serves to detriment Apple’s services story to Wall Street.
In related news… Ford will also face a monopoly lawsuit for being the exclusive provider of Ford steering wheels.
haus,
In related news, a lot of farmers aren’t happy that John Deere is gauging them on prices for repair. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-23/u-s-farmers-need-a-better-way-to-fix-their-tractors
So to answer your implied question, yes it is possible for a manufacturer to be a monopoly on their own thing.
Being the shill that you are, though, it’s no surprise you’d be on the side of monopolies.
Nice job, right to the ad hominem attack. Your wisdom is so very invaluable. Not surprised, having seen most of your comments here, but still I’m disappointed.
darknexus,
It was the last sentence of my comment. That’s the very opposite of “right to the”. It wasn’t “right to the”. It was literally the last thing I said.
Every pro-corporate shill here, like you, keeps repeating the same old stuff every new article and playing dumb to stuff people have already explained about their position. So when you so obviously remove yourself from reasonable discourse, it is NOT an ad hominem to point out that you are a shill, because that is how you act. A shill just keeps repeating the same stuff over and over again and playing dumb to explanations previously given.
I think you may qualify as a shill, by your definition of shill. Stop calling people names.
Equating prices for repair to that of being the exclusive seller of products a company makes isn’t even in the same ballpark.
With that said, not only is it possible for a manufacturer to have a monopoly position of that product they sell, a practice in business that is more common than not. Being the exclusive provider if a part of a product a company produces would (by default) make that company a monopoly of said product and yet monopolies neither illegal nor are they bad. The problem is that you equated monopoly with that of an illegal monopoly.
I can only assume that because you don’t understand even the most basic of business policy as far as how it relates to completion, is why you immediately went straight to an ad hominem attack.
Except, of course, that you can literally buy any aftermarket steering wheel and put it in your Ford. Ford is not prohibiting or preventing you from installing non-Ford steering wheels in your Ford.
Wooooosh
Then apply the analogy to any number of other companies that are the exclusive providers of that company’s product. Thom, the point was that it is neither illegal, anti-competitive or even bad to be the exclusive provider of a product or service that a company created.
The implication is that there isn’t competition in the app marketplace. Obviously there is. Software developers don’t have to abide by Apple’s rules if they don’t like them. We know that they can go elsewhere. In fact many have made such a decision.
Just like the vast majority of service-oriented businesses, the customer or the vendor does not get to dictate policy relating to how said company operates the service so too should vendors or customers not dictate how Apple run’s theirs.
Can I use any third party steering wheel without having to subvert the security measures Ford has in place and risk voiding my warranty? yes? Then I think your argument be bullshit.
That’s not what’s going on here.
Ford would face a monopoly lawsuit if it forced you to use only the gasoline licensed by Ford, even though the gasoline producer and brand is a complete third party, and in doing so, it collected 30% of the price for each liter of gasoline you bought.