[baddox]

This argument seems to hinge on the assumption that two parties are experiencing similar "levels of desperation": a person dying of thirst, and the developers of a video game which is available on half a dozen platforms and is probably the most financially successful video game of all time.

[AnthonyMouse]

Could it have been "probably the most financially successful video game of all time" if it hadn't agreed to the terms of the various consoles and phone stores?

[baddox]

I'm not sure why that's relevant. Am I only not dying of thirst because I agreed to the terms offered by the local water company? I think it's not contradictory to believe two things simultaneously: that people should not be held to the terms of a contract they signed when they were dying of thirst, and that it's okay that I needed to agree to certain terms with the water company in order to have running water in my home.

[AnthonyMouse]

> Am I only not dying of thirst because I agreed to the terms offered by the local water company?

It is if they have a monopoly on water.

Imagine their terms were manifestly unreasonable. If you want water service you'll have to pay $50,000/year. What would you do? If the answer is that it's reasonable to dig a well or something like that, they haven't got a monopoly. If the answer is to pay the $50,000/year because the only alternative is to die of thirst, there you are.

[baddox]

Right, and as discussed in this thread and others, Apple does not have a smartphone monopoly under any remotely reasonable definition of the term.

[AnthonyMouse]

We're not talking about the smartphone market, we're talking about the app store market.

If there actually was competition between app stores then you could put your app on Google Play and people with iPhones could get it there. People with PlayStations could get it there. They would be the same market so that you could use one app store instead of another to reach the same customers, rather than needing to be in all of them in order for your product to be available to all of your customers.

It's like the water company having a local water monopoly, you're not allowed to dig a well, and your proposed solution is to move out of their service area. Which is not only unreasonable, it doesn't even work if you're the water source because your business is to provide water to customers in every service area.

Which is why in real life, water utilities are considered monopolies and are regulated as such so that they can't impose unreasonable terms on providing water service.