[sjy]

No! This is explained right at the beginning of the article:

> the question as to what is anticompetitive and what is simply good business changes as a business scales. A small business can generally be as anticompetitive as it wants to be, while a much larger business is much more constrained in how anticompetitively it can act

The word “monopolize” is used in a specialised way in antitrust; it doesn’t encompass every exclusive right of sale, because that would disrupt many small businesses and law is intended to prevent huge businesses from dominating the economy.

[cwhiz]

People just desperately want competition law to be something it isn’t. And armchair move the goalposts relentlessly to try to redefine literal law.

Size of the business is not relevant unless:

1) The business has a dominant market position

Or

2) The behavior of the business is likely to result in the business achieving a dominant market position

Neither of these apply to Apple. They are a minority player in the smartphone market and their market share is shrinking.

If Apple has a monopoly on their own App Store then Epic has a monopoly on their own game. Period.

[nouveaux]

Can we really call Epic Games and Fortnite a small business?

[sjy]

No. My point is not that they are a small business, it’s that they are smaller than Apple and selling into a different market. Thus it does not “follow,” from the proposition that Apple is a monopolist, that Epic is also a monopolist.

[nodamage]

I think you've missed the point here. Neither Apple nor Epic have enough market share in their primary market (smartphones/games) to be considered monopolists.

So instead, people move the goalposts to an aftermarket of the product (iOS apps) and claim that Apple has a monopoly over that market instead. But every company has a natural monopoly over their own products, and by the very same logic you could claim Epic has a monopoly over the aftermarket of their product (Fortnite skins).

[scarface74]

Can I buy and sell virtual items in Fortnite without giving Epic a cut?

[kevingadd]

Selling virtual items is not especially common due to the exposure it creates to fraud and abuse. Fortnite doesn't allow selling or trading - games that do like Team Fortress 2 and Counter-strike Go are home to lots of scammers who try to trick teens and other uninformed players into giving away their valuable loot :(

Who are you going to buy from without giving Epic a cut? They're the only ones offering Fortnite items.

[scarface74]

Selling virtual items is not especially common due to the exposure it creates to fraud and abuse.

How is that argument any different than the one Apple is making?

[lwansbrough]

Apple doesn't just require you use their payment processor - which might in theory be acceptable - they also demand 30 cents on every dollar. Payment providers everywhere have shown that fraud and abuse can be mitigated to an acceptable level with transaction fees as low as half a cent on the dollar. So Apple forces you into an agreement to use a payment processor that is 30-60x more expensive than the competition simply because they can.

[scarface74]

How much does Epic demand to buy pretend money to by things in Fortnite? Why do I have to give Epic money to buy useless virtual goods?

[sjwright]

Correct for credit card transactions but not for gift card credit which A LOT of people use. Far more than you’d assume. Apple doesn’t get all $50 when you buy an Apple gift card. I’d be surprised if they even got net $40 per $50 card.

The physical cards cost money to produce and the retail stores will insist upon a decent cut. And then the cards are often discounted by 10, 15 or even 20%.