[roenxi]

> Apple for example is a 100% monopoly in the app store.

Every physical store is a monopoly in their own space. It is hard to see that specific point being important.

The fact that Apple gate-keeps their store is also a major selling point of the iPhone. I don't want random people to be able to load random apps onto the phones of my family members. Having a programmable combined GPS/microphone/wallet/photo repository on hand all hours is already quite bad enough, there is an argument for curation here. If Apple ever starts making decisions that are unacceptable/grossly inferior to an alternative then there are other phones.

> Can you sell your Travel Planner Service to Grandma if Google starts adding the same info to Google search for "free"?

That isn't monopolistic behaviour, that is simply competition. Monopolistic is when Google won't allow your Travel Planner to enter their search index, or deranks it in favour of their alternative. If the competition is head-to-head then there isn't anything special about the situation.

[Dah00n]

>Every physical store is a monopoly in their own space.

This comparison is disingenuous. There aren't only two big physical stores (and maybe a handful small stores hardly no one knows about) in the entire world. If 99% of all physical stores were a Walmart or Costco you could compare but luckily this isn't so.

>The fact that Apple gate-keeps their store is also a major selling point of the iPhone.

That is beside the point. Just because something is a feature you (or most) like doesn't mean it is legal or not, monopoly or not. I'm not going to discuss if it is a good or bad feature because it would be off-topic.

>Monopolistic is when Google won't allow your Travel Planner to enter their search index, or deranks it in favour of their alternative.

Consider this: You have 100.000 result on Travel planners today with your site being number 3 and tomorrow you also have 100.000 results with your site being number 3 but now there's a big box above all the results that tells you what you were looking for (and the data might even come from your site). This is way worse than being de-ranked. That's not fair competition.

Another example: You have one of many Fitness Apps for iOS. For years Apple can see data on just what people search for, install, etc. and then one day they use all this data to create their own fitness app. Quickly your app would be irrelevant. Add to that that we have proof that Apple abuse their position by offering to buy a successful app and if refused they harass the publisher in different ways and create their own.

[roenxi]

> This comparison is disingenuous.

You say that, but then you make a completely different argument for why Apple is a monopoly. I'm just responding to what you've said, without using my well developed psychic powers to divine what different point you meant without saying.

You started your post with a point that is so weak that it is indefensible. Apple creating a virtual store and having a 100% monopoly in it simply isn't remarkable. That is how stores work, the store owner has near total control what is in the store to their benefit.

If your argument is that it is incomparable to a normal store then well ok, but you're going to need to argue that. A reasonable person could see Apple's store as comparable to an actual store. Apple very likely does.