[AnthonyMouse]

> Wouldn't the Android platform be worth a lot more if they gave developers freedom to explore different strategies and business models?

Say Google does the right thing. Enables great apps, charges 4% instead of 30%, everything goes well.

What does Apple do in response? If they do nothing, Android eats their market share. That's kind of the point, isn't it?

But that means they can't do nothing. They'd have to respond in kind; do the right thing too. Which means it's not a competitive advantage for Google. All they do is lose the 30% they're getting right now.

Even worse if Apple is foolish and the move actually succeeds, because then Android gets a real monopoly instead of this duopoly fig leaf they each use to claim they have competition.

This why duopolies are just as bad as monopolies if not worse. We need real competition and barriers to entry low enough that someone without a vested interest in the status quo can actually enter the market.

[enos_feedler]

I dont think the solution is to drop the fee to 4%. My pushback on the Play execs was that we need something unique, that seems fair and recognizes the value that 3rd party and the platforms provide. The 30 / 70 is simple and clean but its not “good” or “fair”. It doesnt mean you cant capture say 20% of app revenue in a way that is good and fair

[amitmathew]

That’s true, but it would help Google get out from Apple’s shadow on mobile. From a strategic perspective, you want your competitor being forced to make moves because of your actions. Then you get to dictate the next few steps. But for any of that to matter, you have to view mobile as more than another ad platform, which Google doesn’t seem to.

[seanmcdirmid]

If Google went to 4% and Apple stayed at 30%, a lot of people would still be buying iPhones and not caring.

[AnthonyMouse]

Developers would care. For many that difference would double their margins, or quintuple them. People would make apps for Android that didn't exist on iOS, or make them for Android first, or spend more time on the Android version and make it better.

[seanmcdirmid]

Yes, but consumers of the phones themselves? Anecdotally, I haven't paid money for an app in...5 years or so. So the free apps would still be around, and I guess candycrush and such would get to Android before iPhone, and will be better on Android, but that really isn't going to affect me.

I guess the question is how many phone consumers buy apps (or pay for content in those apps)? And if paid app availability improved (or got worse for their platform), would that affect the next phone they bought.