[firechickenbird]

> The government hopes that the move will spur competition and lead to app price drops

Most apps are free. The paid one are also already very cheap

[ur-whale]

This is not about the price of apps.

It is about running what you want on a device you own.

You may not have realized it, but you do not own your Apple device anymore, in the sense that you can't run what you choose on it.

You are only allowed to play in Apple's carefully tended village.

I'd recommend re-watching The Prisoner [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

[charcircuit]

>in the sense that you can't run what you choose on it

Do you not own a washing machine if you can't use it to render 3D videos on the computer inside? A washing machine being a washing machine is just what the device is. If you own an iphone the expectation is that you can run iphone apps. Apple never advertised that you can run anything on it.

[agloe_dreams]

Your example is weird and bad. Let me give you a better one.

Imagine buying a washing machine but it will only wash clothes made by Old Navy, you cannot buy any other brand of clothing. Additionally, the local bars and restaurants, only allow you to enter if you are wearing Old Navy as that is in the contract of actually wearing the shirt. Your friends can only talk to you in a group if you are wearing Old Navy. Otherwise they must talk to you 1 by 1. Finally, Old Navy Clothes cannot be used in any other brand of washing machines as they will not 'wash', they are incompatible.

Because of this, everyone you know wears Old Navy. If you want to get a bite to eat with them, you must own this washing machine. Because everyone is locked into Old Navy clothes, Old Navy gets a cut from the restaurants and your prices go up.

This is how weird the software market actually is.

[matheusmoreira]

> Do you not own a washing machine if you can't use it to render 3D videos on the computer inside?

You don't own it if you don't have complete control over its functions, including that of the computer inside. These things are coming loaded with "smart features" nowadays, you absolutely don't own a thing if you can't modify or delete that stuff. It's their machine, they're just letting you use it.

[ur-whale]

> Do you not own a washing machine

I completely disagree with you.

However, I find equating Apple devices to washing machines eerily accurate, on very many different axes.

[Laremere]

They are free mostly because they have in app purchases, which the stores take their cut of. It's easy to see the stores provide some of the value in the transaction, but 30% is an amount which would be arbitraged away with some real competition.

[ronsor]

"Free" with in-app purchases that can easily eat one's entire paycheck.

[falcolas]

You’re right. But this is wholly tangential to the discussion; an alternative storefront will not change MTX practices.