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Microsoft Tells Congress That iOS App Store Is Anticompetitive:
US regulators are taking aim at big tech firms like Google, Apple, and Amazon, with the potential for antitrust cases later this year. A House committee is gearing up to question the CEOs of major technology companies, but Microsoft President Brad Smith has already chatted with the committee. Smith reportedly expressed concerns about Apple in particular, specifically when it comes to its handling of the App Store.
[...] According to Smith, the recent disagreement over the Basecamp Hey email app on iOS exemplifies the problem. The app needs a $99 annual subscription, but there was no way to purchase it in the app — users had to go to the web. That didn't please Apple, as it circumvented the 30 percent revenue charge. Apple resisted approving the app, only doing so when public pressure ramped up, and the developers added a 14-day free trial for iOS users.
[...] And that's at the heart of the antitrust probe: Is Apple harming competition with its policies now that iOS is one of two dominant mobile platforms? It might take a few years for the government to decide that one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2020, @06:36PM (1 child)
I'm finding it hard to come up with the right search terms to find the story, but recently I was reading articles about independent breweries and acquisitions by the mega-conglomerates. It was mentioned that one brewery owner, and the only thing I remember is that this person is a woman (which in itself is unusual for the brewing industry at any level) and she apparently was always pretty up front about her business plan, which was to create a successful enough craft brewery and sell out to a big conglomerate. I found that interesting because a good size of the craft beer clientele are those who decry the effects of the mega-conglomerates on the beer industry, or maybe that has or is changing. At least there one has to establish a company and actually create quality products before that happens, where in the Gig economy people still seem to operate that all you need is a "cool" and well marketed story to be bought out, or at least to get a lot of VC money and then be bought out.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:49PM
That has been a thing for a long time now. Many of us older folk remember the hulabaloo over magical carburetors that would enable you to get 50 mpg or better, in the big old land yachts that people used to drive. One of my ex-wife's uncles managed to convince GM that his ideas worked, and GM bought up his patent. Everyone was happy.
Parenthetically - there WAS SOMETHING to his ideas, because I witnessed him improving an 18 mpg vehicle to a 25 mpg vehicle. But, for the most part, those ideas were gimmicks, and the auto manufacturers would buy them up anyway, to prevent competition, etc.
If more people actually understood how things really work, fewer people would WANT TO SELL their ideas, or their businesses to Big Corp. Let's say I spend 24 years building up a company that employs 125 people, many of them my relatives. I sell the business, and immediately Big Corp trims the fat. When all is said and done, 100 of my people are out of work, the remaining 25 are miserable working for a Big Corp that has zero respect for them. Big Corp may even lay off or fire all of my people, and squash the whole project, because it competes with some other project.