alt Hacker NewsI’m generally with you, but I am not prepared to say companies should be forced to host and distribute content they believe reflects badly on them.
That and I don’t see how Google and Apple can both be monopolies in mobile. Is this the “Ford has a monopoly on Mustangs” argument? Never found that persuasive.
Now, reframe as duopoly, and maybe layer in that a platform owner who curates their App Store must allow alternative app stores on equal footing, and I’d be with you.
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> I’m generally with you, but I am not prepared to say companies should be forced to host and distribute content they believe reflects badly on them.
If Apple and Google are hell-bent on killing sideloading, and they control 99% of the mobile market, I think they have an obligation to host things they don't like, as long as it is legal.
Remember the days when you could just run whatever software you wanted on your hardware?
Well they are big enough to be called infrastructure now. Similar to payment providers. Them removing things essentially removes them from existence for 99 percent.
I don't think companies should be forced to do that in general, but there are some circumstances where I think they should.
A local printing company should not be forced to print things they don't want. But an ISP should be required to transport everything, with exceptions for legal requirements and legitimate network health measures, or get out of the ISP business.
App stores feel more like the latter to me. Especially Apple's where there's no way around it for the average user.
>I’m generally with you, but I am not prepared to say companies should be forced to host and distribute content they believe reflects badly on them.
There's platforms, and there's Apple and Google.
You don't need to say "platforms" when you talk about the two companies that control the 99.99999% of the mobile ecosystem.
> That and I don’t see how Google and Apple can both be monopolies in mobile.
Why not? Monopolies can be market-specific, and Apple does indeed fully control the market of iOS app distribution.
Whether they also are a monopolist on mobile operating systems, smartphones etc. is a separate question.
> I am not prepared to say companies should be forced to host and distribute content they believe reflects badly on them.
Me neither, but in turn I don't think they should be allowed to act as the sole distributor for their respective platforms.