Epic win: Jury decides Google has illegal monopoly in app store fight::A jury has decided for Epic Games in the Epic v. Google trial, giving the Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker a historic win in its fight to change how app stores work.

  • Switorik@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    If Google does then so does Apple?

    I don’t fully understand this. If you want your app on a store front, you play by their rules or provide direct alternatives.

    • GreyBeard@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      The problem is, they can’t provide a direct alternative. On Apple they straight can’t sideload, and on Android Google has intentionally made the experience shitty and dangerous to discourage it.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “Apple has better lawyers and protection” basically. The fact that Apple’s lock down is still a thing just boggles my mind, especially post windows internet explorer world.

    • nudny ekscentryk@szmer.info
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      1 year ago

      or provide direct alternatives.

      yeah. Huawei has their own, Samsung has their own, Amazon has their own, Xiaomi has their own, I imagine so do all other Chinese OEM’s. All of these run Android. What exactly does this verdict mean? What was the jury smoking and how the fuck did Google let it slide?!

    • lorty
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      1 year ago

      The reason Google competes unfairly and Apple doesn’t is precisely due to Android being an open ecosystem. While possible, Google does a bunch of deals and other things to push Play Services.

      I personally think Apple shouldn’t get away with it either, but it’s undeniable that they always had the iPhone hardware, OS and Apple Store as a single package.

  • nudny ekscentryk@szmer.info
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    1 year ago

    it wants the court to tell Google that every app developer has total freedom to introduce its own app stores and its own billing systems on Android

    Don’t they? Am I missing something?

    • lorty
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      1 year ago

      From the article:

      But Epic v. Google turned out to be a very different case. It hinged on secret revenue sharing deals between Google, smartphone makers, and big game developers, ones that Google execs internally believed were designed to keep rival app stores down. It showed that Google was running scared of Epic specifically. And it was all decided by a jury, unlike the Apple ruling.

      It’s not that it wasn’t technically possible, Google just made moves to discourage other stores directly with phone manufacturers and developers.

  • Bluefruit@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s a historic victory, particularly because Epic mostly lost its fight against Apple two years ago when Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers decided that fight had nothing to do with apps.

    But Epic v. Google turned out to be a very different case. It hinged on secret revenue sharing deals between Google, smartphone makers, and big game developers, ones that Google execs internally believed were designed to keep rival app stores down. It showed that Google was running scared of Epic specifically. And it was all decided by a jury, unlike the Apple ruling.

  • Gazumi@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    About time too. Monopolies are the antithesis of what they claim to be