google is a prison and the enemy of FOSS, we really need an alternative

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/40230491

Blåhaj Lemmy - Choose Your Interface

Can anyone explain how this isn’t an illegal monopoly? I’m genuinely curious

Apple was the canary in the coal mine for this behavior in the EU. Apple was forced to allow third party apps, so Apple mandated that everyone had to register with them, and pay them their yearly fee, and then developers had to pay Apple another fee (core technology fee, still double dipping), and governments were completely fine with that. (And developers will happily jump through more hoops to develop on iOS).

Google saw this and decided if they can, so can Google. And this technically is the easier of the two as at least this doesn’t require every developer to register with Google this way.

Really good point to illustrate how liberal reform efforts just redirect capitalist control into an increasingly contrived legal system.

Because there are more iPhones in America.

Ignore that Apple also makes it impossible to side load apps.

I’m not criticizing you because that’s the typical term, but we really need to stop calling it side loading. It’s just installing. Calling it that makes it sound like something special and different.
Aren’t there alternative stores for iPhones in the EU and Japan?
Doesn’t matter when the CEO sits at the table with the US president. If it’s illegal it won’t be enforced. Or it’ll be made legal. Or it won’t be made illegal. And if you want to make it illegal in your country - there’s punitive tariffs coming your way from the US president.
Because there are alternatives. No one is forcing you to use Android.
The public institutions responsible for tearing apart monopolies would have a field day with google if they were even remotely as powerful and willing as they used to be.