nobody's going to use a phone that isn't supported by applications. In fact every application provided by developers to the apple ecosystem increases the marginal value of the phone. In what world is that free riding? And why would anyone support this egregious behaviour of giant companies commanding around the rest of the market?

My real issue is that there is no alternative. You can’t opt out and use a different store.

I think this would be a strong point if commissioning the store was the primary means of income for apple. But apple strategically uses the fees to attack their competitors. Squeezing spotify for example with a 30% fee while at the same time pushing out apple music for a ~30% lower price.

That in my mind is not a content agnostic platform seeking to make money as a service provider, but leveraging a platform to attempt to gain monopolistic power by force.

In the world where there exists a platform where paid software on that platform gets 30% of its revenue automatically sucked out just by virtue of existing on that platform

You are allowed to do what you please with your things within the confines of the law. A government creates laws to promote the wellbeing of the populace. In this case, they decided that it's no longer lawful for Google to set a default browser, so Google shouldn't do it anymore.

The difference here is that you did not create the town. It is publically created and publicly owned. Your rights and privileges ends where someone else's begins

> A government creates laws to promote the wellbeing of the populace

Yes, but it does so by creating an environment where individuals can choose for themselves what wellbeing means to them

It might be legal for a government that is driven by populist and protectionist agenda to target the useful and unique inventions of foreign companies but it isn't fair and it infringes on the natural rights of these companies.

Google already lost their case; they were fined $5bn.

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/630030673/eu-hits-google-with...