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Re:Apple’s “monopsony” power, and the woman who named it by scarface74 on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @10:26AM (#22054990)
Movies - if you buy a music on iTunes from most of the major studios, you can sync your purchases with Amazon Video, Google Play Movies and Vudu using Movies Anywhere. Blame the studios that refuse to cooperate for the ones you can’t.

Music - any music you buy from iTunes has been DRM free for over a decade.

Books - if that’s a concern, buy ebooks from Amazon - like everyone else dies.

As far as buying apps, most money people spend on the App Store is either in app consumables for games or subscriptions that work cross platform.

Do you also feel that Nintendo, Microsoft (XBox) and Sony should be equally regulated for controlling distribution over their digital stores? Yes you can but physical discs but even they are digitally signed and have to be approved.

Re:Apple’s “monopsony” power, and the woman who named it by henryfjordan on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @04:37PM (#22058967)
With all monopoly/monopsony discussions, it all comes down to the degree to which the monopolist leverages their position. It's not illegal to have a monopoly, only to abuse it.

Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony each compete rather vigorously to attract studios to produce games for their platforms. Nintendo classically has ups-and-downs in this arena, given their unconventional hardware choices. The Switch is attracting a lot more devs than the Wii U ever did, for instance. This breaks the theory of monopsony, as there is clearly competition between platforms to acquire games.

Contrast that with the App Stores on phones where everything feels incredibly static. Apple and Google are clearly coasting on the fact that there's only 2 phone OSes and you have to use one of them. Besides first-party apple stuff, there are hardly any exclusives. And you never hear about app devs changing platforms.

So I would conclude that no, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony don't need to be regulated because they aren't engaging in anti-consumer behavior. They should be subject to the same standards, of course, but they aren't currently in violation of them like Apple.

Re:Apple’s “monopsony” power, and the woman who named it by scarface74 on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @05:11PM (#22059343)
Apple has also commissioned exclusives - Apple Arcade has over 100 exclusive games.
Re:Apple’s “monopsony” power, and the woman who named it by AnthonyMouse on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @10:40AM (#22055158)
> Do you also feel that Nintendo, Microsoft (XBox) and Sony should be equally regulated for controlling distribution over their digital stores?

It's not about what they put in their own store. It's about not allowing competing stores. And game consoles shouldn't be allowed to do it either.

Re:Apple’s “monopsony” power, and the woman who named it by riversflow on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @02:09PM (#22057348)
I don’t understand the argument for why consumers shouldn’t be allowed to purchase a closed platform. I specifically like Apple products because of the controlled software distribution that’s a huge value add for me. I purchase their products for my parents and know that they can’t mess it up, and I won’t have to troubleshoot their product. Apple isn’t just selling a product but an experience—an experience many people like I might add.