Re:EU says Apple’s App Store breaks competition rules after ...
by salamandersauce on Friday April 30, 2021 @10:23PM
(#27002358)
You don't have to make up an imaginary electric company example when the real life phone company pulled that bullshit (and still sort of do tbh). In the old days you couldn't just buy a phone or something that used the phone line like an answering machine or some other device. No you had to lease a phone from the telephone company that was approved and installed by them. Hell they tried to stop people putting rubber cups on their phone receivers. And they also happened to have a majority stake in the phone manufacturer too...
They key word is 'platform'.
It's designed for 'broad public consumption', this is different than other, purely internal aspects of their service.
So Ford or GM cannot stop you from buying other vendors stuff and tweaking your car. The very thought would be absurd. A car is designed to be at very least maintained, they can void warranties etc. but not have absolute control.
BMW is stricter about those things, which is fine, but it's still outside of their control.
Finally, I think the reach of the platforms actually does matter - once something becomes a public good, we treat it differently.
Imagine if the electric company in 1921 only ever let you buy appliances 'made by them' suited for 'their electricity', it's just not good.
A similar situation is MS using their platform monopoly to dominate other areas, such as MS Office, which I think should have been regulated as well. Using a platform monopoly, companies can definitely dominating adjacent economies - even while providing an inferior product or experience, which is bad for everyone.
To your point, it's probably worthwhile for us to start defining in legal terms what we mean by 'platform' so the rules can be applied fairly.