The judge in question was clearly not at all impressed with this argument when Cook raised it, and neither am I.
This amounts to telling people to throw the baby out with the bathwater every time they have an issue with something.
You say that users don't care, but users _don't know either_.
And whenever people lobby for right to repair laws and for consumers to _own_ hardware, guess who's always standing on the other saying that it ain't so.
And if Apple is so concerned about user security & privacy when it comes to alternative app stores, they should adjust their policies so that the apps most users want will see no reason not to be on the App Store.
Should they then be able to leverage that position to instantly win and extort the marketplace built on the next layer up? It pretty much goes to the heart of antitrust
5-10%... sure maybe, 30% of saas fees... ridiculous
Exactly. And yet this idea seems so hard to grasp for many, just look at the discussions around the web and on HN. Everyone over simplifies it to it is Apple's phone or Apple's App Store they do what ever they want. Or the user chose iPhone if you dont like it go and get an Android.
The judge actually pointed out ( Finally ! ) vast majority of revenue are coming from Games. Which means Gaming is in a way subsidising all other Apps in App Store.
I wish Apple separate the Game into Game Store and keep those 30%. While Apps and Services are 10%, with little curation of Apps with App Store. i.e You no longer block Apps for their political view or speeches. As long as they are legal you should allow them in within the quality guidelines and security clearance. Apple could still down rank all these lower quality apps should they choose to. They dont have to block it from accessing iPhone.
EU is watching the case very carefully. While Americans might think Apple can do whatever they want with their devices. The same could not be said with the EU. And I am willing to bet the court battle wont flavour Apple because it seems the old world has a much different view to Anti Trust and Anti Competition than US.
And Apple will have a choice, comply or paid a heavy price.
It is possible to demand better things from something you use. Not every issue is a hill to die on.
Users have a choice: Don't use iOS.
Their actions have pretty overwhelmingly spoken and they don't care. The only people that care are techies. And most obviously not that much because most meetings I show up to are still full of iPhones.