Tech Newsround – Day of nonsense

Google vs Epic – Roll of the dice

• Google’s loss to Epic when Apple won for pretty much the same issue makes very little sense and is a demonstration of how much going to court can be a roll of the dice.
• A federal jury in San Francisco has determined that Google illegally prevented competition for its Google Play app store and payment mechanism.
• Although the legal situation between this case and the case against Apple is quite different, the dispute that is being adjudicated is pretty much the same.
• Google and Apple dominate the mobile ecosystem and via their app stores, they control the distribution of apps to billions of users and take a cut of all the revenue that developers earn.
• Epic has argued that this is unfair and that a lack of competition results in higher prices for developers and consumers.
• The irony here is that it is possible to get other app stores on Google Android while Apple does not allow it and somehow Google loses its case and Apple wins.
• The net result is that there is going to be some ongoing pressure on the traditional 30% / 70% split of revenues, and I think that it will gradually erode over time.
• However, the real lesson here is that going all the way in the legal process ends up in a roll of the dice with settlement almost always being the better option.

Apple vs Beeper – just buy an iPhone.

• Apple is up to its old tricks once again by disabling workarounds that allow iMessage to work on Android ahead of bringing its own version via the RCS standard in 2024.
• Apple has disabled the ability of a cross-platform messaging system called Beeper to access and exchange messages with users of iMessage claiming that the “privacy” and “security” of its users were at stake.
• This argument makes no sense at all as the existing system of dropping down to SMS is less secure than the workaround that Beeper was using and I think this is all about protecting iMessage as a reason to buy an iPhone.
• Apple has said as much on numerous occasions by commenting “Just buy an iPhone” when asked about the lack of interoperability between iOS and Android for iMessage.
• Apple has form in this area and in the past has killed apps and services of 3^rd parties ahead of launching its own versions of the same service again saying that its versions are safer and more private.
• Although iMessage should now be available on Android via RCS in 2024, it is very likely to be not as good and lacks some of the newest and most popular features of the iOS version.
• Apple monetises its ecosystem via hardware meaning that it has no incentive to offer full and seamless interoperability and this state of affairs is not going to change any time soon.