>You never, ever want a court to define the landscape you wish to operate in. it ties your hands and could easily go against you. You are almost always better off seeking settlement to avoid those outcomes.
I agree but I really think Apple has backed themselves into a corner now. Their App Store revenue is such an enormous chunk of their income (direct and indirect) that to remove their monopoly on distribution and payments now would cut their profits by double digits. Their stock price would plummet. I don't think they have a choice but to drag this out for as long as possible, in every country they can. I think it is inevitable that many countries will order Apple to unbundle the App Store and allow competitors, but many will not, and the process will take years or even decades. In the mean time, Apple stands only to gain.
In terms of strategic calculus, I think this makes sense, even if it means they will eventually receive worse strategic positions in certain countries.
They really could prevent it from happening through branding/psychological manipulation - allow sideloading and put it behind many warnings/hide it similarly to android’s dev menu with 7 clicks on God knows what.
Governments no longer have a teeth, pro-users will be happy, and for apple everything will remain the same as even the pro-user will continue to use the AppStore for nigh everything.
Something like this would certainly release a lot of regulatory tension. I suppose they've run the numbers and concluded that a significant chunk of their subscriber base would be willing to jump through said hoops for cheaper services and apps.
I don’t know, I think youtube vanced would be the most common target, which would only cut into google’s profit. For the ~1 dollar apps, people would rather buy it and other subscription-based programs would also continue to be purchased through apple I believe, decreasing their immediate profits only by a small margin, but potentially making it last for much longer. But of course I don’t know all the details they do.
I agree but I really think Apple has backed themselves into a corner now. Their App Store revenue is such an enormous chunk of their income (direct and indirect) that to remove their monopoly on distribution and payments now would cut their profits by double digits. Their stock price would plummet. I don't think they have a choice but to drag this out for as long as possible, in every country they can. I think it is inevitable that many countries will order Apple to unbundle the App Store and allow competitors, but many will not, and the process will take years or even decades. In the mean time, Apple stands only to gain.
In terms of strategic calculus, I think this makes sense, even if it means they will eventually receive worse strategic positions in certain countries.