The Epic question: How Google lost when Apple won | How is Google running an illegal monopoly with the Play store — while Apple’s App Store is in the clear?::How is Google running an illegal monopoly with the Play store — while Apple’s App Store is in the clear?
At the end of the day, this was kind of a different legal battle. Google negotiated one-off deals with big tech companies, and some of those companies are getting better deals than their competitors.
Apple doesn’t appear to do that. The marketplace has one set of rules that apply to everyone. Spotify doesn’t have different a AppStore contract than Tidal.
For all we know, Google may have won this case if they simply made everyone abide by the same contract. Playing king maker kind of fucked them.
This is the answer.
Apple wasn’t abusing their monopoly, while “Don’t Be Evil” Google was colluding to protect theirs.
The fact that one kind of monopoly isn’t abuse on technical grounds (but still is abuse is in many other ways) but another monopoly is abuse is exactly the problem being highlighted. Why are we just sweeping this problem under the rug of public opinion?
It could also be how the Apple trial was just in front of the judge, but the Google trial went to a jury. Could Epic have had a different result if they requested a jury trial the first time?