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Did Apple Secretly Crush An App Store Competitor In Japan? (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the ulterior-motives dept.

According to Nikkei, Japan's Fair Trade Commission is looking into whether Apple improperly pressured Yahoo Japan to shut down a game streaming platform that competed with the iOS App Store. "Yahoo Japan's Game Plus service allowed people to stream full games made for other platforms and to play HTML5 games on mobile phones, which would have allowed iPhone owners to get games without going through the App Store," reports The Verge. From the report: Nikkei reports that Yahoo Japan slashed the program's budget last fall, just months after it launched, and told partners that it was due to pressure from Apple. It's said to have begun filing complaints with Japan's FTC around the same time. Developers essentially have no good alternative to the App Store on iOS. Their only other option is the web, which is a wonderful place for websites, but the web is rarely as fast or flashy as a native app. There are a great number of features that only native apps can take advantage of, which requires going through the App Store and giving Apple a 30 percent cut of most sales. Yahoo Japan's service was meant, in part, to be an alternative to that, offering better terms to developers, according to Nikkei, and fewer restrictions around how games were updated and sold. Final Fantasy creator Square Enix had even signed on and produced an exclusive game for the platform, which has since been pulled.

50 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Would like to hear more about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If Apple starts to actively prevent choice and innovation rather than the opposite then we will know the mbas have killed Apple. You need a key founder/s to make companies survive long term

    1. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You need a key founder/s to make companies survive long term.

      Paging Herman Hollerith and Thomas Watson. Please come to the white courtesy phone.

      No? Paging Thomas A. Edison or Cecil Rhodes.

      No? Paging Will C Durant, Henry Ford, or Kiichiro Toyoda.

      Damn, not having much luck with any of these guys.

      How about W.K. Kellogg? Henri Nestle? Akio Morita? Any of you guys around?

      Amadeo Giannini? John Thompson?

      Yeah, no company ever survives without its founder(s).

    2. Re: Would like to hear more about this by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      He was an asshole if you worked for him. But he was also the guy who prevented Jony Ive from making laptops 1mm thinner and needing to change the keyboard mechanisms to unreliable pieces of crap to get that 1mm.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Would like to hear more about this by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re: Would like to hear more about this by aliquis · · Score: 1

      My C2D Macbook Pro was an expensive piece of shit.

    5. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      You need a key founder/s to make companies survive long term.

      Paging Herman Hollerith and Thomas Watson. Please come to the white courtesy phone.

      No? Paging Thomas A. Edison or Cecil Rhodes.

      No? Paging Will C Durant, Henry Ford, or Kiichiro Toyoda.

      Damn, not having much luck with any of these guys.

      How about W.K. Kellogg? Henri Nestle? Akio Morita? Any of you guys around?

      Amadeo Giannini? John Thompson?

      Yeah, no company ever survives without its founder(s).

      Perfect!

    6. Re: Would like to hear more about this by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      But the keyboard was still better than the 2016+ MacBook Pros.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    7. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    8. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      You do realize, of course, that your "citations" add up to a big "Because I said so.", right?

    9. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      You do realize, of course, that your "citations" add up to a big "Because I said so.", right?

      Don't be disingenuous.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    10. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      You do realize, of course, that your "citations" add up to a big "Because I said so.", right?

      Don't be disingenuous.

      I'm not. Don't be deliberately obtuse.

    11. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Guessing you are not "TheFake" Tim Cook.

      If i were the real Tim Cook, I wouldn't come anywhere NEAR Slashdot.

    12. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      You do realize, of course, that your "citations" add up to a big "Because I said so.", right?

      Don't be disingenuous.

      I'm not. Don't be deliberately obtuse.

      I will say this for you: you have that arrogance thing down pat. You have that newspeak thing down pat. You are the reason people hate Apple, you are a fine ambassador. Carry on.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    13. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Apple has a long history of trying to prevent choice and innovation. They forced DR to lobotomize GEM, threatened Microsoft for the best part of a decade to prevent them from producing a decent UI for Windows (you really don't want to know what Windows was like pre-95), and until the late nineties was notorious for avoiding open technologies, even when there was no serious advantage to its own. While things warmed again under Jobs, the latter went ballistic over Google's Android despite the iPhone itself being a blatant copy of an LG design.

      They're not the good guys, they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas.

      Every single bit of that is a lie.

      Sorry, every bit of that is bang on, I saw it all with my own eyes. And that's just the tip of it. Being charitable to Apple if anything, maybe that is a mistake.

      You do realize, of course, that your "citations" add up to a big "Because I said so.", right?

      Don't be disingenuous.

      I'm not. Don't be deliberately obtuse.

      I will say this for you: you have that arrogance thing down pat. You have that newspeak thing down pat. You are the reason people hate Apple, you are a fine ambassador. Carry on.

      So much blathering, and yet STILL not a SINGLE CITATION!

      Remarkable.

    14. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      So much blathering, and yet STILL not a SINGLE CITATION!

      Google them yourself you pompous ass. Every one of OPs original points is a matter of public record.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    15. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas

      OK, I will grant you that that point is a lie. Apple did have a record of coming up with good ideas until pencil-pusher Tim Cook arrived, now they only have pencil pusher ideas and squeeze more milk out of aging camp follower ideas.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    16. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      So much blathering, and yet STILL not a SINGLE CITATION!

      Google them yourself you pompous ass. Every one of OPs original points is a matter of public record.

      Google what, exactly?

    17. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      they're just a company that very often comes up with some good ideas

      OK, I will grant you that that point is a lie. Apple did have a record of coming up with good ideas until pencil-pusher Tim Cook arrived, now they only have pencil pusher ideas and squeeze more milk out of aging camp follower ideas.

      "I will grant you that that point is a lie?!?"

      WTF?!? That sentence is a completely self-negating non-sequitur!

    18. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      I understand that your mind is only able to think one level deep. One button mouse, same idea, right? No doubt you are in awe of your own intellectual superiority. How Apple of you.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    19. Re:Would like to hear more about this by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      I understand that your mind is only able to think one level deep. One button mouse, same idea, right? No doubt you are in awe of your own intellectual superiority. How Apple of you.

      Mmmm. You counter with a one-button-mouse meme.

      And yet you have the unmitigated gall to impugn MY "intellectual superiority"?

    20. Re:Would like to hear more about this by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      You make it clear to anybody with the misfortune to stumble over your dreary tracks on the internet that your imagined intellectual superiority is most precious to you. Apple is hollowed out and you are part of the rot.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  2. Re: Yes by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

    The power is a separe thing from the money. The power is vested in government, which is controlled by the people.

    Sometimes plutocrats like Tim Cook try to subvert this power, but it doesn't end well for them.

  3. Re: Front-Page Posts Out of Order by stealth_finger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    /. Is turning into every other site where unemployed millennials bitch about things

    I see a whole lot more bitching about millenials around here.

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  4. Re:Front-Page Posts Out of Order by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Your comment is also out of order, this is neither of the threads about "Fewer Than Half of Young Americans Are Positive About Capitalism".

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  5. Re: Yes by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    The government is actually ruled by ca$h. You're a dog.

    The logical conclusion is that Dogecoin is the future of money!

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  6. "Leak" the source code on the web... by grumpy-cowboy · · Score: 1

    And let's see what happen :)

    --
    Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
    1. Re:"Leak" the source code on the web... by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Don't want it.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  7. Re:Fuck Apple by Type44Q · · Score: 3, Funny

    they are dishonest, greedy, litigeous, and they lie, cheat, copy and steal just as much as they accuse others in court of

    Yeah, but they're edgy and progressive and wholesomely-gay and fabulously artistic; all the things Apple needs to be to marketable towards those who have a profound urge to blow their money in accordance with the expectations of their peers.

  8. Betteridge by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    Usually any headline ending with a question mark the answer is no, nut in this case I'd say, probably.

    --
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    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    1. Re:Betteridge by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Betteridge only applies when it lines up with a person’s preconceived biases.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:Betteridge by theM_xl · · Score: 1

      Think we might still call that a no. It honestly sounds like they weren't being secretive about it at all.

    3. Re:Betteridge by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Think we might still call that a no. It honestly sounds like they weren't being secretive about it at all.Think we might still call that a no. It honestly sounds like they weren't being secretive about it at all.

      The question is not why, but how. I mean, it's a website, after all. Somehow Apple forced Yahoo to shut down their website? For what benefit? Did Apple go after all the developers and remove their apps or something?

      What did Apple do that got Yahoo Japan so legitimately scared they shut down their website? I can't imagine Yahoo being such a big player on iOS that removing their app would have any big effect. Perhaps Apple could've gone after the developers themselves and removed their apps, but with some like Square Enix, that seems unlikely. It's not like Apple could suddenly take more than 30% of every sale.

      About the only way I can think of is it would've run like crap in Safari and they wanted to app-ify their website. Even then I don't see the problem since Android is huge over there as well.

      What magic power does Apple have to cause Yahoo Japan to retreat? Something that Android doesn't have?

  9. First commandment of Apple by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    We are Apple, the object of your desire. You shall have no other App Stores before me.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  10. Re:Fuck Apple by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Maybe he's an angry Windows 10 user, too.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  11. Re:You are all idiots by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Oh shit, you said the "app" word.

    Come to think of it, we haven't seen that guy in a while. Maybe he's dead? Or maybe he switched from being "the app guy" to "the trump guy"?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  12. Re:What about Nintendo? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Slashdot can take the time to add Microsoft-only "window.is_euro_union" shit in their code but they can't support unicode in 2018.

    #lame

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  13. Tech "news" bias by pedrop357 · · Score: 1

    Semi-off topic:
    "Google is expected to lose $50 million in just the next five months because Epic Games was able to skirt the Play Store when launching Fortnite on Android."

    Yes, they "skirted" the play store in much the same way come companies skirt Steam and simply allow their game to be downloaded and installed directly with no Steam activation or client dependency.

    The linked article discussing it isn't much better. So much concern trolling and predictions (hopes?) of problems for Epic games that it makes me wonder if Google simply wrote the article.

    1. Re:Tech "news" bias by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      To lose something, one must have had it.

      I lose millions of dollars every week because I'm not a billionaire.

    2. Re:Tech "news" bias by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Semi-off topic:
      "Google is expected to lose $50 million in just the next five months because Epic Games was able to skirt the Play Store when launching Fortnite on Android."

      I'm having trouble understanding how Google can "lose" something that isn't theirs.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re:Tech "news" bias by MoralCharacter · · Score: 1

      I could see them saying they are expected to "Miss out" on $50 million - that absolutely makes sense.
      I know better than to just assume it's dumb word choice when every media outlet seems to have an agenda these days.
      We're expected to hear Google is losing $50 million (how much was that last EU fine again, Google?) because a company has the gall to release their APK without using Googles app store. I can tell you from firsthand experience - you can most definitely install any Android app WITHOUT an app store. Many phones have an option in their settings that blocks 'unauthorized' APK installs by default - it's childsplay to enable it. Plug your phone, drag the APK over, open it from the file manager. Android will take it from there and install it. This is largely how I got development versions of my app to a co-worker who telecommutes.
      I doubt this is even news to most people on /., but there's plenty of alternatives to Googles Play store. Amazon's got one, there's several communities that run their own and so on. We don't hear about Google 'losing' money on the apps upload on those, do we?

  14. Re: Front-Page Posts Out of Order by aliquis · · Score: 1

    Communists never learn so we get the same crazyness again and again.

  15. Bad move, Apple by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 1

    Being a greedy bully is a dangerous thing when your image is your way to make more money.

  16. Re:Fuck Apple by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    they are dishonest, greedy, litigeous, and they lie, cheat, copy and steal just as much as they accuse others in court of.

    It's high time that countries affected by their shit start to ban their stupid products.

    So we're going to start banning ALL Companies' Products? Because that is EXACTLY what you are proposing with your "Criteria".

  17. Re:Fuck Apple by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    Exactly this.
    apple is a cancer in the tech industry.

    If Apple is a Cancer, then what is Samsung?

  18. Re:Fuck Apple by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    And yet they are still better than their competition. Android is a mess, developers hate writing apps for it, and the phones are basically given away because they are crap. Google skims your data and allows other apps to do the same. Apple's biggest hardware competitor Samsung is also an industrial polluter and manufacturer of military weapons.

    No wonder you are here bitching. You hate Android and you are projecting that anger onto Apple.

    ;-)

  19. Re:What about Nintendo? by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    âoeDevelopers essentially have no good alternative to the App Store on iOS. â What about the poor developers who have no alternative to Nintendoâ(TM)s eShop? Whereâ(TM)s their alternative?

    Since iOS 8, which, IIRC, is about five years ago now, Developers have been able to Publish OSS iOS Apps, and MANY have:

    https://github.com/dkhamsing/o...

    That, and thanks to Cydia Impactor (which does NOT require a Mac), Devs. have also been able to Publish Precompiled .ipa App Files. There are several Aggregator sites, plus you can Publish those on your own Website.

    https://iosninja.io/ipa-librar...

    https://www.unlockboot.com/bes...

    https://icydiageeks.com/free-i...

    So, you were saying?

  20. Re:Apple Always Kills there Compition by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    That is there Business Model!
    If they can not Dictate What you get to use!
    But also Collect $$ And a healthy sum from every App that you buy.

    It would not Surprise Me at all that they Pressured anyone that even tries to bypass the Apple Store.
    They will say something about Security but that is Bogus it is all about the Money.

    Bullshit:

    https://apple.slashdot.org/com...

  21. No by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    According to Betteridge‘s law of headlines.

  22. Re:Fuck Apple by iampiti · · Score: 1

    As per your story it seems that, indeed, Apple's trap to spread usage of iOS is working.
    Keeping a loved and/or frequently used piece of software exclusive to a platform is one of the oldest tricks to get people to use said platform
    But if that's the only reason she has to use an iPhone that means iPhones don't have many things over Androids now (I personally think Android is better but I'm a techie so...)

  23. Re:Fuck Apple by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    How could you leave out "arrogant"?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.