If Apple loses their anti-trust case in court and is forced to open iOS to alternative app stores, does that mean the consoles would be forced to open up their platform as well? It would be nice to have some of these alternative stores on the PS4 and XBox.
That's an interesting thought, but I wonder if it's a different context. Today, you can go to many physical stores to purchase console games, you don't HAVE to use the PS4/Xbox digital stores only. You can even purchase the digital codes from many stores to redeem. I don't know much about the Apple case, but I assume that's maybe different because you HAVE to use Apple's iOS store. There isn't alternatives like physical stores to buy your apps to load them onto your phone.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that console hardware is usually sold below cost to get people into the ecosystem and make that back as people buy games.
So forcing console makers to allow other stores would probably have a much more dramatic impact on the console market.
And while IANAL, it seems a bit of a stretch to apply anti-trust law here.
Console hardware is sold at a loss, yes, but the recuperated costs are traditionally made on game licensing for the platform. The online markets are a newer phenomenon.
Yeah if anything that's even worse. Dropping the price of your product to unsustainable levels to gain a competitive advantage is called "predatory pricing" and is a valid cause for anti-trust suits.
This is structuring your costs, such that you are profitable over the lifetime value of the customer, even if you are not necessarily making a profit right away.
And this has benefits to consumers, who can get into the ecosystem more cheaply, and developers who can sell to a larger audience, because people can get in more cheaply.
It's very unlikely for the consoles to be opened up in a technical sense. At least on the Xbox, the store is not very pluggable, and allowing third parties to sign code just ain't going to happen.
I would expect relief here to be financial. No way is MS going to relinquish platform control.
Sounds interesting but I don't think so. My reasoning stems from the fact that App stores are pretty much the only way to download and purchase software on iPhones. Meanwhile console games can be bought in the digital marketplace and Physical with physical being much more open option. This pretty much breaks any monopoly that sony could hope to have. Theoretically, if the next generation of consoles aims to follow suite with PCs and do away with Physical copies then we could see a stronger case.
Sony and Microsoft still have monopoly power on the consoles because no matter where you buy the software, it has to be approved and signed by Sony or Microsoft. They charge a big fee for that and it gets passed on to the consumer.
So I think it depends on how the Supreme Court rules. If Apple has to allow software signed by third parties, then I don't see why that wouldn't translate to the PS4 and XBox.
I think it's going to end up the other way round. Apple will cite consoles as an example and not lose the case (at least as far as opening up the platform is concerned). The alternative scenario would have too many far reaching effects making it extremely unlikely.
