> Resolve this problem, and then Europeans will just move over to a local national company and then the issue of Apple being anti competitive will be no longer relevant, as there will be competition.
If Microsoft wasn't able to successfully enter the smartphone space after spending billions and making a product many consumers loved, why should we expect the results to be different for new companies just by deregulating Europe?
Network effects are the primary challenge to competing with Google and Apple, not regulatory restrictions.
> If Microsoft wasn't able to successfully enter the smartphone space after spending billions and making a product many consumers loved, why should we expect the results to be different for new companies just by deregulating Europe?
Bluntly, it was two factors:
1. A network effect of developers - there was too much value in the other two platforms and supporting windows phone was priority #4 (after android, iOS, and the web)
2. Negative brand recognition. Consumers didn’t find carrying a blue screen in their pocket attractive
3. Negative retailer reaction. The phones just weren’t pushed in stores. If you didn’t come in looking for a windows phone, you might not have even been shown it as an option.
Agreed. The EU should honestly call their bluff then. If the citizens result then you have your answer to what the average person thinks of the situation.
Spotify had a first mover advantage and is now using network effects of playlists and recommendation to keep their market share.
If anything it's a testament to the power of Apple and Amazon that they were able to gain significant marketshare.
Trying to directly compete with Apple and Google in the mobile OS market would be like trying to compete with Boing/Airbus or TSMC/Samsung, in that the capital requirements are so astronomical without extreme forms of subsidies and protectionism.
Spotify doesn't have to sell you a phone and doesn't need thousands of developers (including Apple and Google) to build apps for that phone to make it a viable purchase option. Google famously refused to develop a YouTube app for Windows Phone and refused to allow Microsoft's home built app to connect to YouTube.
Just because it's possible to compete in one product area doesn't mean its possible to compete in all of them. A smartphone experience is networks on networks on networks to the point that breaking in is next to impossible despite the fact that one of them is based on an open source OS.
If Microsoft wasn't able to successfully enter the smartphone space after spending billions and making a product many consumers loved, why should we expect the results to be different for new companies just by deregulating Europe?
Network effects are the primary challenge to competing with Google and Apple, not regulatory restrictions.