It’s a monopoly in the same sense why Disney and Microsoft had to be investigated from their recent acquisitions. Monopolies in the real world aren’t just a “this and only this is allowed”, but also more of a “you have a choice, but do you really”
Comment on Japan to crack down on Apple and Google app store monopolies
Eheran@lemmy.world 10 months ago
How are other stores not already possible on Android? Wondering as a long time F-Droid user that is also forced to have “Galaxy store” too.
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They do exiat there is f-droid but i use the neostore client. Its all foss apps would reccommend.
queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
I think it’s more about the defaults included, plus Google hides sideloading more with each new version of android. They have a semi-reasonable worry of “If we show off how easy sideloading is or can be, that enables bad faith actors.” Like Microsoft and IE/Edge.
But on a fresh install of Android, if you download f-droid from Chrome or Firefox, you need to:
Meanwhile Play Store doesn’t have any of that, it’s enabled and allowed to download and update anything without user prompt, it’s an opt-out.
Plus with how anything that conflicts with a default app like a Clock app, there’s a decent shot it might not work due to the default battery optimizations, the internal syscalls for “Google’s Clock” instead of “Default Clock” it just kinda makes using anything that’s not the one included with your phone more of a headache.
It’s easier with SMS, Dialer, browser, and Home launchers, but if you wanted to change any other important apps like your calendar or email it’s kind of a headache.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There’s also the recent fallout from the Epic v. Google case which determined that Google was also leveraging their market dominance to manipulate the market and negotiate more favorable deals behind closed doors to reduce competition.
zourn@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Honestly, I feel like they’ve made side loading easier and easier as times go on. Used to be that you’d just get a pop up that installs weren’t authorized for that app, then you had to dig through the settings to enable it. Nowadays the pop up has a shortcut to the correct settings page and even visually flashes the right toggle for you to make it easier to find.
CynicRaven@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I could be wrong but I think at one point the outside sources toggle was just a one time thing and affected all applications.
lupec@lemm.ee 10 months ago
You’re right, it did use to be that way and I’m pretty sure it also redirected you to the settings when you needed it