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I wouldn't trust shit either of these two companies argues.
This is probably technically correct, but in some really constructed way. And the reply by the Google lawyers will again be technically correct, but again be utter horseshit in some legal manner.
Suffice to say, people spend a lot on mobile apps. A lot.
Also, the thing they're spending money on is the hard work of other companies, not Google's. The profit margins are not tied directly to a Google product; the Play Store generates very little of its revenue in-and-of-itself (Play Pass is the only thing I can think of).
The Play Store certainly isn't cheap to maintain but it pales in comparison to the amount developers collectively have to spend to create/maintain their apps. The Play Store's profit margin is obviously going to be high, because Google doesn't have to spend much to get a cut of the revenue from other companies that have spent quite a lot.
And that's sort of to be expected with any digital store front that manages in app payments. The question is how much of that profit goes back into the Play Store, or Android development, or into other Google products, and how much does Google eat into the profit margins of those other companies while preventing them from managing payments themselves.
the play store, like other download stores, provides discoverability, trust, and all the infrastructure to distribute and automatically update your software products.
this is not a worthless service, otherwise publishers wouldn’t have flocked to Steam on Windows in the late ‘00s/early ‘10s. only the very biggest ones like EA and Ubisoft felt like they could make more money by rolling their own.
this doesn’t justify using anticompetitive practices to maintain your market position, but there is real value being provided there.
I'm sure the only app i paid for was titanium backup.
For every person like you, there's another who whales in their favorite mobile game, spending hundreds each month.
I would say now do the Google Play Gift card scam where buyers cannot redeem the cards in Google's automated systems, and the buyer is not allowed to return the card either so the money is kept by Google forever...
Wow. Just... Wow.
Use GrapheneOS with F-Droid or Obtanium, that's the only way to actually get some freedom on a mobile device nowadays...
Just gotta buy a google phone to get some freedom heh
Google hardware actually gives you the most freedom, no other Android phone allows you to install a custom operating system, relock the bootloader and use Android Verified Boot, which is a fundamental part of the Android security model, with a custom signing key defined by the custom OS. It also includes the Titan M2 secure element which gives you great security through features like Android StrongBox, the Weaver API and it even has Insider Attack Resistance meaning Google, even if they get a court order to do so, can't comprise the Titan M. Firmware can only be loaded to the chip after proper user authentication. Yes, it's a little ironic, but Google hardware gives you the most freedom over your device.
I mean, you do unfortunately. Other hardware manufacturers have their phones locked down so hard the GrapheneOS devs won't even touch them.