> Epic and Spotify are pushing their own walled gardens, they just want to do it with a bigger profit margin.
There is absolutely no problem with that because it cures the one and only walled garden problem. If they implement a subpar walled garden, it will be up to the users to exercise choice on using them, which they currently can't.
This is the core of the opponent processes of markets. It is irrelevant to demand ideological purity from opponents, what matters is the resulting dynamics their actions create, in this case creating a previously non-existing competition space on iOS app installs.
> If they implement a subpar walled garden, it will be up to the users to exercise choice on using them, which they currently can't.
Epic games store is a very subpar walled garden. It's the only way to access several games that are either in exclusivity agreements with Epic or were purchased by Epic outright (RIP Rocket League). Spotify is (IMHO) a subpar walled garden. They recently purchased exclusivity for Joe Rogan, if you want to listen to him in the future you have to use Spotify. I don't see where in this process I get a choice of anything. These companies are not fighting for consumer choice, they just want to move more power over the consumer from one middle man (Apple) to another (themselves).
Eh. Not a fan myself, but it's a good example of highly popular content that Spotify is using to restrict consumer choice and promote their own platform.
Just for reference Epic has already shown us their playbook on how they plan to bootstrap a separate marketplace with the Epic Games Store on PC.
Namely, paying for exclusivity onto their store (or more accurately paying for the developer to not release onto Steam - the current incumbent). I'm not sure how you can argue that they are helping users exercise choice when this is behavior they already engage in.
There is absolutely no problem with that because it cures the one and only walled garden problem. If they implement a subpar walled garden, it will be up to the users to exercise choice on using them, which they currently can't.
This is the core of the opponent processes of markets. It is irrelevant to demand ideological purity from opponents, what matters is the resulting dynamics their actions create, in this case creating a previously non-existing competition space on iOS app installs.