Google’s chaos makes Apple’s control seem reasonable. I can already hear John and Seb typing: “…and this is why the EU shouldn’t turn Apple into Google.” Let’s be real—Google Play and the App Store don’t compete. They collaborate. Same rates, same model, same unchecked power. Call it a monopoly, call it a duopoly. They share the mobile market without too much crossfire: Apple takes those who can or want to pay, Google takes the rest. Google Play is not an alternative to the App Store. It’s not “Go there if you don’t like Apple.” Google Play is a very lazy, very sloppy carbon copy of the App Store. Their collaboration is not metaphorical. It goes beyond the way their shared control over the mobile app market. Apple collects privacy points, then cashes them in by making Google the default search on iPhone. A lot of that privacy-free Search money flows right back from Google to Apple. 20 Billion USD in 2022. In 2020, “Google’s payments to Apple constituted 17.5% of the iPhone maker’s operating income.” (Bloomberg) And no one really cares, as long as it’s convenient. But as a developer in Europe, we’re glad that the EU does. ↩