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Comment by Zelphyr | Hacker News Reader

Senator Marsha "I've Never Met A Cable Or Telecom Lobby Dollar I Refused To Take" Blackburn makes me wonder if some of this push isn't by the telco's to try to get back in the game.

Before the iPhone and Apple App Store, the telcos made a lot of money on mobile apps. Not comparable to what Apple and Google make now, but in part because they charged the developers so much to get an app on their platforms.

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So we’re looking at a future where if you buy a phone from a phone company, it will come preloaded with their own version of the app store and a bunch of spyware apps selling you upgrades?

That's kinda how it was with feature phones (before smartphones).

Seems not.

> (3) hide or delete Apps or App Stores provided or preinstalled by the App Store owner or any of its business partners.

Seems like the bill would hit them back, since you would just disable Verizons app store, as it would no doubt be shitty.

The telcos really, really, really do not like to be a dump pipe and just give users cheap minutes and data. I don't see why - the oil companies have made some of the largest fortunes in the world selling commodities.

this conspiracy theory would be more entertainable if the telecomm giants had any dog in the game at all. but they dont. there is essentially no competition, other than F-Droid, which appears to be 100% public benefit, barely monetized at all.

that itself says quite a lot about this situation to me. no one else is even able to compete? the other giant companies haven't made any progress at all? not media outlets, not telecomm giants, no one? it's just two companies running the market, unchecked? which they guard jealously, & use their position to obstruct possible competition over? what words come to mind to describe this???

The only ones that can barely compete are phone manufacturers that can pre-install their store. I'm thinking of the Samsung app store in particular, which even has some relevant exclusives[1]. Doesn't really weaken your point though, it's effectively an absolute monopoly.

[1]: e.g. https://galaxy.store/csp

Telco has basically no interest here, she's probably doing this as a bid to please her freedom-loving constituents who're begging for the ability to install Gab on their $1000+ phone.

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