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0 pointsgraemep10d ago0 comments

I use a smartphone less than most people. Things I already could not do without a Google or Apple phone:

Use some banking apps. In fact I cannot use one banking app I otherwise would because it will only work if you have no non-store apps installed at all.

A regulatory requirement to prove my ID without using the mobile app would be a 20 min+ each way drive (plus walking, time doing it etc.) to another town.

> The EU and ASEAN are the best bets for regulation.

Did you read the recent HN stories about the EU's age verification app that will only work on attested phones? Lots of other governments (EU and non-EU) doping similar things.

> We need the government to pave the way for dozens of Apple/Google competitors. Or to horizontally split these two companies into dozens of "Baby Bells" that are forced to fight one another.

I have very little confidence that is likely. Politically governments are far more pro-big business and anti-competition than they have been in a long time.

> Being weird in the 0.0001% will not last, nor does it help anyone else escape this monopolistic tyranny.

Every single person who does not go along, is a a political and commercial argument not to remove alternatives. If I use a website and an app to bank or buy something, it pushes up the stats for the web app vs the mobile app.

0 comments

echelon10d ago

> EU's age verification app that will only work on attested phones?

This is not a single unified front. Multiple battles are ongoing simultaneously.

There are strong proponents of anti-monopoly and digital sovereignty in government, just as there are those that want to push for a surveillance state.

Here are some recent and non-insignificant things that the EU and UK have required Google and Apple do:

- Support "side loaded" apps (as Google works to remove the ability)

- Standardize on USB-C

- Force alternative payments platforms

- Force Apple to stop requiring WebKit and WebKit runtimes

They're just getting started!

> I have very little confidence that is likely.

I have a great deal of confidence that the world is ready for this. Every non-US nation wants to break the stranglehold US tech has on their countries. The EU, UK, and ASEAN have a tremendous amount of power here.

We also have a huge reservoir of political support for breaking up tech monopolies inside the US. Lots of high profile politicians are ready to go to work on this, on both sides of the aisle.

Moreover, you have every single other company on the planet that wants this duopoly fractured. Entire industries that salivate over this.

It's just a matter of time and making sure we make these points articulate and loudly heard.

This is far more effective than trying to hack your device and proclaim "year of linux on android 2030". That doesn't work. It's a miserable experience and doesn't help a single other person.

bigyabai9d ago

> This is far more effective than trying to hack your device and proclaim "year of linux on android 2030". That doesn't work.

It doesn't work for you. There are lots of people in this thread dailying a Linux device, it's a perfectly valid choice if you're not conjoined at the hip with mobile apps. Your assertion that it helps nobody is obviously dishonest projection.

Now, PostmarketOS won't rescue the billions of apathetic people on the planet, but why should it? Those people will sabotage themselves over and over again for the sake of convenience. Even banning iPhones/Android in your country won't fix the issue, we saw that in China. Your only solution is to advocate for yourself, you can't rely on the greater hacker consciousness to instinctively protect your user experience.

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