You defined a marketplace as "a place where other companies sell THEIR commodities, and [a company] takes a service fee "cut" for each sale." Obviously thousand of private marketplaces exist. I sell through them all the time.
Friend, you are being more than dishonest here. I did
NOT define a market place as where a company takes a cut. You inserted words there, in complete violation of my point. It is disingenuous.
What I am seeing in this whole exchange is you wanting to die on this hill of defending Apple from the accusation of being a monopoly. And fair enough. Perhaps in the end the courts will agree with you (tho I doubt it). But it is unacceptable for you to put words in my mouth.
I thought perhaps you were accidentally missing the forest for the trees, but now I think the error is intentional. What we are all interested in here in this exchange is the classic "cartel"-behavioral definition of a monopoly. I reiterate my point, functionally Apple does have "sole power to set pricing" for apps. Perhaps you would respond that Apple having the "sole power" to set app pricing but not actually fully
using that "sole power" is somehow an exculpatory point. But from a governance perspective, it is not. Apple does partially use its power. And to great benefit. It is not some selfless regulator in its own private market. It leverages its power to great personal gain, and often at the expense of consumers and developers alike. That's why they are in trouble here.
A thousand private marketplaces may exist. That's a truism. They do exist. In software and, perhaps, things like the livestock and commodities. But they are infinitely less common than public markets. Both kinds are regulated, but the latter kind is far less susceptible to cartel behavior.
