Phones are the way of interacting with much of the world, unlike xbox or McDonalds. People consume their news using them, pay their bills, make photos of their kids, communicate with their family. It's a completely different realm.
There are two oligopolies on the market - Google (via google play) and Apple (via apple store), both are affected by the law.
Sure, and by existing laws and court rulings they haven't done anything wrong except be a preferred choice by many consumers. This is not comparable in any way to antitrust transgressions that got Microsoft in trouble, nor do they have the market share to manipulate that's comparable to what Windows or Google have had.
FWIW, I also want a more open iOS platform, but I don't think you can demonstrate that they run afoul of any existing antitrust laws or prior precedents either and trying to redefine what a monopoly means, exclusively to to the iPhone, is never going to work.
Look at an average reddit thread and tell me how much original thought there is. I'm fairly convinced you can generate 95% of comments with no loss of quality.
This is the classic teenage thought of sitting in a bus / subway looking at everyone thinking they're sheep without their own thoughts or much awareness.
For everyone who we think is an NPC, there are people who think we are the NPCs. This way of thinking is boring at best, but frankly can be downright dangerous. Everyone has a rich inner world despite shallow immature judgements being made.
Exactly. Most people aren't good at communicating their thoughts or what they see in their mind's eye. These new AI programs will help the average person communicate those, so I'm exciting to see what people come up with. The average person has an amazing mind compared to other animals (as far as we know)
Generously assuming software engineering is engineering - so you think that mechanical engineers or civil engineers don't reuse solutions 99.99% of the time?
This wasn't obvious to me just looking at the problem from a distance, but thankfully testing reduces the level of skill required to get something right :)
That's still not as easy as app payments. There are a number of systems like BLIK in Poland where you have a lower max payment amount, but you just give somebody a temporary 6 digit number and approve the amount they withdraw, that's it. For trusted payment channels you just approve. If you initiate the payment, just give phone number of recipient.
Agreed, but I think for places with a mature payments and debit infrastructure there isn't that much additional business and I suspect most banks' apps will just incorporate that like they do with NFC payments.
Most growth in payments is either new markets or markets that grow a lot, but not completion of rather mature markets (and additional services).
When you compare UPI to western instant payment systems, the most important metrics to look at are consumer choice (banks and experience apps), cost of acceptance, settlement speed and fraud/clawback rates. UPI has broadest interop based consumer choice, free to consumers and lowest cost overall, highest volume of transactions, has fastest settlement and extremely minimal fraud. It is also most inclusive – it works with smartphones, feature phones and soon with only voice calls. It also works offline. And it works for everything from buying a cup of coffee to sending money to your grandma to doing investments in mutual funds and stocks and making large purchases like buying a car.
Even on the surface of the Earth there could be ambiguity. Some places have moved up to four meters in GPS coordinates after an earthquake. In Amsterdam that could be the difference between a war memorial and a brothel.
