So I was at work the other day shelving books when I spotted a title that interested me. Usually I pull out my phone and scan the cover in the Amazon app to download a sample. In this case the book was on sale for cheap so I went right ahead to buy it. Only, I couldn’t. I was shown a pop up that basically said to comply with Google Play Store rules Amazon could not sell digital content through the their app. I was told to add it to a wish list and go to the Amazon website in my browser and make the purchase. Not the worst thing to happen to me on my phone but certainly a kick in the old convenience crotch. Is Google trying to imitate Apple now?
Anti-trust suits are all the rage now in the tech news cycle, and it is easy to dismiss them as just sour grapes from disgruntled developers. Ask yourself, if I can buy a large pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and a car on my phone why not a piece of digital content through a third party app? I prefer to keep myself as ecosystem neutral as possible. I use Spotify and buy my music in MP3 format rather than Apple or Google Play services. Even my movies I prefer to rip my own Blue-rays despite the questionable legality of it to locking in the content behind Amazon of Vudu. Still, I can’t stand things being harder than they have to. I’ve already tread this path with my Comixology app on my iPad but now my Android phone is pulling the same crap.
Somedays I am really miss the wild west of the early millennium internet. The only thing that scares me more than the current course we are on is the possibility of government intervention. That’s when things will really get messed up. Is there a cause for it though? I could see if I were a senator and could more easily turn my frustrations into law I would be tempted.
Vincent A. Alascia 