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SamuelRSmith on 30 June 2009
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goddog said:
SamuelRSmith said:
9Chiba said:
SamuelRSmith said:
I think I'm right in saying that the 360 is the only console to gain marketshare over the past year? Which is very interesting.

Also interesting to note that according to UK law, Microsoft is very close to a monopoly position (above 30%)

... do you even know what monopoly means? if youre thinking oligopoly, microsoft already has that position

Yes, I do. A firm technically holds a monopoly if it has greater than 30% of the market (under UK law), however, that usually applies to firms who operate in markets with a large number of competitors (like supermarkets, for example, Tesco is said to have a monopoly position over the market, yet it only has ~31% share of the market).

if thats the law what happens if two firms hold over 30% of the market? is it a  duoship  do they each get penalized for being a monopoly? do they have to prove collusion to penalized?

Im mean hell nintendo is a monopoly there as is apple in certain areas.

how do your anti trust laws go into effect in relation to monopolies?

or what about if all three player in a market hit 30%+ not saying it will happen but it could.

 

Im sorry for all the questions, it just seems to me that monopoly at 30% is strange ... its not even a simple majority

 

 

9Chiba is right, it's not actually a monopoly, but under UK law if you have a 30% share of the market, it's classed as having a monopolistic position - of course, this usually refers to markets such as the retail industry or car manufacturing - where there are multiple (5+) competitors, and 30% is a really large chunk of the market.

I was merely making a reference to the fact that Microsoft was approaching that level of marketshare (perhaps exceeding in the UK), a slight joke, if you will.

I was taught in economics that there are two definitions of monopoly: one, a firm having control over the market (so an 80-90% marketshare, they can do all the things in 9Chiba's post, etc), and two, the one used in UK law, having over 30% of the market. An oligopoly is when numerous competitors have 30%+ marketshare (although I don't know for sure, I think mobile network providers may be in an oligopoly).

As for your other questions, having a monopolistic position in itself isn't illegal in anyway (obviously), but anti-competitive behaviour is dealt with more severely if you have already have an established monopoly.

EDIT: It appears my information is outdated. In 1973 the marketshare required to be classed as having a monopoly position was reduced to 25%. However, powers later moved to the EU, and I'm not sure what the figure is there (if, indeed, there is one). Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=gx8vVAVYsqoC&pg=PT151&lpg=PT151&dq=30%25+market+share+uk+monopoly&source=bl&ots=flrmehd4Sx&sig=Kdfsp5U5xGzvWsjVG4ezgj4rJr4&hl=en&ei=PzZKStbnI9jLjAfTn6Bj&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4