So? Google isn’t forcing them to only publish on the Play Store.

Your point being? Maybe you want to read the comment I was replying to again:

> FWIW you don't really need an app store, you could download APKs off vendors/publishers.

Very evidently I do.

I don't doubt you used Googles app store to access the banks app (as would I), but it's not because of something Google forces you to do. It's because your bank put it there, and it's a very a convenient service for both you and your bank. Unlike the iPhone environment the bank had a choice in using the app store. They could have you side load it, or they could put it in an alternate app store, or hell they could open source it and use FDroid's app store.

It seems to me there is very little stopping there being a whole pile of competing Android app stores out there. Technically there's nothing stopping it in fact, as the existence of FDroid illustrates. It's purely a matter of convenience - which is the same thing that drives Chrome's dominance on Android despite there being better browsers available for free. The play store app is pre-installed and is almost a one stop stop for all the apps you could possibly want, so who is going to bother loading another app store?

Turns out that edge in convenience is enough to create an effective monopoly in app stores, for most people anyway.

Feel free to read about the case and how Google was not in fact just using convenience to maintain its status as the only App Store...

It wasn't, but they aren't forcing banks on the store either (they HAVE done it with other companies, I'm not debating that).

Even if there was a popular alternative, there will simply be apps only on one store out of convenience. Just look at the PC market.

Who is to say that store wouldn't be the Amazon store?

And most of the time PC leads to multiple releases as platforms tend to make it as easy as possible to release across multiple.

Sure the majority of games are on one but a significant fraction of the popular ones are on multiple.

I did read it, I’m just not sure what are you suggesting? A law obligating everyone who publishes their apps to any app store to also provide an .apk?