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DOJ files antitrust suit against Apple

fiendcode

fiendcode

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Original Donor Scholar
Big news. Looks like the EU won't be alone in dismantling the walled garden.

The Justice Department on Thursday announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors, stifles innovation and keeps prices artificially high.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and leverages control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”

“Apple has locked its consumers into the iPhone while locking its competitors out of the market,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Stalling the advancement of the very market it revolutionized, she said, it has “smothered an entire industry.”
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More in depth here:

www.theverge.com

US sues Apple for illegal monopoly over smartphones

The lawsuit seeks to upend a major part of Apple’s business.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

The government points to several different ways that Apple has allegedly illegally maintained its monopoly:
  • Disrupting “super apps” that encompass many different programs and could degrade “iOS stickiness” by making it easier for iPhone users to switch to competing devices
  • Blocking cloud-streaming apps for things like video games that would lower the need for more expensive hardware
  • Suppressing the quality of messaging between the iPhone and competing platforms like Android
  • Limiting the functionality of third-party smartwatches with its iPhones and making it harder for Apple Watch users to switch from the iPhone due to compatibility issues
  • Blocking third-party developers from creating competing digital wallets with tap-to-pay functionality for the iPhone
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Things in US are different. I don't think Apple will lose, but this can lead to some concessions from them, which would be good for consumers.
 
Across the pound collaborations in antitrust have shown to be rather tricky in the past, and with the DOJ leading the charge on the US side this might have some teeth to it, hope that they can at least force some concessions out of Apple.
 
Suppressing the quality of messaging between the iPhone and competing platforms like Android
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Pretty crazy it's taken this long to have this addressed, but that gets into the whole issue with regards to private companies selling what are essentially mandatory technologies in the modern age
 
You gotta love the Apple PR response:
In a statement, Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz said the lawsuit “threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.
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(from that Verge article listed in OP)

Says it all, really.

Though I have to say between this and that TikTok news last week, it feels like some peeps are trying their darnedest to piss off the whole of Gen X (or whatever it's called) 🤭
 
Oh boy, it's on now....

I don't know, looking into the details.... it seems as if Apple has been flanting a little too much, but I see this case as wonky and hard to prove. Still, I question if this spooks Apple or not?
 
i really dont know what to think about things like this. it seems like both sides have merit. i lean towards the govt should leave them alone, a little maybe. But I also dislike Apple. So my personal feelings factor in.

i am however mildly surprised the doj would go after apple. they always seemed untouchable.

to think how much the govt pays all it's lawyers and how many they have, though to be activist is kinda scary. truly unlimited funding. Like the budget for lawyers at the department of justice, that's got to be just an insane amount.
 
The prices on some of their devices are completely nutty, they have been able to convince people to rebuy phones yearly for stuff that is so minute it makes no sense. The entire smartphone industry is dirty.
 
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