The U.S. Department of Justice has long been expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. But when the lawsuit was served Thursday, it came as a surprise.
At a press conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland noted that Apple controls more than 70% of the country’s smartphone market and said the company uses this immense power to control developers and consumers. , and extract more revenue from them.
The lawsuit and information from the U.S. Department of Justice and 15 states and the District of Columbia target Apple’s most prized asset — the iPhone — and position the case as a fight for the future of technology. The lawsuit claims that Apple has reached its current strength in part thanks to the 1998 antitrust case against Microsoft and that another landmark antitrust correction is needed to allow future innovation to continue.
University of Miami law professor John Newman said the lawsuit against Apple, like the Microsoft case, is “really dynamic and forward-thinking.” “It’s not necessarily because Apple sees direct competition,” he said. “It’s more that if you want to compete with Apple, they’re going to try to grab the territory that you need.”
Antitrust action in the tech industry has been at the forefront of the Biden administration’s agenda, with the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission filing lawsuits against Amazon and Google. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told Wired in a statement: “This case illustrates why we must reinvigorate competition policy and create clear rules for Big Tech platforms. “
Rebecca Hall Allensworth, a Vanderbilt University law professor, said that while the government almost always faces an uphill battle in antitrust cases, the Apple case appears relatively solid. “This is much more severe than last year’s FTC Amazon monopoly lawsuit,” she said. “However, winning antitrust cases is very difficult.”
Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said in a statement that the lawsuit “threats our identity and the principles that make Apple products stand out in a fiercely competitive market,” including that its products work “seamlessly” together and “protect people’s Privacy and Security” approach.
Apple has long argued that shutting down its mobile operating system, app store and other services would provide greater security for customers. But Newman said the Justice Department complaint shows Apple doesn’t enforce these policies consistently, which makes sense if the goal is to protect users.
“instead [Apple] “Focus on the types of app developers who pose the greatest competitive threat to Apple,” Newman said. The DOJ alleges that Apple’s restrictions on iMessage, Apple Wallet, and other products and features create barriers that deter and even punish those who might switch to cheaper The chosen one.
History repeats itself
An antitrust case against Microsoft in the late 1990s accused the company of illegally forcing PC makers and other companies to use its Web browser, Internet Explorer. It’s widely seen as causing the company to be slow to embrace the web, lagging behind a wave of startups including Google and Amazon that grew into giants by making web services useful and profitable.
When asked about the threat that new antitrust lawsuits may pose to Apple’s business, a U.S. Department of Justice official noted, “There are actually examples where companies have been barred from violating antitrust laws for a long time after being charged. Doesn’t change business practices and therefore ends up being more valuable than before.” Microsoft is now the world’s most valuable company thanks to its success in cloud services and, more recently, artificial intelligence.