Community Chat

[Mz iMac]

DOJ Alleges Smartphone Monopoly ... You're Gatekeeping It All!!!

3/21/2024 8:11 AM PT

Uncle Sam is taking Apple to court -- claiming they have a monopoly on the smartphone business and that the interconnected nature of their products is a little too anti-competitive.

The Dept. of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against Tim Cook's company Thursday, which makes a lot of allegations against the tech giant ... including that their whole business model is inherently gatekeeping, and has a stranglehold on the industry.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say the ecosystem of all things Apple -- including the iPhone, their Apple Watch and other apps and features connected to Apple's mainframe -- has created a "moat" that's unfairly shutting out rival companies and their own customers.

The lawsuit states, "For many years, Apple has built a dominant iPhone platform and ecosystem that has driven the company’s astronomical valuation. At the same time, it has long understood that disruptive technologies and innovative apps, products, and services threatened that dominance by making users less reliant on the iPhone or making it easier to switch to a non-Apple smartphone."

The feds add ... "Rather than respond to competitive threats by offering lower smartphone prices to consumers or better monetization for developers, Apple would meet competitive threats by imposing a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives. It has deployed this playbook across many technologies, products, and services, including super apps, text messaging, smartwatches, and digital wallets, among many others."

In addition to their products -- which the feds allege are created to work only within Apple's system -- the suit claims Apple has gone out of its way to shut down apps/programs people have attempted to use to make communicating on iPhones easier with non-iPhone products. Essentially, they're alleging Apple has made it impossible to interact with Apple products/users if you're not also using an Apple product ... and they say that violates federal law.

The lawsuit also says this ... "If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly ... This anticompetitive behavior is designed to maintain Apple’s monopoly power while extracting as much revenue as possible."

Apple has a massive market cap -- with a valuation of $2.68 trillion, one of the largest on the map.

SOURCE:  TMZ website

I had to laugh at the DOJ using the play on words "gatekeeping."  It's what Apple calls their "security settings" in regards to downloading their own products vs 3rd party......

[SandySparkles]

I find this all QUITE interesting...🤔 Why am I not surprised?😁

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

[Kachina624]

@Mz iMac.  I wonder what took them so long?  They are not, however, the only smartphones on the market.  There are tons of other brands, I've had Samsung and Moto.

I'd love to have an Apple Watch but you must have an IPhone to set it up and use it so must buy two expensive devices.  That's my objection.

[Mz iMac]

As this has been Apple's policy since day 1 w/all of their products, why did the DOJ wait so long?

[10sluvr]

there are many more for him to sue. Hope he wins!

[cheriere]

@Mz iMac   Interesting indeed.  I must admit though, where I live out in the country and away from cell service, I can always text or FaceTime with my friends and family who also have an iPhone.  I wish I were able to also do this with those who have Androids too.💝

[Snowpuppy]

Gosh, I sure hope this doesn't impact my ability to use my flip phone.

😉

[Mz iMac]

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@cheriere wrote:

I wish I were able to also do this with those who have Androids too.💝

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@cheriere  Download the ZOOM app for Mac.  You will be able to ZOOM/Facetime w/the Androids users.

Very few of my family members are Apple users.

FREE  Download  zoom.us/download?os=mac

App Store wants $4.99.

[Icegoddess]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@Mz iMac.  I wonder what took them so long?  They are not, however, the only smartphones on the market.  There are tons of other brands, I've had Samsung and Moto.

I'd love to have an Apple Watch but you must have an IPhone to set it up and use it so must buy two expensive devices.  That's my objection.

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@Kachina624 I, too, have owned a Moto and a Samsung.  I currently have a Samsung phone and a Samsung tablet.  I use a Fitbit.  And I have 3 Mac laptops, 2 of which I regularly use.    

Plus, I can transfer pics from my android devices to my Mac using and app called Airdroid.  That's really all the interconnectivity I need.  

The thing that bothered me about Apple was that I heard they required that any App to be allowed to be on their app store not also be available in an Android version.  That's just wrong, IMO.  

[Sooner]

Apple product are great and are of course interactive.  Hope the Govt. doesn't foul this up for happy Apple users.  Like the Govt. does so many other stupid things.