[Knitebane]

Tying is only illegal if you have a monopoly.

Microsoft has a monopoly.

Apple doesn't.

Besides, if the AG went after Apple the way they went after Microsoft, the end result would be the same.

A ruling against the company and then no substantive penalty.

Now, if Microsoft had actually been penalized for being an abusive, stealing, lying, 800 lbs. gorilla with a penchant for predatory lawsuits and faking evidence in Federal court, you might have an interesting idea.

But since Microsoft got a pass on all of that, Apple shouldn't have to worry.

[durasell]

Apple has the status of the iPod, but it's hefty marketshare is about to come to an end. Apparently the U.S. is set to be flooded with cheap,cheap,cheap players from China in the coming year.

[BlazingArizona]

Microsoft has a monopoly. Apple doesn't.

Microsoft is no more a monopoly than Apple is. You can not only still choose an alternative, but the leading alternative to Microsoft and Apple is FREE OF CHARGE. Yet million of users freely decide to pay extra for Windows or even more extra for OS X.

It's called "quality". get over it.

[Question_Assumptions]

To be fair, Microsoft is not a monopoly but has some monopoly-like powers. Apple is not a monopoly, either, in the portable music player market. The question is whether they have monopoly-like power over that market. The only place where they seem to come close, since there is competition, was with their big memory chip deal that shut out the competition.

[SunkenCiv]

Well put. I particularly liked how a judge in one of the phases refused to recuse himself despite having 1000s of Microsoft shares.