Posted on 03/21/2024 8:33:24 AM PDT by bitt
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 and stifles innovation.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”
The lawsuit — which was also filed with 16 state attorneys general — is the latest example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and competitive market, even as it has lost some significant anticompetition cases.
Apple called the lawsuit “wrong on the facts and the law” and said it “will vigorously defend against it.”
President Joe Biden has called for the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to vigorously enforce antitrust statutes. The increased policing of corporate mergers and business deals has been met with resistance from some business leaders who have said the Democratic administration is overreaching, but it’s been lauded by others as long overdue.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
As one who said he’d never own an iPhone, after months/years of putting up with crappy Android devices that end up shitting themselves, I relented and went to Apple, which work every time, year after year. So they may have a monopoly on smartphones that actually just work.
Now all the DOJ/China boosters will come out of the closet, and pretend to be fighting the homosexual agenda.
Very, very likely. The feral government does not believe anything in your life should be private, while at the same time claiming that everything is "classified".
Well if you send me a text to my iPhone, it will be in a green bubble instead of a blue bubble. And I will look down my nose at you for buying a cheap phone.
I’m no fan of Apple but WTF, bro?
Android, anyone?
I wish they would steal the idea for a dialer update where you can start spelling a name with the numbers buttons and suggestions come up. Right now, you have the contact list, recent calls, and favorites.
Yea, this seems weird to me...
Obviously Apple is the big dog, with 60% market share, but that means 40% of the market is something else (mostly android of course)...
Standard Oil by comparison contolled 90% of the Oil Market when it was busted up
I’m curious what the DOJ thinks Apple has done to stifle competition (not saying they haven’t done anything, all companies try their best to protect their fiefdoms).
I too was Android for approx. 14 years before finally switching to iphone. It wasn’t any sort of Apple “monopoly” that made me switch. It was my choice based on overall features. Any of us can walk into any Best Buy or Wal-Mart or Verizon/T-Mobile/AT&T and easily switch to an Android device in probably 1 hour or less
Truth!
Are they just going after cash now or is there someone at Apple who is defying the government narrative about something? Becuase there is no monopoly. Plenty of competition.
The governments want to assume/seize rights that are Apple’s. The governments are trying to force Apple to accept feature and software squatters on Apple’s ecosystem/property.
A patent provides a legal monopoly over the covered intellectual property for the duration of the patent, these days 20 years from the filing date, formerly 17 years from the issue date.
That’s the law, designed specifically to encourage and reward innovation.
So what’s the connection to the handouts to the illegals?
Apple has kept an illegal monopoly over smartphones in US, Justice Department says in a Google inspired antitrust suit
Not necessarily true. Facetime is increasingly being used in business and you cant get it on Android. It is essentially boxing out the competition.
There was a term in the way-back machine called a “Killer App”. It denoted an application that drove everyone to a specific technology. The acceptance of PCs into the workplace was driven by email, the original Killer App.
Texting was a Killer App that originally drove adoption of beepers, beepers in turn caused phone manufacturers to include texting on phones to drive out beepers.
Social media, and specifically Facebook drove the acceptance of Smartphones with children. Facebook became the behemoth they are because they were a Killer App.
Google was a Killer App that drove people away from traditional research methods to looking online.
And the list goes on. If you monopolize a killer app on a specific platform, then that is still grounds for anti-trust.
And I recognize that Apple steals a lot of ideas from Android phones.
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Google stole the interface and interoperability from APPL for its Android phone OS
In China Apple ain’t so hot
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In China the CCP forbid use of iPhones for government use. Plus the ‘Let it Rot’ movement by young people buys only the cheapest things, even to left over restaurant food. Expensive smart phones are not on their lists.
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