{"id":16497,"date":"2024-03-22T07:03:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T07:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/03\/22\/us-accuses-apple-of-monopolising-smartphone-market-2\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T07:03:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T07:03:19","slug":"us-accuses-apple-of-monopolising-smartphone-market-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/us-accuses-apple-of-monopolising-smartphone-market-2\/","title":{"rendered":"US accuses Apple of monopolising smartphone market"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US has filed a landmark lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of monopolising the smartphone market and crushing competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the legal action, the justice department alleges the company abused its control of the iPhone app store to \u201clock in\u201d customers and developers.<\/p>\n

It accuses the firm of taking illegal steps to thwart apps seen as a threat and make rival products less appealing.<\/p>\n

Apple has vowed to \u201cvigorously\u201d fight the lawsuit and denies the claims.<\/p>\n

The sprawling complaint, filed at a federal court in New Jersey along with the attorneys general of 16 states, marks one of the biggest challenges to date for Apple, which has been fending off mounting complaints about its practices in recent years.<\/p>\n

It alleges that Apple used \u201ca series of shapeshifting rules\u201d and restricted access to its hardware and software, in a bid to boost its own profits while raising costs for customers and stifling innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits but by violating federal anti-trust law,\u201d Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference announcing the suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 88-page complaint focuses on five areas where Apple allegedly abused its power.<\/p>\n

For example, the US alleges that Apple used its app review process to thwart development of so-called super apps and streaming apps, because it was worried such apps would provide less incentive for customers to stick with iPhones.<\/p>\n

It also says Apple has made it difficult to connect iPhones to smart watches made by rivals and blocked banks and other financial firms from accessing its tap-to-pay technology, allowing Apple to earn billions in fees from processing Apple Pay transactions.<\/p>\n

The complaint also focuses on the way Apple treats messages sent from rival phones, distinguishing them with green bubbles and limiting videos and other features. It says Apple\u2019s moves have created \u201csocial stigma\u201d that has helped the tech giant maintain its grip on the market.<\/p>\n

Apple said customers were loyal because they were happy and that under US law it was free to choose its business partners. It has pointed to privacy and security concerns to justify its rules.<\/p>\n

The company said it would ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which it predicted would fail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

The case will hinge on the question of motivation, said Bill Baer, a visiting fellow at Brookings who was an anti-trust official under the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-trust laws and the courts\u2019 interpretation of them suggest that once you\u2019re a monopolist,\u201d he said, \u201cif you do engage in behaviours that have no legitimate business justification other than to limit competition and cement your monopoly, then that is problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the third legal action Apple has faced from the US government since 2009 and the first anti-trust challenge filed against the company under President Joe Biden\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

If the government wins its case, it could force Apple to overhaul its current contracts and practices \u2013 or even lead to a break-up of the company.<\/p>\n

Shares in Apple fell more than 4% as investors digested the implications of the legal battle.<\/p>\n

Any potential changes would take years to materialise as the case makes its way through the courts.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt University professor Rebecca Allensworth called the case \u201ca blockbuster\u201d, following other lawsuits the justice department has brought against the major tech giants. Google, Meta and Amazon all face similar lawsuits.<\/p>\n

She said at its core, it was about increasing functionality between smartphones and making the technology and software more accessible to consumers and other businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about breaking up Apple into small units or spinning off divisions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Apple has faced a growing legal backlash over its iOS ecosystem and business practices.<\/p>\n

It is engaged in a lengthy legal battle with Epic Games, which makes Fortnite.<\/p>\n

Last month, it was fined \u20ac1.8bn (\u00a31.5bn) by the EU for breaking competition laws over music streaming.<\/p>\n

The firm had prevented streaming services from informing users of payment options outside the Apple app store, the European Commission said.<\/p>\n

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Apple had abused its dominant position in the market for a decade, and ordered the tech giant to remove all of the restrictions. Apple said it would appeal against the decision.<\/p>\n

Anat Alon-Beck, a business law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said the justice department\u2019s new lawsuit was \u201cfar more extensive\u201d than its previous legal challenges in the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about the 30% app store fee, but about the core unfair practices of Apple,\u201d she said, adding that it was \u201cabout time\u201d that the DOJ took action.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple systematically excludes rivals from the Apple ecosystem. By doing that, Apple is hurting so many startup businesses, stakeholders, customers and, in my opinion, its shareholders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to the justice department, Apple\u2019s share of the US smartphone market exceeds 70%, and its share of the broader smartphone market exceeds 65%.<\/p>\n

The post US accuses Apple of monopolising smartphone market<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US has filed a landmark lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of monopolising the smartphone market and crushing competition. In the legal action, the justice department alleges the company abused its control of the iPhone app store to \u201clock in\u201d customers and developers. It accuses the firm of taking illegal steps to thwart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}