CNBC’s Goldman: Apple under antitrust scrutiny? Spare me

“Unlike Reagan and Bush, and even Clinton for that matter, in President Obama’s administration, Apple faces an increasingly activist, regulatory climate,” Jim Goldman writes for CNBC. “A victim of timing and circumstance, had Apple come of age during another administration, at another time, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. Instead, the confluence of digital media, innovation, the consumer’s rabid appetite for all things Apple, Steve Jobs’ brush with death, and what appears to be his ‘making-up-for-lost-time/don’t-just-beat-but-destroy-the-competition’ are all sliding Apple under the microscopic lens of federal regulators. Just as there’s nothing wrong with monopolies so long as you don’t abuse them, there’s nothing wrong with a little federal scrutiny to keep companies honest as long as it doesn’t turn into a witch-hunt.”

“Which brings me to the latest flap about Apple, Adobe and reports that Apple may have run afoul of anti-trust law. If I’m to understand this, developers are angry that Apple prevents them from developing cross-platform apps by refusing to allow them to use Adobe’s Flash software,” Goldman writes.

Goldman writes, “Developers are arguing and the Feds are apparently examining whether this is an abuse of Apple’s power. Spare me. This is Apple’s marketplace-Apple’s platform. And if developer’s want to develop for the App Store, and the iPad and the iPhone and the iPod, they have to play by Apple’s rules. Some developers complain that they have to go out of their way to develop one app for Apple, and then a different version for everyone else. Too bad. Walmart sets the rules for products sold in its store. Same with Barnes & Noble. Costco. If companies don’t like it, they can sell their wares across the street. But they won’t, because they can’t ignore the Apple marketplace.”

Much more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lurker_PC” for the heads up.]