Apple’s App Store is likely to come under increased regulatory scrutiny as developers and regulators allege it’s a monopoly.
Disgruntled customers and developers say Apple adds to its advantage by weighing the scales in favor of its own products, charging outsize fees, restricting how and when developers may distribute phone apps, and collecting and hoarding valuable business information about the developers’ own customers.
Developers in Europe and the U.S. are filing lawsuits, testifying before legislators, lobbying the European Commission, and urging regulators to look at Apple as a de facto monopolist whose moves warrant scrutiny.
In statements to Barron’s and regulators, Apple refuted the idea that its policies and practices are intended to suppress competition. The company says its platforms are managed to promote developers’ products, even in cases when Apple sells competing versions. Rules denounced by officials and merchants as anticompetitive actually protect consumers from fraud, eavesdropping, and other dangers, the company says.
MacDailyNews Take: Since Apple does not have a monopoly in any market in which they participate, there is no legal basis for antitrust action against Apple over the company’s App Store.
In the case of Apple, there is no monopoly (which is legal by the way), much less monopoly abuse (which is explicitly impossible given the nonexistence of a monopoly). You cannot abuse a monopoly when you do not have a monopoly to begin with.
Worldwide smartphone OS market share, September 2019:
• Android: 73.30%
• iOS: 25.89%
I don’t think anybody reasonable is going to come to the conclusion that Apple is a monopoly. Our share is much more modest. We don’t have a dominant position in any market… We are not a monopoly. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, June 2019