Facing a potential stalemate, U.S. lawmakers House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) and Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.), the chairman of that panel’s antitrust subcommittee, ramped up their push for a vote Tuesday on antitrust legislation.
Ryan Tracy for The Wall Street Journal:
The lawmakers released documents gathered in an investigation that concluded in 2020 of Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc., which they said show anticompetitive behavior by the companies.
The bill banning self-preferencing has been approved by the House committee and its Senate counterpart, but hasn’t received a vote on the floor of either chamber. Another bill under consideration would target Apple and Google’s smartphone app stores.
Supporters’ lobbying of late has targeted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who controls the Senate calendar.
Fight for the Future, an advocacy group that supports the legislation, says it has been paying a truck to drive past Mr. Schumer’s residence displaying a video billboard that calls on him to hold a vote… The Democratic leader hasn’t publicly committed to holding a vote, though the legislation’s primary Senate backer, Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) has said Mr. Schumer promised her he would call one.
The Senate is scheduled to begin its summer recess the week of Aug. 8, and major legislation is expected to become harder to pass in the fall, when campaigning ramps up ahead of the November election.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, Apple should not be lumped in with the likes of Alphabet/Google which actually does have a monopoly (which is legal, by the way) and is may or may not be abusing it (which is subject to any antitrust reform remedies).
The fact is that Apple has no monopoly in smartphones, or in any other market, so Apple is incapable of committing monopoly abuse.
Worldwide smartphone OS market share, June 2022:
• Android: 72.12%
• iOS: 27.22%
Worldwide desktop OS market share, June 2022:
• Windows: 76.33%
• macOS: 14.64%
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
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