Apple is poised to face a U.S. DOJ antitrust lawsuit as soon as March, Bloomberg News reports Wednesday citing “people familiar with the case.”
Leah Nylen for Bloomberg News:
Antitrust enforcers allege that Apple has imposed software and hardware limitations on its iPhones and iPads to impede rivals from effectively competing, echoing concerns raised by Spotify Technology SA, bluetooth tracker Life360 Inc.’s Tile and messaging service Beeper. The Justice Department and Apple lawyers have met three times to discuss a potential suit, said the people, speaking anonymously to discuss an ongoing probe.
The Justice Department hopes to file a suit in the first quarter of the year, though that timing could slip, the people said, as the DOJ’s most senior antitrust officials haven’t yet signed off on the complaint.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in August 2022:
If the market is smartphones, Apple does not have a monopoly in smartphones. If you don’t like Apple’s iPhone, buy another phone.
If the market is smartphone operating systems, Apple does not have a monopoly in smartphone operating systems. If you don’t like Apple’s iOS, buy an Android phone.
If the market is App Stores, Apple does not have a monopoly in App Stores. If you don’t like Apple’s App Store, use an Android app store like Google Play.
No monopoly in any case means that antitrust law, when properly adjudicated, does not apply.
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This is what happens with LIBTURDS are in control.
MDN’s arguments in a sense are similar to AT&T’s before the break up. “The ‘market’ is ‘long distance’ and AT&T does not have the global long distance market so they’re not a monopoly.” In essence MDN would be saying in the above example, “move to another country(OS) if you don’t like it.”