Uncle Sam, 15 US states launch antitrust war on Apple The US Department of Justice has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple, accusing the iMaker of stifling innovation and undermining competitors through its App Store guidelines and developer agreements. The DoJ, joined by 15 states and Washington, DC, filed its case in a New Jersey federal court today. According to the …
Not quite the same thing. Apple's market share in smartphones is no where near Microsoft's market share in personal computer OS's. By excluding Chrome from the iPhones and iPads, Apple may be doing us a favor in preventing Google using its monopoly power from making Chrome the only option for web browsing.
The equivalent of what MS did with windows would have been for Apple to say to the various telcos that if you want the discount price on iPhones, you can only sell iPhones to your customer. Since iMessage makes use of Apple's servers, I don't see a problem with Apple to require use of Apple hardware to use the full functionality of iMessage. The "monopoly" with iMessage is pretty much a US thing.
Where Apple does face anti-trust issues is requiring that web browsers on iOS use Webkit along with requiring apps running on iOS to be purchased through the Apple Store.
As for "makes it tough to dump iOS for rivals", isn't that pretty much how MS operates with their Office suite?
"As for "makes it tough to dump iOS for rivals", isn't that pretty much how MS operates with their Office suite?"
Not really. I had Word and Excel, I generated documents with both of them. I then decided that I didn't really need them, so my next computer didn't get them. I installed LibreOffice instead. I simply open the same files with that and used that software instead. It handled them fine.
And no, if you find a file that opens correctly in Office and doesn't in LibreOffice, that doesn't mean that it's Microsoft's fault, because I do have one file that didn't work correctly in LibreOffice. That particular file had been generated by a different version of LibreOffice. Sometimes, it's not Microsoft's fault.
If you have a different kind of lock in in mind, I'm willing to hear what you're thinking.
Lol.
I think it would be unfair to say that Apple have never innovated, the argument is over when was the last time they did.. Was it the 80s, 90s, or 00s?
But these days they just come up with some piece of "design" that all the zealous fanboys come out to worship for no good reason, like having rounded corners, the colour white, or a rubber-band bounce at the end of a menu, then simply wait for others to copy their approach and sue the pants off them. That's not innovation, it's just hiding under a bridge and waiting for some billy-goats.
But can they prove it?
I very much doubt it. Apple is arguing that its closed-ecosystem makes if safer for its users. Which is demonstrably true if you compare it with Android's Wild-West application landscape.
OTOH both Apple and Android could be far safer if the platform owners took their job of vetting applications more seriously. Apple disallowing NFC access is a good example. If they vetted wallet applications more stringently the risk of financial fraud would still be limited. However, both Google and Apple seem to rely on automated checks which are easily fooled.
"OTOH both Apple and Android could be far safer if the platform owners took their job of vetting applications more seriously."
And allowing users to turn off location services
And allowing users to uninstall their branded crap software
And allowing users to see the depth of monitoring with meaningful deletion when needed
And allowing users to shop where they wanted to for apps
And allowing users to easily download their data to swap to a competitors phone
And not spying on their activity 24/7/365
So, since the whole reason for Google existing is to spy on me to sell me focused advertising, the short answer is I should stick with Apple?
"allowing users to shop where they wanted to for apps." so, isn't installing non-vetted apps part of Android's problem? And everyone expects those hard working software engineers to donate their time?
You're in luck! ElReg is filled with malware reports and a powerful search function. Spoiler alert though. Practically all of it has involved Android.
Good. Fkkk Apple and the greedy toad Cook who is ruining the company [even if the shareholders like the extra riches for now].
-Apple user of nearly 30 years use, but still desire change. Play the game, be fair and with good products you still can make a good success. A bit like keeping your wife/girlfriend/partner with love and confidence rather than with a raised fist, emotional blackmail and added difficulties.
As I've said before, I like a number of Apple products, but I absolutely cannot stand the way the company does business. My only real problem with this, is unless Biden wins a second term, and maybe even then, the DOJ is likely to drop out of the case as soon as there's a change in administrations. Same might happen for some of the states if there's a new Governor elected. Apple just needs to delay things until the political winds change.
Oh the fanboys at Macrumours are screeching and probably the smell of wet knickers is already so strong.
A lot were "fu-- the EU" and pull out of the market when the EU took a look at the loved Apple. Now Biden is doing it its obviously the fault of the doddery old fart blah blah... How Jobs would close the company down in retaliation if they lost etc etc.. Pretty sure the shareholders would shit bricks and lawsuits if the board tried that game.
As an Apple user, this is overdue. They need a good kicking and learn how to innovate and even sometimes play nice. They managed it in the past.
AI, way behind. Apple car, money pit, iPhone dev - barely and the designs are meh, MacOS buggier and buggier due to shit QA, emoji fascination and wrong priorities, PadOS a joke for what the tablet could do. ..... need I whinge on?
---Apple user, circa 30 years of use and continuing.
edit: and next in my RSS feed was Fanboy John Gruber, with Cook's pole metaphorically in his mouth, pumping away in shock defence. Same broken record with the EU monitoring. Got to justify his cosy chats with the Big Apple every so often... slurp slurp...
And I did not order any popcorn today, damn.
I've been having a lot of calls this past week from people saying that they work for the 'Technical Department' of Microsoft and my computer is 'sick' (or words like that).
I've yet to experience any similar calls about my MacBook or my Linux desktop.
As for phones.... Google sucks as does Samsung.
Indeed. Apple can make products that work, subject to their increasingly shonky QA it seems.
So there is no reason other than financial greed and c----shness to do half of what they are doing.
Samsung is a turd in the phone, watch and tv I've tested, especially for the experience. Each to their own. But Apple could act half-decent, charge its premium, occasionally innovate and people will use them. No need to be four letter fellows just because they can nowdays. For now.
Assuming the US doesn't end its over 250-year "experiment" with a representative republic and declare t'pineapple king president, this appears to be a strong foreshadowing of a similar run at Micros~1. All the key elements of the Apple suit are well represented in Micros~1's current behavio(u)r, especially the lock-in element.
SatNav, you listening? You're next....
Google is a bigger issue than Microsoft by far. They effectively have a browser monopoly other than Apple stuff, and an even bigger search monopoly, and dominate (along with Facebook) the internet advertising business.
They also do anticompetitive things around Android, constantly restricting what Android licensees can do as far as customizing Android goes, and bar OEMs that sell products using Google's Android from also selling products with an Android fork.
Microsoft is the Jeffery Epstein of tech. Ply you with doubles and free pizza, and slide it in slowly. You could just go home to your parents any time, but there's free pizza and a pool so you keep coming back.
Apple's more turn it up, or yeah you can get out of the car and walk 25 miles home in the middle of the night on your own.
Google is the Hotel California.
Broadcom just rams a sock in your gob when you start to scream.
I've been a Mac user for ages, but I've never been all that enthused about iOS. I have a de-Googled Android phone and it does all of the things I need my phone to do. I'm not trying to have it replace my MBP, numerous desktops, Android tablets and cameras. I have no problem with Apple keeping a tight grip on the iOS environment. I haven't seen anybody post references to laws that require companies to make their kit interoperable with everybody else's and open source as well. From a programming standpoint, it's far easier to develop a protocol for sending high quality video between two devices where the standards are the same rather than trying to make it work with a few dozen maker's interpretations. Not that I ever do that sort of thing. I send video from my MacPro in a format to suit the customer/service. I also don't want people burning up my bandwidth and time sending me their holiday snaps and video from the other side of the world. Yes, nice tropical beach, now bite me as I'm trying to get done with work so I can make dinner. Tell me about it when you get back over drinks that you are buying or STHU.
I remember when 10.4 came out which introduced a lot of the things you'd later find in iOS. A lot of people were saying it's specifically why they were buying the upgrade (you had to pay for upgrades back then). Spotlight, which also introduced with 10.4, was definitely a worthwhile feature, but the proto-iOS stuff felt like it was sort of a proto-Windows 8 with the two disparate systems.
Cory Doctorow (who is, admittedly, an acquired taste) has a lovely descriptive term for the apparently inevitable corporate sort of buggery:
Enshitification.
I mention this because that's just a great word, and because his latest well-written screed dives right into the hows, whys, and wherefores of interoperability and lock-in:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/21/involuntary-die-hards/#evacuate-the-platforms
This is dumb as fuck. The “walled garden” y’all love to whine about is exactly why I would never buy an Android.
Don’t like it? Too bad so sad, shame there’s no alternative. Oh wait, there’s an alternative made by one of the biggest fuxking companies in the world… Now if I could just remember what it’s called…
The DOJ's argument isn't that there is a walled garden, is that Apple intentionally damages interoperability and therefore the option of alternatives or leaving the walled garden. Apple intentionally prevents any competition within its own products - no alternative internet browser (in the U.S., anyway), no alternative messaging system, etc. And intentionally damages the interoperability of those locked-in systems to other, outside systems.
Apple could continue to have a "walled garden' yet still allow competition for its own designs - see: the EU. But here, in America, Apple refuses any and all outside access (see: Epic) and wants a slice of the pie for everything even if they really don't deserve it (again, see: Epic).
Why has Apple been allowed, for so long, to operate like this? America, of course. Land of Big Money = making the rules, or getting a side-glance as they look away. Americans have become so used to the corporatism that we became after Olde Fart Reagan that they don't even bother to argue or complain any more - anything for money, is GOOD!
I remember this from the 90s; the closed system by Apple is northing new (perhaps more extensive now).
Mac Airlines
All the stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look the same, act the same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are told you don’t need to know, don’t want to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.
So much for freedom of choice.
What seems to be happening in the EU and US is that all consumers have to have an “open” OS whether they want it or not. The end result is going to be some Android/iOS hybrid which everyone will be the only available option. How does that work with anti-trust??
No, you can have a closed OS. You start with either OS, and you don't flip any of the switches that open it up. You'll know them because they're the ones buried at least two levels deep in the settings where, if you try to flip them, you get a warning screen. Voila, closed OS for you. If you don't want to install something from outside the manufacturer's store, then don't install anything from outside the manufacturer's store. It's really quite easy.
Is the DOJ is actually blaming Apple for the failure of Microsoft's Windows Phone, Amazon's Fire Phone, and HTC selling their phone business to Google!
I can only imagine Apple's lawyers laughing out loud when they got to that part of the suit, and realizing that if the people the DOJ put on that case are that stupid, they will win this case without even trying. I guess all the DOJ's top people are busy with the insurrectionists and the many Trump crimes.
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