2024

United

Apple

Apple has claimed it isn’t a “monopolist” and “faces fierce competition” in the tech sector in a letter previewing its bid to toss a United States antitrust suit.
In a May 21 <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.njd.544402/gov.uscourts.njd.544402.42.0_2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">letter</a> to New Jersey federal judge Julien Neals requesting a conference ahead of its dismissal motion, Apple’s lawyers refuted U.S. claims that it engaged in anticompetitive conduct by excluding third-party access to its platform and made design decisions that “‘lock in’ users to purchasing iPhones.”
The firm said its alleged anticompetitive conduct “involves Apple making unilateral decisions about the terms and conditions on which to permit third parties access to Apple’s proprietary platform.”
The Justice Department hit Apple with an <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-doj-sue-apple-monopoly-app-store-rules" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">antitrust lawsuit</a> in March, alleging the firm had a smartphone monopoly that — among other claims — allowed it to restrict features and functions of digital wallets and payments and that its App Store rules choked competition.
The tech firm’s fiat-only payments system has long walled off the use of crypto in iOS apps or made it <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/grotesquely-overpriced-apple-s-app-store-wants-30-cut-on-nft-sales" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">economically unviable</a> for a crypto app to offer in-app purchases due to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-apple-rules-double-down-on-30-nft-tax-and-geo-limits-exchanges" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a 30% fee</a> colloquially known as the “Apple Tax.”
“Apple has opted to offer users a curated, secure, and reliable experience, in contrast to its competitors’ more open platforms,” the firm argued.
<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-05/41e86d3f-7d32-4c17-83a8-b9547ab93e59.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://x.com/jason_kint/status/1792985589635019104" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Jason Kint</a>
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Apple claimed the government failed to “properly define the relevant market or establish that Apple has monopoly power in it,” and Apple’s alleged anticompetitive conduct “occurred in other markets” such as its policies around digital wallets.
“Those products all exist in their own separate markets with their own competitive dynamics, and the Government’s failure to define the proper market for those products is fatal.”
The Big Tech player said the U.S. arguments fail as the Supreme Court “has made clear that a firm’s decisions about the terms on which it chooses to deal with third parties do not constitute exclusionary conduct.“
Apple also rebutted the DOJ’s claim that it has a smartphone market monopoly, saying it “faces stiff competition” from Google and Samsung. The former has the most-used mobile OS and the latter leads in global smartphone sales.
Related:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/apple-poised-metaverse-mainstream-dominate-vision-pro-augmented-reality-market" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Apple is poised to bring metaverse mainstream and dominate the market</a>
The U.S. did not make “a factual link” to show that smartphone buyers are being cornered in by Apple’s “design decisions,” it claimed.
“Someone unhappy with Apple’s limitations has every incentive to switch to competitor platforms that ostensibly do not have those limitations,” it said.
Shortly after the DOJ’s March filing, an Apple spokesperson told Cointelegraph the lawsuit could “set a dangerous precedent” and potentially give the government the power to “take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 During today’s lawsuit announcement against Apple for monopolizing smartphone markets, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco expressed that Apple’s anticompetitive conduct must stop. : <a href="https://t.co/Cn2hyRFz6j" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://t.co/Cn2hyRFz6j</a> <a href="https://t.co/gwEhAKVysH" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/gwEhAKVysH</a>— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept/status/1770890823879544846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">March 21, 2024</a>
</blockquote>
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/ai-eye-apple-devloping-pocket-ai-deep-fake-music-deal-hypnotize-gpt-4/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple developing pocket AI, deep fake music deal, hypnotizing GPT-4: AI Eye</a>
Additional reporting by Jesse Coghlan.

Apple disputes monopoly claims, cites 'fierce competition' in court

Cointelegraph

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