Did you know Apple Could Receive Sweeping Antitrust Case From The US Justice Department As Company Under Scrutiny
The US Justice Department might soon be rolling out a sweeping antitrust case against tech giant Apple.
As per The New York Times,
the agency is currently carrying out scrutiny against the iPhone maker
and is in the latter part of the investigation as we speak.
The
main focus appears to be linked to the firm’s regulation of both
hardware and software and how it’s carrying out a walled garden approach
so it’s challenging for arch-rivals in the industry to compete with one
another. At the same time, it means making it harder for customers to
switch on over to other products from competitors.
The bombshell report indicated how the investigation has gone above and
beyond anything outlined in the past. Here, the scope seems to be linked
to how the iPhone maker’s Apple Watch is intricately combined with
services from the iPhone’s services as compared to competitors in the
wearables industry.
In the same way, it would also lock out
competitor platforms from services like iMessage. And as per reports,
that’s extreme unlawful behavior.
Meanwhile, executives from
other companies such as Beeper are eyeing the reports very carefully.
They got into a massive debate with the iPhone maker in terms of its
iMessage-blocking feature being integrated across Android devices.
Another firm like Tile designed Bluetooth trackers before the arrival of
AirTag sat down and spoke to the DOJ on the matter. The agency
reportedly had plenty of chats with reps arising from banking platforms
and payment apps regarding the iPhone maker’s behavior toward preventing
rivals from utilizing tap-to-pay for iPhone devices.
Meanwhile,
Facebook’s parent firm also held chats with investigators on the
subject. The social media firm mentioned how it was time the DOJ held
the Cupertino firm accountable and also investigated its ATT privacy
tools for tracking transparency.
This was rolled out two years
back to allow users to prevent advertisers from collecting their data
and from carrying out tracking activities.
This might cost the
firm a whopping $10 billion in that year alone as confirmed by the NYT.
The latter added how investigators are looking into the company’s share
of digital purchase done across iPhones, Epic Games, and Spotify. Other
companies like Match Group have similarly been so vocal about the matter
in recent times.
As it is, the American government is currently very busy with the long
list of antitrust cases related to Big Tech organizations. They are
currently looking into two leading cases against search engine giant
Google specifically.
The Android maker would be investigated for
its advertising and also for its search-related activities. Meanwhile,
the FTC would sue Meta as well as Amazon for similar anti-trust
behavior. So as much of their efforts are allocated in that direction,
it seems like Apple’s turn would only come after that.
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