The Department of Justice says Apple has stifled competition and violated antitrust laws in the name of security.
The US Department of Justice and 16 state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, saying the company has used its industry-defining iPhone as a tool to enrich itself while stifling competition.
In an 88-page suit filed in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, the government argued that Apple violated antitrust laws through its tight control over the iPhone, preventing other companies from creating key applications and services that would compete with its own. The result, the government said, is that Apple has kneecapped competition from apps that would offer functionality consumers would benefit from, such as support for a competitor’s smartwatch, digital wallet or cross-platform messaging service.
„We allege that Apple has consolidated its monopoly power, not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse,“ US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference Thursday. He added that Apple’s share of the US smartphone market exceeds 65% and that the company maintains its power by creating barriers that „make it extremely difficult and expensive for both users and developers to venture outside the Apple ecosystem.“
Apple denied the government’s accusations, saying in a statement that the lawsuit „threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.“ The company added that if the suit were to succeed, it would „set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.“
„We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it,“ the company added.
The US government’s lawsuit strikes at the heart of Apple’s nearly $3 trillion empire, built off the wild success of its iPhone. Since its introduction 17 years ago, Apple’s been able to leverage the iPhone into a powerhouse of industry, powering services like its App Store, which itself has become the lifeblood of multibillion-dollar companies including Uber, Airbnb and Spotify.
Critics say Apple’s success has come at a cost, choking out competitors whose products are unable to compete against Apple’s own products and services built around the iPhone’s core functionality.
