a lawsuit brought forth by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which claims that the Cupertino firm violates antitrust laws. The suit was first submitted back in March, and Apple’s rebuttal is fierce, to say the least. As a brief recap, the DOJ contends that Apple exploits its monopolistic power to “extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others.”
Many of the DOJ’s claims are quite weak, and Apple’s filing thoroughly addresses precisely why the DOJ’s lawsuit is built on unstable foundations. For instance, the DOJ criticizes the fact that third-party smartwatches lack the same level of integration with the iPhone as the Apple Watch. This, the DOJ asserts, disadvantages consumers by compelling an iPhone user seeking a premium smartwatch experience to opt for the Apple Watch. Furthermore, the DOJ lawsuit alleges that Apple unlawfully restricts third parties from using the iPhone’s NFC chip, thereby obligating users to depend solely on Apple Pay.
The three other focal points in the DOJ lawsuit claim that Apple prevents users from streaming games through the cloud, intentionally renders third-party messaging apps less effective than its own Messages app, and makes a concerted effort to obstruct “super apps” from appearing on the App Store. To clarify, a super app is one that offers extensive functionality, such as WeChat.
