Apple will not apologize for with its little blue bubbles. The company told Quartz this week a major Justice Department antitrust lawsuit – which stands for everything about Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone – is misleading.
The DOJ said in its complaint filed last week that Apple created a monopoly in the smartphone market and disrupted its direct competitors and developers of apps and super apps, smartwatches and digital wallets. The complaint made 210 allegations against the tech behemoth. It said Apple “repeatedly chooses to make its products worse for consumers in order to prevent competition from emerging,” all in order to protect its smartphone monopoly “and the extraordinary profits that monopoly generates.”
But Apple told Quartz on Thursday that some of the facts presented by the DOJ are simply not true. Here’s a quick rundown of the company’s rebuttals.
Apple said it has no monopoly and has never heard of ‘performance’ smartphones
A big part of the DOJ’s argument is the claim that Apple has a 70% share of the “performance” smartphone market, which it defines as “the more expensive segment of the broader smartphone market.” The complaint stated that Apple has a 65% market share of the total US smartphone market.
Read more: Timeline of Apple’s Heavy 2024 (So Far)
But Apple said the DOJ had errors in its use of market share income — even though it is usually how market share is calculated. Apple said its market share per units is less than half of the US market.
Apple said it did not know what “performance” smartphones were and that the DOJ used the term to inflate the company’s market share.
Apple said it does not pressure third-party app developers
The DOJ’s complaint pointed to Apple’s charging of a 30% commission as a way to limit developer apps outside of the company’s influential App Store.
“Apple understands well that while the community of developers and accessory makers is essential to the success of the iPhone,” the lawsuit states, “they also pose an existential threat to its extraordinary profits by empowering consumers to ‘think differently’ and choose perfectly functional, less expensive smartphone alternatives. “
Apple said that because it only charges a commission for paid apps, 85% of developers don’t pay a fee to the company. He also noted that most developers who pay a commission are eligible for a discount.
Apple said no one wants green bubbles in their text messages
The DOJ argued that Apple’s decision not to make iMessage available on other smartphones was an example of its monopoly. The DOJ said Apple suppresses competing messaging apps on its operating system by not allowing access to SMS (a more universal text messaging protocol).
“Apple limits the reach of third-party messaging apps and reinforces network effects that favor Apple,” the lawsuit says.
The result is a dynamic in which blue bubbles carry some cultural capital. In group text chats that include both iPhone and Android users, for example, Android users’ texts appear in green bubbles instead of the iPhone’s blue bubbles—something that comes with a stigma, especially for young users.
Apple responded in a statement to Quartz that other messaging apps like WhatsApp are very successful on iOS, a testament to its openness to other companies’ products. And Apple pointed that out WhatsApp and Signal do not support SMS even on Android phones.
Google uses RCS, a descendant of SMS, and Apple does said he would adopt the RCS starting this fall.