Core
The Core gets to the heart of the Apple news that matters to you each week. iMore news editor Stephen Warwick breaks down all the top news, along with deals, advice, insights and humour.
Well, it finally happened. After years of speculation and months of rumor-mongering, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has hit Apple with its massive antitrust lawsuit, in what is quickly turning into the tech legal battle of the century.
Not without its first critics, the suit appears at first glance to be inconsequential in places and sometimes far-fetched. In essence, the lawsuit alleges that Apple is locking out its customers and its competitors out of its iPhone ecosystem with its watertight business model. According to the lawsuit, Apple is “using its monopoly power to squeeze more money out of consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and retailers, among others.”
But what exactly does the DOJ want Apple to change about its iPhone? By hand, the lawsuit outlines five specific things it says Apple has used to maintain its monopoly in the US and as such it would like to change. Each has its own varying degrees of merit, and some Apple has already addressed, highlighting the complicated nature of the suit.
Core – DOJ remarks
Suppression of super apps — Super apps aren’t really that popular in the US and Europe, so you might not have heard of the term. First coined to describe the giant Chinese platform WeChat, super-apps are mobile or web applications that offer multiple services under one roof — typically including payments and instant messaging, among other features. In addition to WeChat, there are Alipay, Lark, Gojek and others. In fact, Elon Musk also expressed his desire to turn X (formerly Twitter) into an application that does everything. Cool apps like the ones mentioned are available for download on the iPhone, but until recently their usefulness was limited. According to the lawsuit, Apple “required apps in the United States to display mini-programs using a flat, text-only list of mini-programs” rather than as easily navigable tiles or icons. However, in January Apple announced new options for “apps that provide access to mini-apps and games,” noting that “apps will also be able to provide enhanced detection capabilities for streaming games, mini-apps, mini-games, chatbots, and plug-ins that found in their apps” and that for the first time those apps will be able to offer in-app purchases to offer paid digital content and services. The lawsuit doesn’t seem to explain this change.
Apple’s policies for cloud streaming game applications — The lawsuit highlights Apple’s policies against apps like Xbox Cloud Gaming, which previously prevented apps like NVIDIA’s GeForce Now from offering a library of streamed gaming content. Instead, Apple insists that each game offered by such a service should be a separate app available for download on the App Store, just like its own service, Apple Arcade. In the same breath as its super-apps change, Apple also confirmed that “developers can now submit a single app with the ability to stream all the games offered in their catalog” on January 25th. Such an application has not yet been published.
Interoperability of messaging applications — The lawsuit alleges that Apple “makes third-party messaging apps on the iPhone inferior overall and relative to Apple Messages.” In particular, the DOJ seems to insist that Apple should create iMessage for Android, and that its choice not to hinder innovation in smartphone messaging. The lawsuit mentions Apple’s plan to adopt RCS later this year, but says it won’t solve the problem because third-party messaging apps “will still be barred from turning on RCS just as they are barred from turning on SMS .” The lawsuit seems confused about who is responsible for SMS quality and security (it’s not Apple), and the idea that Apple should be forced to create iMessage for Android seems preposterous. iMessage is iPhone feature. The DOJ’s entire complaint fails to mention the multitude of messaging apps that are freely available to all iPhone users, many of which are cross-compatible with Android, such as WhatsApp.
Smart watch compatibility — The DOJ also says Apple is pushing key functions of third-party smartwatches, such as notifications and a consistent iPhone connection, in favor of its own Apple Watch. Likewise, Apple also says that by not making its Apple Watch compatible with Android, it further restricts consumer mobility. Apple recently confirmed that it spent three years trying to bring the Apple Watch to Android, but failed due to technical limitations.
Access for digital wallets — Key point of contention for EU as well, DOJ says Apple denied users access to digital wallets.” For example, Google Pay is not supported on the Apple NFC chip that powers Apple Pay. If the DOJ gets its way, you’ll be able to use third-party wallets for contactless payments on the iPhone with fewer restrictions in the future.
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