https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/technology/apple-doj-lawsuit-antitrust.html Skip to contentSkip to site index Technology Today's Paper Technology|U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone Monopoly https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/technology/ apple-doj-lawsuit-antitrust.html * Share full article * * * 1990 Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT U.S. Sues Apple, Accusing It of Maintaining an iPhone Monopoly The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple's wildly popular suite of devices and services, which have fueled its growth into a nearly $3 trillion public company. * Share full article * * * 1990 Video transcript Back 0:00/1:20 -0:00 transcript Garland Accuses Apple of Violating Federal Antitrust Law Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that Apple has employed a strategy that relies on exclusionary anti-competitive conduct that hurts both consumers and developers. Over the last two decades, Apple has become one of the most valuable public companies in the world. Today, its net income exceeds the individual gross domestic product of more than 100 countries. That is in large part due to the success of the iPhone, Apple's signature smartphone product. But as our complaint alleges, Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law. Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law. We allege that Apple has employed a strategy that relies on exclusionary, anticompetitive conduct that hurts both consumers and developers. For consumers, that has meant fewer choices, higher prices and fees, lower quality smartphones, apps and accessories, and less innovation from Apple and its competitors. For developers, that has meant being forced to play by rules that insulate Apple from competition. And as outlined in our complaint, we allege that Apple has consolidated its monopoly power, not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse. Video player loading Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that Apple has employed a strategy that relies on exclusionary anti-competitive conduct that hurts both consumers and developers.CreditCredit...Ian C. Bates for The New York Times David McCabeTripp Mickle By David McCabe and Tripp Mickle David McCabe reported from Washington, and Tripp Mickle from San Francisco. March 21, 2024Updated 6:48 p.m. ET The federal government's aggressive crackdown on Big Tech expanded on Thursday to include an antitrust lawsuit by the Justice Department against Apple, one of the world's best-known and most valuable companies. The department joined 16 states and the District of Columbia to file a significant challenge to the reach and influence of Apple, arguing in an 88-page lawsuit that the company had violated antitrust laws with practices that were intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones and less likely to switch to a competing device. The tech giant prevented other companies from offering applications that compete with Apple products like its digital wallet, which could diminish the value of the iPhone, and hurts consumers and smaller companies that compete with it, the government said. The Justice Department's lawsuit is seeking to put an end to those practices. The government even has the right to ask for a breakup of the Silicon Valley icon. Thumbnail of page 1 Read the Lawsuit Against Apple The antitrust suit is the federal government's most significant challenge to the reach and influence of the company. Read Document 88 pages The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple's wildly popular suite of devices and services, which have fueled its growth into a nearly $2.75 trillion public company that was for years the most valuable on the planet. It takes direct aim at the iPhone, Apple's most popular device and most powerful business, and attacks the way the company has turned the billions of smartphones it has sold since 2007 into the centerpiece of its empire. By tightly controlling the user experience on iPhones and other devices, Apple has created what critics call an uneven playing field, where it grants its own products and services access to core features that it denies rivals. Over the years, it has limited finance companies' access to the phone's payment chip and Bluetooth trackers from tapping into its location-service feature. It's also easier for users to connect Apple products, like smartwatches and laptops, to the iPhone than to those made by other manufacturers. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe. 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