Five takeaways from the huge US antitrust lawsuit against Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images

The US Department of Justice is suing Apple for “monopolizing smartphone markets” to assistance warrant the iPhone’s continued occurrence — to the detriment of consumers and third-party developers. The suit was filed connected March 21st and volition instrumentality a long clip to play out. It touches connected everything from iMessage lock-in and App Store developer fees to “super apps” and unreality gaming. If the authorities is successful, we could witnesser a oversea alteration infinitesimal for the iPhone and Apple’s ecosystem astatine large.

Apple, arsenic expected, is profoundly captious of the DOJ’s antitrust filing. “This suit threatens who we are and the principles that acceptable Apple products isolated successful fiercely competitory markets,” said Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz. The institution besides said the ineligible conflict sets “a unsafe precedent, empowering authorities to instrumentality a dense manus successful designing people’s technology.”

The iPhone is astatine the halfway of everything

With good implicit 1 cardinal units sold, the iPhone is Apple’s starring moneymaker. And the DOJ’s statement boils down to 1 cardinal idea: Apple is doing everything it tin to support things that mode and support the iPhone’s popularity. But the institution has pushed into unfair territory and utilized underhanded tactics that springiness its ain devices (like the Apple Watch) and services (Apple Pay) a chiseled vantage implicit the competition, which cannot connection the aforesaid experience.

And the company’s exclusive bundle features — similar the non-interoperable aspects of iMessage — marque Android phones seem inferior successful the eyes of galore consumers, adjacent erstwhile those drawbacks person everything to bash with however Apple conducts concern and precise small to bash with however companies similar Samsung, Google, and others plan and manufacture their ain devices.

“Over galore years, Apple has repeatedly responded to competitory threats by making it harder oregon much costly for its users and developers to permission than by making it much charismatic for them to stay,” the authorities wrote successful the archetypal paragraph of its complaint. Apple’s conduct, the Justice Department claims, has “locked successful users and developers portion protecting its profits.”

The US authorities is keenly alert that greenish bubbles are uncool

During Thursday’s property conference, US Attorney General Merrick Garland went disconnected connected Apple’s messaging strategy. “iPhone users comprehend rival smartphones to beryllium of little quality,” helium said, noting that conversations with Android users (green bubbles) deficiency encryption, effect successful subpar media sharing, and don’t see features similar typing indicators.

Apple has said it plans to enactment RCS, a much modern messaging protocol, for improved cross-platform connection aboriginal this year. But adjacent then, don’t expect those bubbles to alteration color. The greenish bubble stigma is simply a existent happening — astatine slightest in the United States, wherever iMessage is truthful prevalent. And the DOJ says it’s a immense origin that contributes to iPhone lock-in.

The ailment includes a punctuation from Tim Cook astatine the 2022 Code Conference that made headlines astatine the time. “I can’t nonstop my ma definite videos,” an assemblage subordinate told Cook erstwhile complaining astir the cross-platform messaging quagmire. “Buy your ma an iPhone,” Cook responded.

It conscionable works... unless your smartwatch isn’t an Apple Watch

Another consumer-driven facet of the DOJ suit is the messy smartwatch concern connected iOS. The Apple Watch offers casual setup, seamless compatibility, and heavy integration with the iPhone and Apple’s ecosystem, whereas third-party watches are acold much constricted successful the scope of features they’re capable to offer. It’s accelerated and casual to respond to a substance oregon email from Apple’s watch. Others? Less so.

The Justice Department alleges that Apple is utilizing its wearable arsenic yet different instrumentality successful its kit to guarantee that radical take different iPhone whenever upgrade clip rolls astir — and not an Android device, wherever the Apple Watch would beryllium useless.

(It should beryllium noted that Wear OS devices from Samsung and Google nary longer enactment the iPhone, either.)

This is astir the aboriginal of apps

The EU might’ve led the way successful forcing Apple to loosen its grip implicit the App Store, but the DOJ besides sees a glaring occupation with the fees that developers indispensable wage — and the strict guidelines they indispensable abide by — for their apps to stay disposable to millions of iPhone owners.

Apple has thrown up roadblocks to support alleged “super apps” disconnected the platform, according to the antitrust filing. And the company’s rules person made it impractical for Microsoft and different unreality gaming companies to motorboat their services successful specified a mode that they’d beryllium capable to monetize those offerings. The EU’s DMA authorities has resulted successful Apple changing immoderate of those policies, but cardinal players inactive aren’t satisfied.

“They decidedly don’t spell acold capable to unfastened up contention connected the world’s largest gaming platform,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer recently told The Verge erstwhile addressing Apple’s plans to let third-party app markets connected the iPhone and marque the App Store much “open” successful the EU.

Don’t expect a solution anytime soon

Apple’s fiery effect makes it wide that the institution has each volition of defending itself. We’re connected time 1 of a suit that’s definite to resistance connected agelong into the future. It took over 3 years for the authorities and Microsoft to scope a colony successful that high-profile antitrust lawsuit (and different 4 years for dissatisfied authorities attorneys wide to tally done the appeals courts). The stakes present are conscionable arsenic critical.

In the meantime, Apple volition marque large changes to the App Store model successful the EU and trim messaging friction by supporting RCS. But to the DOJ, the harm has already been done — and those steps don’t absolve Apple of unfairly suppressing competition, being a thorn successful the broadside of developers, and (supposedly) wielding its monopoly powerfulness to “extract much money” from anyone and everyone utilizing an iPhone.