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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1518973
With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive tech ecosystem. Now, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has alleged this ecosystem is harming competition and innovation through Apple’s unique market power. The department’s lawsuit will face a few big hurdles. Perhaps chief among them: many of the “anti-competitive” systems Apple has built are the very things that enable the bold innovation they’re famous for. The charges Apple is the latest modern major US tech firm to face investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by the US government. The DOJ explains its lawsuit through five consumer-relatable examples of where Apple’s iPhone ecosystem stifles competition: 1. the inability to give “super apps” like WeChat full functionality on iPhone restrictions on game streaming apps 2. a functionality divide between “blue bubble” and “green bubble” friends on iMessage 3. poor connectivity between non-Apple smartwatches and iPhones 4. digital wallet technology that locks out third parties In the US and other jurisdictions, the tech giant has already taken steps to address some of these concerns. However, the DOJ stresses these complaints aren’t exclusive or exhaustive. They’re examples to show where Apple’s “closed” ecosystem locks customers into what Apple has built. Private innovation requires private infrastructure One problem for the DOJ is that the tech world has been left to private design for 30 years. Enjoying strong growth and innovation has meant relying on private infrastructure. Having the most disruptive ideas might draw consumer attention, but vast infrastructures keep them as customers (for example, OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft). Our research group considers how digital innovations come to shape the “infrastructures” that guide our increasingly digital lives.