US Government to Launch 'Magical' Antitrust Probe Against Apple

It appears that, according to Yahoo stocks, AAPL has split the stock 3 times, if you look at their "basic charts"...it could be more since that chart only goes back to 1985, but either way, three times would be three times more than "never split the stock".

right?

Apple is trying to build the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad ecosystem and as a result wants developers to use it's tools because they feel that it will help developers produce better applications that take better advantage of the available APIs.

Apple is trying to prevent the applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad from becoming the cesspool that has infected Windows.  For years Windows users touted the number of available applications as proof of the superiority of the Windows ecosystem, and in reality there was a sense at the beginning of the millennium that the Mac ecosystem was becoming marginalized.  Yet, this great strength of Windows, a strong developer community, has becoming a liability in the amount of adware, spyware, and malware that affects the system.  Apple wishes to prevent this from happening to the iPhone / iPad ecosystem.

While wanting to prevent the explosion of adware, spyware, malware is commendable, dictating the tools used to make applications is unreasonable.  I welcome the DOJ investigation because this does seem to me to a restraint of trade.

Regards

Joe Dokes

Good one, Paul.  I'm sure you will be rejecting tons of vitriolic comments on this one.

will the potential charges be rejected by apple because it does not come in a nice Aluminum enclosure with an apple logo that glows on the back and has a single button to open it to expose the paperwork?

or will the enclosed paper work be rejected because it was not produced with Pages and there for probably breaks some agreement it created.

LOL. I dont know why anyone would say this "press release" is misleading. Regular Apple Press Releases are more misleading than this one.

Thankfully, this is the one place on the internet where you can criticize Apple and not receive death threats. If look elsewhere at most other Tech websites, what you`ll witness is the most pathetic and lowest form of journalism, that is journalists appeasing the bully (Apple).

In a couple of years, we`ll see a press release very similar to this one from Apple.

LOL, this is hysterical.

But as much as I hate Apple, I think they need to be left alone.  Whenever Microsoft gets investigated *cough cough* EU *cough cough*, my reaction is not "well they'd better investigate Apple as well", but rather "just leave them alone."

No one is forcing people to buy iPods and iPhone apps.  And even if Apple eventually crushed the competition to the extent where there were literally no more options on the market, I still wouldn't care.  Unless the product is a bare necessity, I think the free market should be left to run free.

Nice stuff Paul. Let me interject some thoughts.

rr0de74 - Apple does have a monopoly called the iTunes Store. It has over 70 percent of the world's digital music sales. Apple also has a monopoly with the App Store, which has a huge market-share vs any of it's competition. Third, the video part of the iTunes store is also a monopoly.

However as Tayme said, having a monopoly is not illegal. However, according to both the Sherman Anti-Trust & Clayton Act, which also governs competition laws in the U.S., there are specific conditions that can trigger a violation of the law. According to the Sherman Anti-trust Act, ""Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony..." An attempt to monopolize such as locking out third party compilers such as Novell's, Adobe's, & other parties, is illegal. Same can be said for locking out third party API's.

The Clayton Act bars exclusive dealing agreements, tying arrangements, along with mergers and acquisitions that substantially reduce market competition. The acquisition & shutdown of Lala for example. The iPhone OS 4 agreement which makes an exclusive deal with Apple.

There's plenty here for the FTC & the DOJ to investigate.

I just hope that they magically are convicted & prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Let's see the Jobs Distortion Reality Field match up against the wrath of a judge's legal hammer. I guarantee all that Apple speak of "magical & revolutionary" doesn't hold water in a court of law.

As for controlling the cesspool of Windows, I would think after the latest point update from Apple for Snow Leopard that had anywhere from 437 MB update to 737 MB update, that the real cesspool is badly written code within OS-X. Don't go there about Service Packs, because Service Packs are roll-ups of already distributed patches. Point updates from Apple are brand new patches. From Leopard to Snow Leopard, the size & amount of patches have been increasing just like they have on the Windows side.

Yes, Windows has malware issues for a long time. Microsoft has a real problem. However, I like to point to a quote written by Benjamin Franklin. "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. " To risk developers creative freedom & liberties for the sake of any kind security, have traded something valuable for nothing. OS-X has plenty of malware & vulnerabilities. If hackers targeted Snow Leopard like they did Windows, Apple would have a security nightmare on it's hands. The difference is that most hackers target what is the easiest to target & that unfortunately is the OS with 92 percent of the desktop market called Windows.

It maybe more secure, but locking down platforms, barring competition, barring API's, is also highly ILLEGAL. You knew the EU & the DOJ would have field day with this stuff. Why didn't anyone at Apple's legal department advise Steve Jobs of the very slippery slope that he was proposing?

I think if this goes to trial, Apple will have hard time defending itself. This is U.S. vs Microsoft all over again.

On a related note, Apple should be charged for anticompetitive practises for edging out third-party service centers.

To the point, they should be charged for using miniscule Torx screws in notebooks that nobody has the proper-sized tools for (because nobody else in their right mind would use such an uncommon screw at such a small size).  I had to replace a hard drive in a Powerbook a short while back, and I swear to God, I had to take out nearly 40 almost all completely different screws to get to it.  On most systems, it's 2 screws for the hard drive panel, and 2-4 more to take the hard drive out.  Then there's those stupid removeable plastic pieces where the keyboard clips in just above the optical drive.  I mean, who designs this crap?!  (Johnathan Ive, I'm looking at you!)

Haha, I immediately thought of The Onion while reading this.

The sole source of all these rumors is the New York Post? And even the Post says "Apple may be in the eye of regulatory storm." May.

I know you desperately wish this to be true, but it isn't anything but a rumor at this point.

The Post goes on to say, "Apple put its might on full display last week when Jobs wrote a scathing explanation for why Adobe's Flash programming language was unfit to be used on Apple products. The day his missive was released, Adobe shares fell 2 percent."

I like that, a "scathing explanation"! Damn, facts are such PESKY things aren't they?

This, along with your reporting on the iPad sales of over 1 million, as if that's bad(!), really reeks of sour grapes.

Excellent. So when are Microsoft bringing the pizazz of Bill back tot the fold to give them a personality face lift? :)

Maybe we should launch an anti trust probe against Winsupersite.  Paul is now limiting what users can post on his comments. That must be restraint of trade....or at least like what Apple does with the app store.

:)

Apple already has a nane for the I-tunes show.

Apples Magical Adventure.

It would be so easy to attack Apple, due to my own personal opinion's on the constant Microsoft government issues, but i must for once stand up for Apple (which hurts).

Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad platform's are Apple's platforms. They have developed them, they have paid to research them, create them, market them, and they are responsible, in the important financial ways, for their success.

Does Apple not have the right to decide what happens with their platform? perhaps as advocates for open, we would like to think otherwise, but let's face it, the closed ecosystem has certainly helped keep the products high quality.

iTunes is a closed platform yes, they require you to own one of their players, but in fairness, they are a company wanting to make money. This is the same argument i would use with Microsoft. Why should Apple spend their money to develop there products, for the betterment of other companies? i believe such an idea is unrealistic, and is, in itself, anti-competitive against Apple.

I would not say iTunes is a monopoly, despite it's high usage. There are many options out there (of varying quality) but what i hear from most 'normal' people (none tech) is that iTunes is simple. It's easy. 'all my music is there' and they never have issues. Perhaps if another companies released a comparable system/platform?

I don't believe you could point monopolistic practices at the iPhone either. People have chosen to use the iPhone, not because they feel forced to do so. Additionally there are many viable alternatives to the platform, being in Australia most people have Nokia, LG, Samsung, HTC phones. iPhone and Android are certainly not the market leaders here.

I just hate the day where anytime a company get's successful, gains market share and becomes market leads, they suffer their legs being cut out from underneath them.

"Unfortunately not actually true.

I got several threatening private emails for saying things that annoyed the Apple fans here including one actual death threat. Unfortunately, the world is not as sane a place as we'd like on some subjects."

That is really shameful.

While I disagree with much of what you may say, I always enjoy the back and forth. I would hope all people take that view, but sadly that is not the case.

Those who take it beyond that are really disturbed.

chuckb84

"The sole source of all these rumors is the New York Post? "

FYI: As of this morning both Reuters and The Wall Street Journal are also reporting this story and saying it was triggered by a complaint from Adobe according to this story at Engadget:  www.engadget.com/.../wsj-confirms-apple-under-preliminary-antitrust-investigation-ove

"and it'll eventually lead to good devs not wanting to develop for their platform, which will hurt users more than the "non-native" apps that Apple seems so worried about."

Good devs develop specifically for each platform, targeting the strengths of each one.  No good developer will leave the iphone platform due to the Flash issue, only the mediocre ones who don't want to take the time or energy to code correctly for it.

Cross platform apps are good for devs, not for users.