Apple Doesn’t Need a Monopoly to Lock You Into Your iPhone
iMessage is still the stickiest part of iOS
Apple is facing a crucial battle over one of its core moneymakers. Thanks to a ruling against the company by the Supreme Court this week, Apple will have to successfully argue that its App Store doesn’t constitute a monopoly. Part of the company’s case — that users are free to buy apps from other platforms — is undercut by another product with an inescapable, blue-bubbled grip on iPhone users: iMessage.
In the recent case of Apple v. Pepper, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Apple could be sued for allegedly driving up prices of apps and preventing its customers from using third-party app stores. “The plaintiffs allege that, via the App Store, Apple locks iPhone owners ‘into buying apps only from Apple and paying Apple’s 30% fee, even if’ the iPhone owners wish to ‘buy apps elsewhere or pay less,’” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority’s decision.
Apple has argued that its closed platform is necessary to protect users from malware. It has also argued that if users don’t like prices on the App Store, they’re welcome to switch to another platform like Android and buy their apps from Google’s Play Store. There’s just one problem with this argument: Apple makes it incredibly hard to switch platforms. And…
