Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

821–830 of 1001 posts

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#821

Post by itopaloglu83 »

epolanski wrote: post #621

The number of people opposing these changes in this thread because "it will make their walled garden experience worse" without being able to bring up a single valid reason why would that be is astonishing.

I think we should lead with the fact that cell phones became the new personal computing device and they should be turn into open platforms, like computers. But the same thing should apply to gaming consoles, TVs, and other software heavy platforms as well. Otherwise, it sounds like an arbitrary anti-Apple regulation, not pro-consumer or pro-free-market regulation.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#822

Post by applied_heat »

kstrauser wrote: post #244
brink wrote: post #217

Apple frustrates the hell out of me with their deceptive tactics to create walled gardens while pretending not to. They feign ignorance to keep you stuck and create the illusion of open doors out of their walled garden that are actually broken and they have no interest in fixing. I've been paying for iCloud for my wife's iphone for the last several months because of how difficult Apple makes it for us to export our p…

I exported my 27,000 photos to my Synology as a backup. There's not an inherent limit that makes what you're asking impossible.

What did you use to do that?

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#823

Post by dghughes »

Stuff like Apple Vision Pro where you need an iPhone to scan your face is annoying. If you want a Apple Watch but have Android phone it's pretty much pointless. How does Apple get away with that?

Worse than that from hardware to browsers over the years it all seems to be less open or to work with other systems, apps, OS. Linux being the exception of course.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#824

Post by [deleted] »

tarsinge wrote: post #155
generj wrote: post #110

I think it’s interesting this is one of the first large anti-tech anti-trust lawsuits that has actually materialized since the FTC/DOJ signaled interest in going after these giants. Perhaps the case is less complex and this could be brought earlier? Or there were some really damning things in discovery proving other justifications Apple has (security, performance, etc) are secondary to punishing competitors products.…

The Google monopoly seems way worst and straightforward to me. Why it isn’t addressed first and why does everyone seemingly ignore them and obsess with Apple is a mystery to me.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#825

Post by itopaloglu83 »

hgs3 wrote: post #541

Why are antitrust laws so reactive? Why not have proactive laws that break up companies if they grow beyond a certain size criteria? Ideally, the criteria would be aggressive enough to kill large corporations leaving behind only small to medium-sized businesses. The result would be markets with increased competition, more innovation, lower prices, more options for employment and self-employment, and the elimination o…

Some of today’s big corporations and mega hedge funds are almost bigger than the good old British Empire. Are we definitely sure that they will not just use that power for their own good only.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#826

Post by shortsunblack »

endisneigh wrote: post #129

I assert it is trivial to not buy Apple products, easy to make alternatives to Apple products and easy to buy feature equivalent devices to Apple products. In lieu of this what is the problem? If the government has a problem why not say any code should be able to be run on any device? Honestly I’m curious - what’s the problem? There are android phones that are superior to iPhones and let you run anything you want. Wh…

The problem is monopolization of markets that are typically contestable. All computers are Turing machines and all the code is just assembly. There is zero technical rationale for the restrictions Apple imposes. And the assumption in free market capitalism is that of competition. In tech world this means adversarial interoperability. Which, by the fun fact, is how every current Big Tech company grew. Facebook used to interoperate with MySpace in dislike of MySpace in a manner that today we would even categorize as infringing on IP laws. Adversarial interoperability is demonstrably beneficial for the user. When a company implements social and technical barriers to it, the state has all the right to reign in such behaviour in the benefit of markets being contestable.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#827

Post by Y_Y »

airstrike wrote: post #355
Fripplebubby wrote: post #287

For folks who don't have time to read a 90 page document, the case rests on specific claims, not just the general claim that iPhone is a monopoly because it's so big. Here are those claims: 1. "Super Apps" Apple has restrictions on what they allow on the App Store as far as "Super Apps", which are apps that might offer a wide variety of different services (specifically, an app which has several "mini programs" within…

1. Super Apps are notorious for tracking the user across the "mini" apps within it, which is the argument made by Apple for making them hard to get approval for. I'm on Apple's side here 2. I was able to use PS Remote Play on my iPhone even many years ago (pre-COVID). A quick google search shows that Steam Link and Shadow PC (my ATF) are also available on iOS. I'm on Apple's side here too 3. I think the situation has…

> It's worth remembering that this administration is suing seemingly everyone in Tech, in what I can only assume is being done in the hopes they can make a name for themselves

Of all the points in your low-effort manifesto I find this the most absurd. Even if you don't see any merit in the case, you must admit that it's likely that the DoJ does.

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#828

Post by samstave »

brink wrote: post #217

Apple frustrates the hell out of me with their deceptive tactics to create walled gardens while pretending not to. They feign ignorance to keep you stuck and create the illusion of open doors out of their walled garden that are actually broken and they have no interest in fixing. I've been paying for iCloud for my wife's iphone for the last several months because of how difficult Apple makes it for us to export our p…

>to create walled gardens while pretending not to.

So ironically juxtaposed to the original 1984 Apple Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I

Re: U.S. sues Apple, accusing it of maintaining an iPhone monopoly

#829

Post by odiroot »

aabajian wrote: post #358

The blue background on messages sent between two iMessage users has to be one of the most brilliant vendor lock-in strategies. It is an artificial form of discrimination. I feel a slight annoyance whenever a non-Apple user forms a group chat as I know that person will limit the messaging functionality. In my opinion, the "monopolistic" aspect of it comes down to the fact that they tied it into an otherwise open messa…

This strategy doesn't work in all the other more sophisticated markets, where WhatsApp/Telegram/FB Messenger/etc are the most popular communication apps.

Time and again seems to be US-only curiosity.

Post reply on HN