Apple representatives met with the U.S. Department of Justice last week in a final bid to persuade the agency not to file an antitrust suit against the company, Bloomberg News reports citing “people familiar with the matter.”
Leah Nylen for Bloomberg News:
The company and its lawyers met with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who will make the final call on whether to file a suit, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential meeting. Such “last rites” meetings are often one of the final steps before a lawsuit is filed.
Antitrust enforcers, who have been probing the company since 2019, allege that Apple has imposed software and hardware limitations on its iPhones and iPads to impede rivals from effectively competing. The suit is expected in the coming weeks, likely by the end of March, the people said.
Apple’s App Store, which charges developers a commission of either 15% or 30%, has come under heavy criticism by developers and lawmakers.
In January, Apple said it will allow US developers to use alternative payment systems, but charge a 27% fee for most digital purchases or 12% on subscriptions.
MacDailyNews Take: Again:
It’s Apple’s App Store. Of course they have a right to charge commissions.
Apple’s App Store isn’t a charity and it’s not free to operate. – MacDailyNews, November 14, 2022
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
That said, as we wrote in December 2022:
Those who want safety, security, and privacy will stick to Apple’s App Store, but a single point of control is always a danger, especially when it comes to capricious censorship (see: pre-Musk Twitter, Apple’s App Store in China, etc.).
iPhone and iPad users must, like Mac users, have the ability to install third-party apps; even if they never do, for it will keep Apple honest. The ability to ban an app loses all power when it’s simply available in another App Store.
These moves, including removing the mandate to use WebKit, Apple’s Safari browsing engine, in third-party browsers, will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of anti-trust actions against Apple for the foreseeable future.
Also, expect Gatekeeper to come to iOS and iPadOS from macOS.
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