It looks like Apple could be facing antitrust problems at home, as well as abroad. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and various state attorneys general are reportedly looking into launching a probe of the company.
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Apple Facing Antitrust Probes at Home And Abroad
The DOJ and AGs are said to have spoken to various companies unhappy with how Apple controls its App Store. It is understood that discussions took place last week, followed an EU decision to launch two investigations into Apple. While it is not clear exactly which or how many states are involved in the move, some are said to also be involved in antitrust action against Facebook and Google.
Gene Kimmelman, who served in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division under President Barak Obama, told Politico:
It’s one thing to structure your services in a restrictive way or use exclusive contracts when you’re small. But the bigger you become, the more dominant you become in a market, the more likely those types of restrictions — unless they are absolutely essential to benefit consumers — will be viewed skeptically as harmful to competition.
Former Apple executive Philip Shoemaker, who was involved in designing and running the App Store added:
In-app purchase is broken. As Apple is entering into more and more of these areas and putting out of business more developers, they really have got to think differently.”
Perhaps we should define dominant first.
So much stupid stuff going on at other tech companies, so of course, the DoJ needs to investigate the best company the country has ever had! Crazy.