So, the Department of Justice is suing Apple. What does the DOJ actually think this lawsuit will do for or against Apple? Well, according to one analyst, the lawsuit will force “Apple to change its business model,” and it’s likely that Apple will have to pay a hefty fine.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told clients in a note that “we do not expect any business model changes for now, but Apple clearly is going to have to find a way to eventually settle this case, pay a hefty fine, and ultimately find some compromise with developers on the App Store structure down the road.”
The DOJ alleges that Apple makes its products better by making competitors’ products worse
In the lawsuit, not only does the Department of Justice claim that Apple is a monopoly. However, they also claim that instead of making their products better, they work to make competitors’ products worse. Take, for instance, the Green Bubbles versus Blue Bubbles issue we have right now. Android users do not see green bubbles; in fact, Android users can customize those bubble colors to any color they want. It’s Apple making this decision to show non-iphones as green, and also their decision to stick to SMS for non-iphones at least until the EU forced it to change and add RCS later this year.
Apple has also been accused of causing the failure of the Amazon Fire Phone back in 2014, as well as making it difficult for manufacturers like HTC and LG to compete in the market. In 2008, about six months after the iPhone went on sale, Apple had about 1.1% market share. LG had 8.3% and Nokia was the big winner at 38.6%. So, is Apple really to blame for those manufacturers dipping out on making phones?
There are quite a few wild claims in the lawsuit from the DOJ, and some of which are going to be very difficult to prove in court. But the outcome of this lawsuit will definitely be a pretty significant fine. Now, whether Apple is forced to change its behavior is a whole other story.
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