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I'm not claiming that Apple are monopolists in the mobile phone market. Clearly they are not, not even in the smart-phone part of it.
They do have a monopoly in the iphone/ipad software distribution market, though. That's alright (these are Apple's products and they can lock them down in whatever way they like) but Apple can't use this position in order to gain an advantage in other markets (like advertising, content containers or development tools). That's what antitrust laws are about.
You could ask "what if they put advertising restrictions in their licenses right from the start". That's an interesting case. You could argue that the advertising market on iPhone didn't exist and Apple have simply made one (so there is no violation of antitrust law). This however is not true when the license is being changed on the fly to shape the existing market.
RE[4]: Comment by mtzmtulivu




Member since:
2010-01-05
Being a monopolist is not necessarily a bad thing, and certainly it is not illegal. However, using this position to monopolize another market is.
That's not right. People can buy other mobile phones and get different app stores. By your reckoning Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would have a monopoly on consoles which they clearly don't.