It by no means blocked rivals’ apps and companies, and it would not make use of anticompetitive techniques stopping customers from breaking out of its “walled backyard,” Apple stated in response to the antitrust lawsuit filed in opposition to it by the Division of Justice. The corporate refuted the company’s claims in statements shared with Apple Insider, increasing upon its earlier response that the lawsuit would hinder its capacity to create gadgets and software program that made it one of the worthwhile corporations on the planet.
The DOJ accused Apple of illegally monopolizing the software program app market by imposing limitations on iOS that degrade the compatibility of revolutionary apps and cloud streaming companies with the cellular platform. However the firm claimed it solely selectively restricts the APIs app builders have entry to as a way to shield consumer privateness and safety. It gave the identical cause for why it implements limitations for third-party digital wallets. The corporate additionally stated that it by no means blocked “tremendous apps” from its platforms, declaring that Fb, WeChat and Line can be found for iOS customers. Recreation streaming companies, it clarified, have all the time been welcome within the App Retailer, as effectively.
In response to the accusation that it’s anticompetitive for the Apple Watch to be able to deeper integration with the iPhone in comparison with rival wearables’, the corporate defined that providing extensive help for all smartwatches means having to develop merchandise with each OS and mannequin in thoughts. Most significantly, Apple denied that it is making it troublesome for customers to change to competing merchandise, whether or not it is due to iMessage’s lack of interoperability with Android or another cause. Customers can simply switch knowledge from iPhone to Android gadgets, it reportedly stated whereas suggesting that individuals is probably not switching to its rivals as a result of they merely love its merchandise.
Apple beforehand stated that the lawsuit, if profitable, would “set a harmful precedent, empowering authorities to take a heavy hand in designing folks’s know-how.” It vowed to “vigorously defend in opposition to it.” US Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland wrote in a press launch, nonetheless, that “Apple undermines apps, merchandise, and companies that may in any other case make customers much less reliant on the iPhone” and that it is “discouraging innovation” that threatens its monopoly by stifling innovation.
