U.S. Files Suit Against Apple, Alleges Tech Giant Exploits Illegal ‘iPhone’ Monopoly

The iPhone 14 Pro Max smartphone
The U.S. Department of Justice along with 15 states and the District of Columbia filed suit against Apple on Thursday, alleging that the tech company best known for its innovative Mac, iPod, and iPhone products makes it difficult for competitors to integrate with the iPhone and that this in turn raises prices for consumers.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and contends that the inventor of the modern-day smartphone tries to keep its customers from switching to devices, such as Android, which operate on other mobile operating systems than Apple iOS.
Apple, which controls 65% of the smartphone market in the United States, “has maintained its power, not because of its superiority, but because of its unlawful exclusionary behavior,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press event.
The company has faced complaints for years about the tight control it maintains around its popular devices, and it is this tight control that is precisely what the DOJ is challenging.
The Cupertino, California-based company said in a statement that it plans to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” an Apple spokesman said in a statement provided to FBT and The Travelist. “If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple – where hardware, software, and services intersect.”
Apple, the DOJ said, has taken measures to lock in its users and prevent them from having access to software, such as cloud-based mobile games, because that might raise the idea that they should switch to less expensive smartphones.
Apple created the modern-day smartphone market with the launch of the iPhone in 2007.  The now iconic launch by Steve Jobs changed the world as he famously demonstrated a product that he first teased the audience with by saying that he was introducing three separate products.
“Today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products…,” Jobs began. “The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone, and the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.”
“There are not three separate devices,” he continued. “This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.”
Apple revolutionized personal computing, with the launch of the first Macintosh computer in 1984, and the music industry with the introduction of the first  iPod in 2001.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)