• some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    17
    ·
    9 months ago

    Bullshit. The App Store is anti-competitive. The hardware is not. Wrong thing to attack. It will likely fail as a result.

    I’m beginning to agree with a take I saw online. Someone said Lina Khan’s tenure has been a failure because despite gesturing at all the right players, her FTC has failed to make progress because they’re calling the wrong plays.

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      9 months ago

      You’d be right, if the hardware AND software weren’t made by the same company and locked to each other and that same company didn’t simultaneously have a massive market share

    • MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      9 months ago

      It seems that the App Store and other walled garden restrictions are what the suit is about. The posted article is vague and confusing: first talking about an “illegal monopoly in smartphones” but then referring to the “walled garden”, etc.

      This article notes that

      The heart of the lawsuit centers around claims that Apple stopped smaller companies from accessing the hardware and software in its iPhones, which led to fewer options for customers.

      referring to hardware monopoly power may be some legalese needed to meet the requirements to file an antitrust suit, or to head off defense arguments by making a distinction between Apple and other instances of walled gardens, like game consoles.

    • mommykink@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      Someone said Lina Khan’s tenure has been a failure because despite gesturing at all the right players, her FTC has failed to make progress because they’re calling the wrong plays

      All by design, it’s only a failure to us stupid prolies. They’re intentionally giving their corporate donors softballs that they know will never hurt their bottom line so that they can turn around come election season and say “Well, at least we tried!” and hope we don’t look any further.

      FWIW, I don’t think this is failure is Khan’s fault. She seems to have spent her professional career developing anti-trust philosophy. The only issue is that the FTC is the state mechanism to protect the wealth funnel and there’s very little a individual can do within the Commission to protect consumers.