Consumers pile on Apple with App Store monopoly class action suits

AppleInsider

A day after the US Department of Justice filed its omnibus antitrust lawsuit against Apple, consumers filed a trio of class-action lawsuits for allegedly monopolizing the smartphone market.

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On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice unleashed its lawsuit against Apple, following a five-year antitrust investigation into the iPhone maker's business practices. Mere days later, lawsuits are attempting to jump on the anti-Apple bandwagon.

At least three attempted class-action lawsuits have been filed in California and New Jersey since the DoJ's own lawsuit, reports Reuters. Filed in federal courts, the lawsuits accuse Apple of violating antitrust laws, and fundamentally costing consumers money.

It is alleged in the suits that Apple suppressed technologies for messaging apps, wallets, and similar functions and features. If it had made them more open, Apple could've increased competition in the smartphone market.

As a byproduct of Apple's supposed anti-competitive activity, Apple allegedly allowed the cost of products and services to inflate.

Apple did not respond to the report's request for comment.

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a lawfirm behind one of the new suits, claimed it was "pleased that the DOJ agrees with our approach." The firm previously sued Apple over anti-competitive behavior over its mobile wallet, and previously reached settlements with Apple over App Store policies and eBook pricing.

The three lawsuit, as well as the DoJ's own legal action, follow behind other lawsuits against Apple over anticompetitiveness. In February, one accusing Apple of using its App Store to keep prices high was granted class-action status.



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Kierkegaarden

It is alleged in the suits that Apple suppressed technologies for messaging apps, wallets, and similar functions and features. If it had made them more open, Apple could've increased competition in the smartphone market.

What technologies were suppressed, and in what way would there be more competition in the smartphone market if Apple had “made them more open”?  Did Microsoft bail on the smartphone market because of any of this?

Consumers were not harmed in any way.  Software has only gotten less expensive since Apple created the App Store.  Nothing will come of these garbage class action lawsuits from these scumbag lawyers.

hecalder

If you do not like the Apple products as a consumer you can buy other brands. Stop the false accusations. It’s called growing your company. I like its privacy apps store that it is not full of junk and spyware from government or other marketplaces and it allows me to decide who can gather information or not. Keep doing what you do Apple 

StrangeDays

Love to see how they demonstrate damages here, considering software prices have plummeted. 

foregoneconclusion

Not sure why Apple would be seen to benefit from suppressing something that is popular with consumers. You can just as easily make the argument that it would give a competitive advantage to Android. After all, Google's original marketing campaign for Android was entirely centered around all the things that Android allowed and iOS did not. Back in those days, there was a lot of sentiment in the tech sector that Apple's approach would be a competitive disadvantage in the long run. Now it's been turned completely on its head and you've got all these companies claiming that the open system is the one that is a competitive liability. And that is followed by the entirely contradictory idea that forcing iOS to also be open would somehow solve the problem. Which one is it? Open is a liability or a strength? People want to try and say it's both at the same time. 

mikethemartian

Apple is starting to look like the French queen in Mel Brooks History of the World Part I.

ForumPost

foregoneconclusion said:

Not sure why Apple would be seen to benefit from suppressing something that is popular with consumers. You can just as easily make the argument that it would give a competitive advantage to Android. After all, Google's original marketing campaign for Android was entirely centered around all the things that Android allowed and iOS did not. Back in those days, there was a lot of sentiment in the tech sector that Apple's approach would be a competitive disadvantage in the long run. Now it's been turned completely on its head and you've got all these companies claiming that the open system is the one that is a competitive liability. And that is followed by the entirely contradictory idea that forcing iOS to also be open would somehow solve the problem. Which one is it? Open is a liability or a strength? People want to try and say it's both at the same time. 

Agree

bklynguy999

I like Apple products but unlike the others posting here I'm not an Apple fanboy. Apple has egregiously implemented monopolistic anti-consumer policies and tactics since the release of the iPhone. It's not a simple matter of "if you don't like it then just buy something else." Apple has engaged in ruthless, criminal behavior for years with the sole aim of boosting it's profits into the stratosphere. Apple will be a MUCH better company when the DOJ strikes back against Apple and, hopefully, Tim Cook is eventually no longer there to enforce those sh*tty monopolistic tactics. GO DOJ!!!!

lam92103

Apple did restrict everyone else from their NFC hardware. Wallet apps may just have a standing here. Customers were harmed and were unable to use anything but Apple's own solutions

mattinoz

Feels like “consumers” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this article 

ihatescreennames

lam92103 said:

Apple did restrict everyone else from their NFC hardware. Wallet apps may just have a standing here. Customers were harmed and were unable to use anything but Apple's own solutions

Consumer harm needs to be proven. How were consumers harmed by using Wallet? All of my credit cards and my debit card work as I expect them to from Wallet. It would be more harmful to me if I had to find and use a different wallet for each of my credit cards and my debit card. 

freeassociate2

ihatescreennames said:

lam92103 said:

Apple did restrict everyone else from their NFC hardware. Wallet apps may just have a standing here. Customers were harmed and were unable to use anything but Apple's own solutions

Consumer harm needs to be proven. How were consumers harmed by using Wallet? All of my credit cards and my debit card work as I expect them to from Wallet. It would be more harmful to me if I had to find and use a different wallet for each of my credit cards and my debit card. 

Not to mention that Apple’s approach gave vendors additional incentive to implement touchless payment systems. Now almost all card issuers have touchless compatible cards. (Yes, I know that at a certain point the COVID-19 pandemic pushed most of the remaining holdouts into converts.)

freeassociate2

PS - Hagens BSS is a parasite.

danox

lam92103 said:

Apple did restrict everyone else from their NFC hardware. Wallet apps may just have a standing here. Customers were harmed and were unable to use anything but Apple's own solutions

Very uninformed and DEAD WRONG DEAD WRONG about the past........ In the beginning Apple offered most financial/retail outfits a chance most refused..... 10-12 years ago. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pay Look under History Apple was very open....

https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/10/26/jpmorgan-chase-partners-with-currentc-to-offer-apple-pay-alternative

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/10/25/cvs-follows-riteaids-lead-in-shutting-down-apple-pay/

https://www.ibtimes.com/home-depot-disables-apple-pay-nfc-wont-say-if-apple-will-be-welcomed-back-1907359

https://www.forbes.com/sites/homaycotte/2014/11/04/nfc-apple-pay-already-won/?sh=3d948b284cad

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2js0je/can_anyone_explain_where_apple_pay_is_actually/


As usual all the existing NFC pay services were supporting PC and Android systems and leaving Apple in the dust, so once again Apple had to roll up it's sleeves and create a new service to support their hardware from the ground up. Why? Because no one else would the reason used/given was Apples market is just too small the PC and Android markets are bigger markets. The same scenario is currently playing out with AAA games no Mac/Apple support in the gaming market.