It never blocked competitors’ apps and services, and it doesn’t employ anticompetitive tactics preventing users from breaking out of its “walled garden,” Apple said in response to the antitrust lawsuit filed against it by the Department of Justice. The company refuted the agency’s claims in statements shared with Apple Insider, expanding upon its earlier response that the lawsuit would hinder its ability to create devices and software that made it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
The DOJ accused Apple of illegally monopolizing the software app market by imposing limitations on iOS that degrade the compatibility of innovative apps and cloud streaming services with the mobile platform. But the company claimed it only selectively restricts the APIs app developers have access to in order to protect user privacy and security. It gave the same reason for why it implements limitations for third-party digital wallets. The company also said that it never blocked “super apps” from its platforms, pointing out that Facebook, WeChat and Line are available for iOS users. Game streaming services, it clarified, have always been welcome in the App Store, as well.
In response to the accusation that it is anticompetitive for the Apple Watch to be capable of deeper integration with the iPhone compared to rival wearables’, the company explained that offering wide support for all smartwatches means having to develop products with every OS and model in mind. Most importantly, Apple denied that it’s making it difficult for users to switch to competing products, whether it’s because of iMessage’s lack of interoperability with Android or any other reason. Users can easily transfer data from iPhone to Android devices, it reportedly said while suggesting that people may not be switching to its competitors because they simply love its products.
Apple previously said that the lawsuit, if successful, would “set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.” It vowed to “vigorously defend against it.” US Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a press release, however, that “Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone” and that it’s “discouraging innovation” that threatens its monopoly by stifling innovation.
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