2024-03-22 12:34:39
Janelle Stecklein | Oklahoma Voice
Oklahoma on Thursday joined the Department of Justice, 14 other states and Washington D.C. in filing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple for allegedly monopolizing smartphone markets.
The complaintfiled in a New Jersey federal court, alleges that Apple engaged in “anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct” and has maintained that monopoly in part by imposing contractual restrictions on developers.
“Rather than respond to competitive threats by offering lower smartphone prices to consumers or better monetization for developers, Apple would meet competitive threats by imposing a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives,” the lawsuit alleges. “It has deployed this playbook across many technologies, products, and services, including super apps, text messaging, smartwatches, and digital wallets, among many others.”
The lawsuit alleges that unless the “anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct is stopped,” the company will extend the monopoly in other parts of the economy. The suit says that the company is “rapidly expanding its influence” in the automotive, content creation, entertainment and financial services industries.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office confirmed the state’s involvement in a statement, but Gentner Drummond did not comment specifically on the lawsuit.
An Apple spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday that the lawsuit “threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.
“If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect,” the spokesperson said. “It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology.”
In addition to Oklahoma and Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin are also listed as plaintiffs.
Janelle Stecklein is editor of Oklahoma Voice. An award-winning journalist, Stecklein has been covering Oklahoma government and politics since moving to the state in 2014.
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