Apple iPhones account for more than 50% of mobile Internet traffic in the US (https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/m...f August 2022, 53.74,internet users in the US.)
Apple requires all iOS browser apps to exclusively use Apple's Webkit engine in order to be admitted into the App Store, meaning that if a browser developer wants their iOS app to be downloaded by the general public, the developer has to use the Webkit engine. The developer can't use, say, Chromium. (https://www.computerworld.com/artic...gainst-apple-ban-on-third-party-browsers.html)
I am not a lawyer, but I have concluded, based on these facts, that: 1) Apple essentially has a monopoly on mobile devices, and 2) Apple is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1980.
I arrive at the latter conclusion based on the fact that Microsoft had employed technical mechanisms and other mechanisms to prevent the installation of browsers that competed with Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser, and had gotten in trouble with the US government for so doing. It seems Apple is basically doing the same thing Microsoft got in trouble for.
(BTW, an appellate court ruled that this wasn't an antitrust violation, but the Department of Justice settled out-of-court with Microsoft)
Apple requires all iOS browser apps to exclusively use Apple's Webkit engine in order to be admitted into the App Store, meaning that if a browser developer wants their iOS app to be downloaded by the general public, the developer has to use the Webkit engine. The developer can't use, say, Chromium. (https://www.computerworld.com/artic...gainst-apple-ban-on-third-party-browsers.html)
I am not a lawyer, but I have concluded, based on these facts, that: 1) Apple essentially has a monopoly on mobile devices, and 2) Apple is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1980.
I arrive at the latter conclusion based on the fact that Microsoft had employed technical mechanisms and other mechanisms to prevent the installation of browsers that competed with Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser, and had gotten in trouble with the US government for so doing. It seems Apple is basically doing the same thing Microsoft got in trouble for.
(BTW, an appellate court ruled that this wasn't an antitrust violation, but the Department of Justice settled out-of-court with Microsoft)
