Before you ask, yes I do have a law degree. Remember what happened to Microsoft. Microsoft was fined as being in violation of antitrust laws for merely bundling Internet Explorer with Windows for free. This was deemed anticompetitive and Microsoft had to pay a huge settlement to Netscape and other competing browsers and eventually make their Internet Explorer uninstallable. In the same fashion, I am absolutely certain that it is illegal for Apple to block Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox from making and releasing a competing web browser for the iPhone OS now that it is being used in the iPad as well (the iPad afterall is being marketed as a Tablet PC). Similarly, it was illegal for Apple to reject Google Voice from the App Store and they were told as such by a letter from the FCC. If some one was to sue Apple on these grounds, Apple would in fact lose. There is a very clear cut legal precedent here. It would be extremely unlikely for the judge to reverse it and rule in Apple's favor, unless he has a very good justification for doing so. Apple goes way beyond what Microsoft was found to be in violation of the law for. Not only do they bundle Safari with the iPhone OS, they actively disallow competitors from making competing browsers or competing products such as Google Voice. It's actually a very blatant violation of antitrust and I expect that it won't be long before Apple gets sued for it, and ends up having to pay a fine and having to change their policy. Also remember how Apple's policy states that you can't install OSX onto non Apple products. That also is an illegal policy. You have every right as an enduser to install any copy of OSX that you legally purchase onto any device that you want. It's the same legal justification for why it's legal for you to back up a cd or videogame that you purchased, as long as you don't give the backup out to other people. So what do you think? How long do you think it'll be before Apple gets sued for antitrust by someone, and we end up with a version of either Opera, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome on the iPhone with support for both Flash and Java?
Considering how neither Google or Mozilla have submitted their browsers to the AppStore, being sued is impossible.
That's actually true. HOWEVER, when we get to the launch of the iPad...... They'll probably get sued.
I find it funny how you (Jon Stewart) is not And that all of your posts have to do with Negativity about Apple.
Google could easily sue Apple over the rejection of Google Voice from the App Store, and if I were a betting man, I would bet 9:1 that Google would win.
Well, I don't have a law degree so I'll pose a question. Wasn't a key component to the Microsoft case the dominate market share they had for PCs. Without that component I'm not sure the case for anticompetative practices could have been sustained. Not sure if Apple holds a similarly dominate position in cell phone/web browsing devices. Remember Microsoft was so strong in the home computer market they almost drove out Apple too. Either way it would seem hard to call at this point. Good question to ponder though. What type of law do you practice? Have you tried to offer Google your services? Theoretically you could answer your own question.
I love when people who don't understand antitrust laws try to argue that Apple is vulnerable to some kind of antitrust judgement.
Wow, banned huh? Anything in particular that provoked that or was it just his collection of stupid threads he started?
Dude cool it with the anti-Apple threads. I mean I'm not a big fan of Apple either but holy Hades you take it to a whole new level.
That would have been the first lawyer I ever heard of who didn't file a case they swore they had nailed.
The 2 cases (Apple and Microsoft) are very different. Something makes me feel that implementing a browser on the iPhone would require the use of some non-public API-s which would cause any potential competitor to be unable to properly implement one. Further, Safari is way to good on the iPhone to be easily able to offer a better browser. Internet Explorer was pretty crappy in the days of the antitrust lawsuit, and other browser developers saw a market there. Not the case with the iPhone.
As strict about their soft/hardware as Apple is, they don't seem all that "antitrusting" to me. Sure, they have a pretty tight hold on Apple products themselves, but that's about it. MS was not limited to one brand of computer. And I was gonna wondering when this guy was gonna get banned!
