Apple Sued By US Government Apple for having an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market

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Today the United States Department of Justice has sued Apple, claiming the company has maintained an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market, locking in its customers, driving up prices, and selectively imposing contractual restrictions on developers, withholding critical ways of accessing functionality to prevent competition.

"Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others", the DOJ says, along with the 16 state and district attorneys it filed the lawsuit with.

If you were wondering - yes, the green bubbles are mentioned. In fact, suppressing the quality of messaging between the iPhone and competing platforms is one of the main points of the case.

It also covers limiting the functionality of third-party smartwatches on its iPhones and making it hard for Apple Watch users to switch from the iPhone, and blocking third-party developers from creating competing digital wallets with tap to pay functionality for iOS. Ironically, Apple was recently forced to allow such third-party digital wallet functionality on iPhones in the EU through that bloc's newly enforced Digital Markets Act, but - Apple being Apple - it only opened that up in the EU and nowhere else.

Apple is also accused of "disrupting" so-called "super apps" (think WeChat / Weixin in China and you get the idea, we're talking apps that are messaging apps, payment apps, shopping apps, and even hubs for other apps all at the same time). Apple is said to have done this on purpose because it realized allowing such apps would degrade "iOS stickiness" and make it easier for users to switch to competing devices.