Apple responds to Biden 's DOJ Anti Trust suit...

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Apple claims that the DoJ is attempting to force it to spend money to develop tools for big business competitors, which could have a "chilling" effect on innovation. The DoJ suggested, for example, that Apple should have developed an iMessage app for Android.
iMessage is Apple's proprietary, innovative messaging service that Apple created to competitively differentiate iPhone. Under the Government's view, companies like Apple should face antitrust liability for not expending the resources, cost, and time to develop versions of proprietary products and services for competitors' devices.

Apple points out that the DoJ's complaint does not explain how Apple's alleged limiting of "super apps," cloud streaming apps, digital wallets, messaging apps, and competing smartwatches has harmed consumers or impacted consumer choice about which smartphone to purchase. For a successful antitrust lawsuit, the DoJ needs to prove that Apple's actions hurt consumers and stifle competition, and the DoJ argues that Apple has "locked" customers into its ecosystem.
It is implausible to claim, as the Government does, that Apple has deterred any customers from switching to Google or Samsung because of its policies with respect to "super apps," cloud gaming, smartwatches, or anything else. The opposite is much more plausible: Users unhappy with Apple's reasonable policies on third-party access can and do switch away to competitors' devices, where those limits do not exist.

Apple argues that it is not a monopolist because it faces competition from companies like Google and Samsung, preventing the government from establishing the "typical hallmarks of monopoly power." Apple does not have enough U.S. smartphone marketshare to make the monopoly claim easy for the government to establish. The DoJ has compared Apple to Microsoft, but Microsoft had a 95 percent share of the operating system market when it faced an antitrust lawsuit, while Apple's is closer to 65 percent.

Apple further suggests that the DoJ is aiming to have the court establish a "new theory of antitrust liability" that no prior court has recognized and that would provide "unprecedented authority to control Apple design choices." Apple says that the DoJ is targeting the very features that distinguish iPhones from competing devices, and if the DoJ ultimately wins the case, courts would need to "oversee product-design and policy choices," which they are not equipped to do.

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