Let’s face it: the good people at Apple believe that they’re just smarter than the rest of us. When Epic Games sued the company over their monopolistic practices – taking such a huge vig from products in the app store, Apple did win most of the civil suit, but had to make concessions to comply with California law.

Apple attempted to block Epic from starting a competing app store. Until Apple Reverse(d) Course and Allow(ed) Epic Games to Start (One), said the New York Times. “Days after Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, complained publicly that Apple had blocked it from starting a competing app store in Europe, the technology companies said Apple had reversed course and would allow Epic to go ahead with its plan.” But only did so to comply with a new European tech competition law.

Think Different might not always be such a good idea after all and damn those pesky laws! What’s a mother – or monopoly – to do?

Said CNBC, “Apple plans to charge big companies that eschew its app store 50 cents per download.”

Enter the Justice Department who’s suing Apple over iPhone monopoly in a landmark antitrust case. As CNBC reported, “The Justice Department (is) saying that the iPhone maker has a monopoly over the phone market that harmed consumers, developers, and rival companies.

“Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Apple accountable and ensure it cannot deploy the same, unlawful playbook in other vital markets,” the U.S. government said in the release,” referencing the Epic lawsuit.

“Apple’s ecosystem, from the Apple Watch to Apple Pay, supports that monopoly, prosecutors said.

“The Justice Department said…that to keep consumers buying iPhones, Apple moved to block cross-platform messaging apps, limited third-party wallet and smartwatch compatibility, and disrupted non-App Store programs and cloud streaming services.”

“Today’s complaint alleges that Apple has engaged in many of the same tactics that Microsoft used,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland,” noting the parallels between this case and the landmark Microsoft antitrust case. “It’s not illegal to have a monopoly, as Garland also noted… It is, however, illegal to use certain tactics to perpetuate or maintain that monopoly — but to prove that, you have to prove the defendant has sufficient market power to foreclose competitors.”

The Epic Games kerfuffle and Apple’s response turned out to be much more epic than perhaps we – and Apple – might have imagined. For the record, re Apple’s sudden ‘benevolent’ reversal, the EU’s Digital Markets Act, requires Apple to give app makers alternatives for selling software to iPhone and iPad users, including the ability to use competing app stores and payment systems other than its own.”

Oops.

Apple Hubris

“When an iPhone user puts a credit or debit card in Apple Wallet, Apple inserts itself into the process that would otherwise occur directly between the user and the card issuer,” Garland said in the CNBC piece.

Prosecutors highlighted one exchange between Cook and a consumer.

“Not to make it personal but I can’t send my mom certain videos,” the complaint says one user told Cook, referring to a 2022 interview at a Vox Media event.

“Buy your mom an iPhone,” Cook responded.”

Which pretty much says it all and note to self and founders/monopolist-hopefuls: always a good idea to at least try to keep your hubris in check.

“Developers have gone as far as creating apps that can circumvent the platform limitations, only to be shut down by Apple.”

Apple’s argument is that it delivers the integrated experience consumers expect while fostering competition – as long as they get their onerous vig at every turn – which isn’t exactly ‘fostering competition.’

“Apple isn’t the only big tech company facing government scrutiny. The DOJ filed an antitrust case against Google in 2020 over its dominant search position and in another year over its advertising business,” CNBC reported.

‘Walled gardens’ is such a pretty phrase, and that’s what the big platforms were proudly building as they proceed to create their crushing monopolies.

And lest you missed it, which seemingly the DOJ didn’t at least so far, is that there’s a big difference between creating a walled garden – and an electrified barbed wire fence. Onward and forward.