CONNECTICUT, USA — Connecticut is joining the U.S. Department of Justice and 15 other attorneys general nationwide in a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
Attorney General William Tong made the announcement Thursday, saying the lawsuit was against the technology company's monopolization or attempted monopolization of smartphone markets, which is a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
The complaint alleges that Apple illegally maintains a monopoly over smartphones by implementing contract restrictions on developers as well as withholding critical access points. According to the suit, Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make people less reliant on the iPhone and lower costs for consumers.
The suit goes on to allege that Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract "more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and merchants," among others.
The Justice Department and state Attorneys General said that through the lawsuit, they are trying to seek relief and restore competition to these markets on behalf of the American people.
Tong said in his announcement that Apple was "abusing its monopoly power" and manipulating the market to disadvantage any other competing phones unfairly.
"Messaging between iPhones and other smartphones is deliberately degraded and made less secure by Apple. Want to quickly ‘tap-to-pay’ using a digital wallet other than Apple Wallet? No can do. Non-Apple smartwatches won’t fully sync with the iPhone, and the Apple Watch won’t sync with other smartphones," said Tong. "These are unfair and anticompetitive restrictions, among others, imposed by Apple to keep rivals out and prices up. Connecticut has joined the U.S. Department of Justice and 15 other attorneys general in filing this sweeping antitrust complaint to restore free and fair competition to the smartphone market and our increasingly digital economy."
The complaint alleges that Apple's anticompetitive course of conduct has taken many forums that continue to evolve every day. These include blocking "innovative super apps," suppressing mobile cloud streaming services, excluding cross-platform messaging apps, diminishing the functionality of non-Apple smartwatches, and limiting third-party digital wallets.
Apple Inc. is a publicly traded company incorporated in California and headquartered in Cupertino, California. In fiscal year 2023, Apple generated annual net revenues of $383 billion and net income of $97 billion. Apple’s net income exceeds any other company in the Fortune 500 and the gross domestic products of more than 100 countries.
In addition to Connecticut, Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin joined the complaint.
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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