Apple now optimize their hardware for playback of ALAC. If they went with FLAC, they would probably optimize their hardware for FLAC instead, meaning others cou

Apple now optimize their hardware for playback of ALAC. If they went with FLAC, they would probably optimize their hardware for FLAC instead, meaning others could also take advantage of their optimizations. But that's exactly why they went with their own format, so they can claim it's more battery efficient or something, compared to others who use open standards but the hardware is not optimized for it.