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> Apple was offering an integrated product that it fully controlled and customers were fully aware of, and is thus, under U.S. antitrust law, free to set the pr

> Apple was offering an integrated product that it fully controlled and customers were fully aware of, and is thus, under U.S. antitrust law, free to set the price of entry however it chooses. I'm no expert in US antitrust laws, but this statement makes no sense to me. So I can basically establish an absolute monopoly by creating a product that I control entirely, with no support for 3rd-party providers for software, payments etc., which only supports hardware that is manufactured and certified by myself, and I can establish whatever entry price I want for it, as long as I'm very explicit that I'm selling a closed and monopolist product, and customers are aware of it? If that's indeed the case, then the US antitrust laws are quite broken.

graeme 3y ago
You aren’t allowed to do that, but the iPhone is not a monopoly product. Market share is about 57%, just barely over the minimum threshold for a monopoly finding. But crucially the phone market is quite competitive. People can easily switch and the iPhone does not have unrestrained pricing power. People tend to enthusiastically vs grudgingly buy an iPhone. If someone made a better product tomorrow it is easy to switch. “It is big and makes money and I dislike it” is not a monopoly criteria. You can read them here. https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/monopolization-defined https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...
- freedomben 3y ago
  > If someone made a better product tomorrow it is easy to switch. That is most certainly not the case for everybody. Sure you can just buy a new phone and move over your phone number, but you'll lose all of your purchases, your cloud storage (for many people all their family photos), interoperability with other (Apple) products, conversation history (iMessage), etc. If you never buy any apps and only use third parties for communication, then sure it's "easy" but most people are not in that boat.

graeme 3y ago

You aren’t allowed to do that, but the iPhone is not a monopoly product. Market share is about 57%, just barely over the minimum threshold for a monopoly finding. But crucially the phone market is quite competitive. People can easily switch and the iPhone does not have unrestrained pricing power. People tend to enthusiastically vs grudgingly buy an iPhone. If someone made a better product tomorrow it is easy to switch. “It is big and makes money and I dislike it” is not a monopoly criteria. You can read them here. https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/monopolization-defined https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/gui...

freedomben 3y ago
> If someone made a better product tomorrow it is easy to switch. That is most certainly not the case for everybody. Sure you can just buy a new phone and move over your phone number, but you'll lose all of your purchases, your cloud storage (for many people all their family photos), interoperability with other (Apple) products, conversation history (iMessage), etc. If you never buy any apps and only use third parties for communication, then sure it's "easy" but most people are not in that boat.