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The Department of Justice and more than a dozen states have filed a lawsuit against Apple<\/a> in the US federal court, accusing the company of violating antitrust laws. It says Apple\u2019s hardware and software products are largely inaccessible to competitors, making it difficult for rivals to compete and for customers to switch to other companies\u2019 products.<\/p>\n The lawsuit comes after the European Commission fined Apple \u20ac1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) for stopping music-streaming developers from \u201cinforming iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available\u201d outside the App Store. And all this while US lawmakers chase another tech company, TikTok, with a lot of enthusiasm<\/a>.<\/p>\n The DOJ suggests Apple used its control over iOS to block innovative apps and cloud streaming services from the public. (Look at cloud gaming services, like Google\u2019s now-gone Stadia and Microsoft\u2019s xCloud<\/a>). The suit also suggests Apple has obstructed rival payment platforms, made it harder for Android messages to appear on iPhones and restricted how competing smartphones integrated with iOS devices.<\/p>\n You could<\/em> compare Apple\u2019s antitrust suit to Microsoft\u2019s antitrust suit brought against Windows in the late \u201990s \u2014 even Attorney General Merrick Garland noted those in the suit. But Microsoft truly<\/em> dominated PC software back then, with over 90 percent of all PCs running some flavor of Windows.<\/p>\n The DOJ says Apple claims 70 percent of all smartphones, which is already less. Step outside the US, which is a bit academic here, and Apple has the same market share as Samsung, with many other phone makers jostling for a percentage point or two. It\u2019s not quite the same grip as Microsoft had on PCs.<\/p>\n \u2014 Mat Smith<\/p>\n