DOJ Has An Eye On Apple

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The Department of Justice has its eye on Apple ahead of the company's upcoming release of its Beats Music service. Sources in the industry claim Apple is pushing major music labels to kill freemium music services.

Let’s be honest: It would be ideal for a business if it could somehow snap up every customer looking for a certain service. But because we (thankfully) live in a world filled with choices, companies instead must compete with rivals to get our hard-earned dollars. A new report says Apple is preparing to debut its new streaming music service by trying to put the squeeze on competitors like Spotify that offer content for free.
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As a person that is a passive consumer of music (I stream it, never buy it) I would be incensed if things like Pandora were killed off so Apple can control the market more.
 
I'm sure the industry doesn't need a whole lot of pushing. They tend to be pretty good at safeguarding sources of profit.
 
I am not sure how Apple can force them to do anything ... and aggressive business tactics shouldn't be illegal ... competition should be dog eat dog in a perfect world (and part of that model is attempting to drive your competitors out of business) ... if you are not trying to compete at that level then you are doing a disservice to your shareholders
 
Once again Apple attempts to screw the consumer, just as they did with electronic books.
 
If Apple ever manages to defeat Android, they can just like, break YouTube, Spotify and Pandora on all Apple devices with a software 'update'. Then follow-up with an open letter telling everyone these technologies are obsolete :rolleyes:
 
kbrickley said:
I am not sure how Apple can force them to do anything ... and aggressive business tactics shouldn't be illegal ... competition should be dog eat dog in a perfect world (and part of that model is attempting to drive your competitors out of business) ... if you are not trying to compete at that level then you are doing a disservice to your shareholders
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No, if Apple leverages their vast amount of wealth to kill off services in order to not compete, then that would be illegal. What the article is rumoring about is essentially what Microsoft did in the 90s.
 
it worked so well for ebooks... why not try it for music too.

once they get the market locked.. who cares what tiny fines the DOJ imposes...
 
Trimlock said:
No, if Apple leverages their vast amount of wealth to kill off services in order to not compete, then that would be illegal. What the article is rumoring about is essentially what Microsoft did in the 90s.
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You mean the stuff that the Microsoft did in the 90s that the DOJ found illegal and nearly caused them to split up the company?:rolleyes:

This is NOT aggressive business tactics, it is anti-competitive and abusing their position of power in one segment to unfairly compete in another.
 
Trimlock said:
What the article is rumoring about is essentially what Microsoft did in the 90s.
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Not even close. What Microsoft largely faced antitrust for was bundling Internet Explorer with windows.

The issue central to the case was whether Microsoft was allowed to bundle its flagship Internet Explorer (IE) web browser software with its Microsoft Windows operating system. Bundling them together is alleged to have been responsible for Microsoft's victory in the browser wars as every Windows user had a copy of Internet Explorer. It was further alleged that this restricted the market for competing web browsers (such as Netscape Navigator or Opera) that were slow to download over a modem or had to be purchased at a store.
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What Apple is trying to do here is outright anti competitive, colluding with publishers to force price matches on books and to compromise the existence of a competing music streaming service.

They've officially become worse than Microsoft ever was.
 
Yikes, nasty, nasty business.
I agree.. its well worth the risk to them..a fine here and there won't make a dent even if caught.
 
Sources also say that Apple is willing to pony up the music licensing fee YouTube pays to Universal Music Group if the label will stop allowing its songs for free on YouTube.
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That sounds a lot like a cut-throat anti-competitive business practice, which is potentially illegal, though it will ultimately be up to a judge to make that interpretation and/or decision...
 
kbrickley said:
I am not sure how Apple can force them to do anything ... and aggressive business tactics shouldn't be illegal ... competition should be dog eat dog in a perfect world (and part of that model is attempting to drive your competitors out of business) ... if you are not trying to compete at that level then you are doing a disservice to your shareholders
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Yes, because that type of deregulated free market worked so well in the past (see Standard Oil for example, or the banks).

What you're asking for is a market that becomes 100% anti-consumer. It'd allow Exxon (for example) to consume all competitors, block new entry, and then fix gas prices at .. Say $9. By application, that's not a free market at all, it becomes a fixed market.

For that type of theory to work, it would require that players in a market be ethical and not driven by greed. There's a reason that certain tactics are illegal. Such as leveraging your wealth/size to strongarm suppliers to squeeze the little man into a corner.
 
PedroDaGr8 said:
This is NOT aggressive business tactics, it is anti-competitive and abusing their position of power in one segment to unfairly compete in another.
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It's both!

techrat said:
Not even close. What Microsoft largely faced antitrust for was bundling Internet Explorer with windows.
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Well in all fairness, Microsoft did PLENTY of crap, that just happens to be what they went to court for. I think a better example would be Microsoft changing the code of Windows so that Wordperfect deliberately ran slower or was unstable while Word ran fine. Since they had the monopoly platform, they were able to exploit that in order to sabotage competition for Office and gain marketshare.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Once again Apple attempts to screw the consumer, just as they did with electronic books.
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Yup. Now they are getting colleges to switch their entire curriculums to iBooks that cannot be printed or owned. You cannot even view them without an Apple product. Screw that company and the sheep.
 
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