Elizabeth Warren accuses Apple and others of trying to hamper rivals
- jun
- 30
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has accused a number of large technology companies, including Apple, of using their platforms to lock out competition from smaller rivals. In a recent speech, Warren targeted Apple, Google, and Amazon for what she believes is the abuse of their dominant industry positions. Particularly, she said Apple made it difficult for rivals to compete with Apple Music.
From Recode:
Google, she said, uses "its dominant search engine to harm rivals of its Google Plus user review feature;" Apple "has placed conditions on its rivals that make it difficult for them to offer competitive streaming services" that compete with Apple Music; and Amazon "uses its position as the dominant bookseller to steer consumers to books published by Amazon to the detriment of other publishers."
While the three companies didn't respond to Warren's speech, Jonathan Prince, communications head for Spotify did, specifically calling out Apple over its subscription practices.
Apple has long used its control of iOS to squash competition in music, driving up the prices of its competitors, inappropriately forbidding us from telling our customers about lower prices, and giving itself unfair advantages across its platform through everything from the lock screen to Siri.
While Warren did focus on these companies during her speech, her primary focus was on her fellow politicians, who she feels have not done enough to promote competition and prevent the sort of abuses that she claims Apple, Google, and Amazon are perpetrating.