Apple, iMessage and Antitrust
Here’s a question: How much would Apple suffer if it opened up iMessage to Android? The widespread assumption—including within Apple itself—is that by removing a major impediment to people using Android, such a move would boost sales of the devices based on the Google operating system, at the expense of the iPhone. But that may not be as true as it was in the past. Consumers’ attachment to their iPhones is now so strong, and the array of devices of a similar quality is so limited, that the long-term impact on sales may prove to be much less than people think.
This may become more than just a thought experiment, given the growing signs that Apple’s iMessage lockdown could be the focus of a government antitrust lawsuit. On Friday The New York Times reported that the Justice Department is nearing the conclusion of a long-running antitrust investigation into Apple. Among the issues under scrutiny, The Times reported, is how Apple uses iMessage to keep competitors at bay. This has been a hot issue lately: Apple’s recent actions to block an app by the startup Beeper, which offered Android users an iMessage workaround, sparked calls for antitrust action from lawmakers last month.
Whether Apple would lose such a case is, of course, far from certain. It’s not exactly clear that Apple is doing anything illegal by keeping iMessage for its own products: After all, Apple created the iPhone and iMessage. It shouldn’t be punished because those are popular services. It may not seem fair that Apple doesn’t allow iMessage to interoperate with Android, but businesses don’t have to play fairly. If you don’t like the iPhone, you can use an Android happily: You just can’t get the benefits of iMessage. The same holds true for other things Apple does that the DOJ is reportedly investigating, such as ensuring that the Apple Watch works better with the iPhone than other, non-Apple devices do.
Even so, a lengthy antitrust lawsuit wouldn’t be great news for Apple. It would create uncertainty and distraction for management, among other things. Perhaps Apple should examine how much of a business impact it would really suffer by opening up iMessage, if doing so could short-circuit a lawsuit. In fact, by putting the phone on a level playing field with Android as regards services, Apple could demonstrate the true superiority of its device.