I wonder about that, because the Sherman anti-trust act says
1. "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal."
which is, extremely vague.
I think you are right, intuitively, creating a mobile platform on which only your approved vendors may sell is not breaking anti-trust because you created that platform and there was conspiracy or anti-trade sentiment involved in just the platform getting popular. Certainly we can agree it would not be a monopoly if the iphone only had a market of a few thousand people and apple controlled the app store.
At the same time, the law is so vague that it could easily be applied to Apple. All the Sherman anti-trust act seems to require is some kind of interstate or foreign trade (to bring it under Federal Jurisdiction) and a large control of any kind of Trade, which it seems to me could be applied against Apple on the whim of the Feds.
The question a judge would ask if this came to court is does the app store constitute a monopoly and is apple using that monopoly to it's advantage to crush competition. And I think the app store is a monopoly and of course when you have a monopoly you are going to use it to prevent people from competing with you.
1. "Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal."
which is, extremely vague.
I think you are right, intuitively, creating a mobile platform on which only your approved vendors may sell is not breaking anti-trust because you created that platform and there was conspiracy or anti-trade sentiment involved in just the platform getting popular. Certainly we can agree it would not be a monopoly if the iphone only had a market of a few thousand people and apple controlled the app store.
At the same time, the law is so vague that it could easily be applied to Apple. All the Sherman anti-trust act seems to require is some kind of interstate or foreign trade (to bring it under Federal Jurisdiction) and a large control of any kind of Trade, which it seems to me could be applied against Apple on the whim of the Feds.
The question a judge would ask if this came to court is does the app store constitute a monopoly and is apple using that monopoly to it's advantage to crush competition. And I think the app store is a monopoly and of course when you have a monopoly you are going to use it to prevent people from competing with you.