Apple’s long and bitter war against monopoly in the App Store

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It was 1998, and personal computer giant Microsoft was on trial for violating antitrust laws, including targeting smaller rival Apple. Apple occupied only a small portion of the computer market, while Microsoft accounted for 80 percent. But its cross-platform QuickTime multimedia player threatened Microsoft’s own offerings, and The court decided That Microsoft tried to squash it – leading Apple to abandon the version of QuickTime for Windows implied that it would limit the tool’s distribution options if Apple didn’t back down.

Anyone who has used an electronic device lately probably knows that Apple’s position has changed. It may never have beaten Microsoft to the PC market, but it reigns supreme in the much larger category of mobile computing. It makes money from almost every layer of the ubiquitous iPhone: the phone’s hardware, many accessories like earbuds and location trackers, first-party software services like Apple Music, and commissions from developers whose apps populate the App Store. Even the iOS search bar is a moneymaker, thanks to a revenue-sharing deal that sets Google Search as the default.

All this power, combined with Apple’s tight control over its mobile ecosystem, has raised a lot of problems. Some hardware and software developers say Apple copied and integrated tools they created (a practice known as Sherlocking). Forbid them By blocking her from accessing certain iOS features that her gadget has access to — the former isn’t usually illegal, but the latter can be. Many app makers criticize the App Store commission, known as the “Apple tax.” Developers and users alike are sometimes frustrated by Apple’s lack of support for third-party app stores or sideloading, which rival phone maker Google allows (albeit with its own anticompetitive restrictions).

Over the past decade in particular, Apple has joined the growing number of major technology companies facing antitrust action. One of its most prominent critics fortnite The manufacturer, Epic Games, has filed legal complaints in several countries, seeking to use its payment system and Launching a third-party app store on iOS. Governments around the world – including the United States, the European Union, Brazil, Korea, and Japan – have also joined in the move, seeking to open the walls of Apple’s digital garden.

In an industry full of sprawling, multi-faceted tech empires, the basic antitrust argument against Apple is relatively simple: It has become the ultimate gatekeeper to billions of people’s essential computing devices, keeping competitors locked out while exacting heavy losses on the developers it lets through. The details are different, but in some ways, they strike the same emotional notes as the old case against Microsoft — both stories about a company that limits what you can do with your personal device.

However, dealing with the legal implications of iOS design has proven complex. In fact, changing it is becoming more difficult.

Regulators and courts around the world have ordered changes at Apple, particularly in the App Store, but those changes have been slow to arrive, in part because Apple has been falling behind at every turn for half a decade or more.

The US lawsuit filed by Epic in 2020 was one of Apple’s most high-profile antitrust battles. Epic asked the judge to make Apple open iOS to third-party app stores and alternative in-app payment methods. Apple mostly prevailed — in a 2021 ruling, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers largely accepted its argument that iOS’s walled garden design provided real safety benefits and was not unfairly anticompetitive.

But the company has spent years fighting for a relatively small patch: something that allows developers to add links or buttons to external web-based payment systems. The courts have decided that Apple Intentionally failing to comply With the application, including by adding “exorbitant” fees for its use. (This wasn’t the first time this type of fee had been applied either Failure to comply With demands from Dutch regulators to allow third-party payments for dating apps in 2022, which will result in tens of millions of dollars in fines.)

Apple also avoided becoming collateral damage in a different antitrust suit, United States vs. Google. This case found that Google monopolized the search market through methods such as its search deal with Apple. But a judge He refused to ban such deals After Apple testified that it could significantly harm its business.

In other countries, Apple has faced tougher demands – most notably in the European Union, whose Digital Markets Act (DMA) is specifically designed to create competition in the world of technology. Under regulatory pressure in 2024, Apple began Allow third-party app stores On iOS in the European Union. But it did so with a number of restrictions and additional fee structures that discouraged developers from switching. A year later, it became one of the first companies (along with Meta) to face fines for it DMA violationwith the European Union citing “very stringent” requirements and new fees. Aside from the App Store, Apple has Also avoid bringing Certain hardware features to the EU, including Live Translation for AirPods and iPhone Mirroring; The difficulty of supporting these features on third-party devices is blamed on DMA rules.

Despite Apple’s continued opposition, tangible changes have occurred. For more than a decade, this has been impossible to do Actually buy e-books Through Amazon’s Kindle iOS app, for example — but in mid-2025, Amazon used a US court order to start including “Get Book” links. the Alternative iOS app store AltStore Launched in the European Union and Japan, with plans to expand to Brazil and other countries; She launched her epic Epic Games Store on iOS In Europe too. Although Epic hasn’t released numbers for the iOS Store’s popularity, AltStore said it has “Hundreds of thousands of users” As of last October. And in China, Apple recently Reduced developer fees In attempts to avoid possible investigation.

But for many people, the antitrust action hasn’t significantly changed the iPhone experience. Various third party store in EU, Setapp, It closed earlier this year Citing “business terminology that is still evolving and complex”; Apple and the European Union They are sparring About who is at fault. iOS remains effectively one of two global smartphone platforms, and Apple retains enormous power on every level of them.

Apple will likely continue to struggle with governments. More countries, such as Australiapushed pro-competitive regulatory reforms. In 2024, the US Department of Justice filed an iOS antitrust case against Apple, and it is slowly moving toward trial — though judges could be cautious about ordering drastic remedies even if the companies are declared monopolies. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators appear prepared To keep pushing for more changes – which may become a pressing issue for Apple in the coming year.

The EU and Apple will also continue to define what DMA compliance looks like for iOS. Apple initially planned to launch a New fee structure at the beginning of 2026, but the EU allegedly “refused to let us implement the very changes they requested”, failed to respond to the compliance plan and used “political delaying tactics”.

Right now, there is a more pressing potential non-regulatory threat to Apple: the rise of generative artificial intelligence. Companies like OpenAI want to build a new computing pipeline that can bypass the current system of phones and app stores, including by offering… their own devices. Apple has had relatively few successes in the field of artificial intelligence, and it remains the same Depends on other companies As he tries Fix Siri With her. In theory, that could put it in the position of an existing tech giant that’s about to be undermined by new technology — roughly the position Microsoft found itself in in the 1990s with the Web.

But Apple has survived other attempts to bring it down, such as Mark Zuckerberg’s failed multibillion-dollar attempt. push metaverse. The AI ​​race is not lost yet Put an impact on phone sales. Early attempts at AI-first phone alternatives have been lackluster, and no one has been able to figure out what the AI ​​app economy looks like yet. So the battles over Apple’s power likely won’t stop anytime soon.