Even if it's a duopoly that counts for something.
In the USA, which is where this case matters; Apple has a monopoly on messages. iMessage is the most popular chat platform there.
In the USA, which is where this case matters; Apple has a monopoly on messages. iMessage is the most popular chat platform there.
What happens when you try to write a client for What’s App? https://austinhuang.me/barinsta.html
A 54% market share, compared to Google’s 46% market share doesn’t seem like a minority to me. It’s not a large majority, but it’s definitely not a minority market share in the US. And just for context, the Justice department filed an Antitrust suit against Google in 2020 for controlling 80% of the market share in search[1].
[0]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/266572/market-share-held...
[1]: https://www.investopedia.com/the-u-s-dept-of-justice-to-file...
I find it odd to argue that the 4ᵀᴴ most popular (likely less) messaging platform should be forced to open (primarily due to a huge misunderstanding of what monopolistic and anti-competitive practices actually are).
You might wonder why you'd group those three together without including other messaging apps. There's a few factors:
- Every phone comes with a texting app. It's the one that sends text messages to phone numbers
- Within a user's texting app, the underlying technology chosen by the app (SMS, RCS, iMessage) is mostly transparent and automatic. It is not a conscious choice by the user, nor is it something the texting app goes to pains to ensure you understand. And in Apple's case, it is not an option to choose a technology for a specific conversation, you can only configure the entire app to use one technology versus another.
- End users consider it to be an overall unified platform, despite the technology mess. Consumers say "I'll text you", they don't say I'll SMS you.