It appeared that Apple had the support of the Biden administration when it did not intervene in the dispute between Apple and Massimo. However, what was not expected is that it would be harshly sued by the DoJ, the Ministry of Justice, for abusive monopoly of its products and services.
Apple worked to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android
The technological news of all of 2024 broke out yesterday in the United States when the United States Department of Justice sued Apple due to abusive policies monopoly. Everyone was waiting for Apple to give an answer. However, what no one expected was that the company chaired by Tim Cook stated that it had been working for three years to force a compatibility which, theoretically, is impossible.
The United States Department of Justice used the Apple smart watch as an example to claim that Apple has a monopoly:
Apple's smart watch, the Apple Watch, is only compatible with the iPhone. Therefore, if Apple can direct a user toward purchasing an Apple Watch, it becomes more expensive for that user to purchase a different type of smartphone because doing so requires the user to abandon their expensive Apple Watch and purchase a new smartwatch. compatible with Android.
In response to the Court of Justice, the most valuable company in the world reported and confirmed that in the first generations of Watch it considered offering support to Android terminals. After three years of arduous research, the company scrapped this idea due to technical limitations.
Apple could have solid arguments in its defense of the monopoly
In 2023, the media 9to5Google reported that Apple Watch support for Android was almost complete, but that it was canceled due to fear that the iPhone could suffer the violations suffered by Google devices, according to Apple.
In this report it details that “Apple engineers were also deeply engaged in an effort to make the Watch and Health app compatible with the billions of Android devices in circulation.”
Despite this statement, it was clear that there was you disagree in carrying out this practice, since many investors and engineers in the company said that, if a Watch can be sold to Android, it would dilute not only the value of the iPhone, but the value of the watch.
Now, there are many doubts about whether what Apple proposes is true or if it is a bluff to buy time against the monopoly lawsuit, due to the fact that there are many questions that with such a brief statement are impossible to respond:
Would there be a third-party App Store like there is currently on the iPhone or would it only have access to basic functions?; Would health features that are only compatible with the iPhone be available? How many applications would Apple have to add to the Play Store to offer a similar experience?; If there is a connection problem, who is to blame? If WatchOS launches in September and is presented in June and Google does it at another time of the year, how compatible will the systems be?
He big success of the Apple Watch is the big cocompatibility y synchronization what you have had with him iPhone, becoming your ideal friend. If it had been compatible with Android, it would surely be much more limited and the user experience would not be the same. It is true that Apple exercises a monopoly with its products, but we also have to ask ourselves if a company that is capable of developing such a complex and efficient ecosystem should be “prohibited” from continuing its path.
