Robert Bork Jr. on DOJ’s Taste-Setting Lawsuit Against Apple

March 22, 2024

Sometimes, when I wonder if I am right on the issues, I simply go to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Twitter-feed to make sure she’s taking the opposing view. Then I know I am right. This morning, Sen. Warren wrote: “It’s time to break up Apple’s monopoly.”

Monopoly? Really?

I come from a mixed family, smartphone-wise. Some of us are Apple. Some of us are Android. All of us are happy. But each of us is happy precisely because we get to choose what we like. For myself, I prefer Apple’s sleek design, screen controls that a caveman could master, and the ability to groove inside Apple’s comfortable garden.

DOJ’s lawsuit seeks to reduce the Apple experience for consumers. Peter Coy in The New York Times today identifies on what’s so wrong about DOJ’s lawsuit against Apple. Coy writes:

“If the government gets its way, the walls of Apple’s walled garden will be partially torn down and Apple’s suite of products, built around the omnipresent iPhone, will be a little more like a public utility — a platform that Apple’s rivals can use to reach their customers.

“That seems to me like stretching what antitrust law is for. I sympathize with Adam Kovacevich, a tech policy wonk, who wrote on Medium: ‘People vote with their pocketbooks — and have switched back and forth between Androids and iPhones. So why should the government force iPhones to look more like Androids?’

When I whip out my iPhone, I don’t want something that looks like it was put together by my local gas utility. Apple users like me want a comfortable and somewhat curated environment, with a hint of luxury. Others want the Android or Samsung experience. If DOJ Antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter gets his way, regulators will design the smartphone equivalent of a Yugo.