A question of trust
When we wrote about the new developer terms in iOS 4 - Apple's latest operating system for its mobile devices - we predicted a new phase of antitrust warfare in the tech industry, this time with Apple and Google pointing the finger at each other.
While an antitrust investigation into Google's acquisition of AdMob almost worked in Apple's favour - only for Apple to be instrumental in the eventual approval of the deal - according to the FT, US regulators are now switching their attention to Apple's mobile advertising activities.
Citing two sources close to the situation, the FT says US antitrust regulators plan to look into whether Apple is unfairly restricting rivals - with Google and Microsoft specified - with its new rules preventing ad networks owned by companies that also make rival operating systems from serving ads on iOS 4, and hence the iPod, iPad and iPhone.
Many commentators are arguing that it's Apple's platform and it should be free to do what it want with it. But that argument didn't serve Microsoft too well when it was investigated for bundling further Microsoft products with its Windows OS.
As Apple is going to continue to discover, once you reach a certain size, and your products command a certain market share and influence, the old rules no longer apply. While Apple was just a plucky upstart, battling the evil monopolist, any control it exercised over its own platform was deemed fair enough.
Now that it's one of the biggest companies in the world, and has created an app ecosystem that many third parties have based their business models on, it controls not just devices, but whole marketplaces. Battling restrictions in free trade and competition is what antitrust regulators live for, and Apple may end up being forced to open-up iOS to its primary competitors.
