Break up big tech's 'monopoly', smaller rivals tell Congress hearing

guest · Jan 18, 2020

Break up big tech's 'monopoly', smaller rivals tell Congress hearing
January 17, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...er-rivals-tell-congress-hearing-idUSKBN1ZG17J

In April 2019, Tile.com, which helps users find lost or misplaced items, suddenly found itself competing with Apple Inc, after years of enjoying a mutually beneficial relationship with the iPhone maker.

The smart-tracker startup was one of four companies that testified at the latest hearing of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee in Colorado on Friday. The smaller companies are seeking to urge Congress to look at how big tech use their considerable clout to hurt rivals.

Similar investigations are underway at the Justice Department, at the Federal Trade Commission, and with a bipartisan collection of attorneys general from dozens of states.

“After thoughtful consideration and months of bringing our concerns to Apple through regular... channels, Tile has made the decision to continue raising concerns over Apple’s anti-competitive practices,” Tile’s general counsel Kirsten Daru told Reuters in an interview ahead of the hearing.
Click to expand...

On Friday, Cicilline delivered a scathing statement against big tech. “Companies... both large and small, have found themselves dependent on the arbitrary whim of these platform giants, one algorithm tweak away from ruin,” Cicilline said.

“Because their decisions are largely unaccountable, opaque, and result in sweeping consequences, the dominant platforms effectively serve as private regulators,” he said.

PopSockets, a seller of collapsible phone grips, testified against Amazon.
Barnett said Amazon required PopSockets to pay almost $2 million in marketing so it could market its products as originals in the face of a wave of counterfeits. The online retailer “frequently lowered their selling price of our product and then expected and needed us to help pay for the lost margin,” he said.
Click to expand...

guest · Jan 18, 2020

Tile:
Tile goes to Congress to battle Apple before AirTags competitor even gets unveiled
January 17, 2020
https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/17/tile-apple-antitrust-opening-statement/

We learned just this morning that Tile would be testifying to Congress over antitrust concerns aimed at Apple along with Google and Amazon. Now that opening statements have been made in today’s hearing, we’ve learned specifics about Tile’s concerns when it comes to the Find My app, Apple’s yet to be announced AirTag product, and access to the iPhone’s hardware.

Over the last year, concerns about Apple using anti-competitive business practices have grown significantly. My colleague, Ben Lovejoy summed the official ones up this morning: [...]
The Verge’s Nilay Patel is at the hearing and shared some of the highlights of Tile’s opening statement.

Explaining Tile’s position further, Daru said that Apple is acting as a gatekeeper “in a way that favors its own interests,” and used a soccer analogy about Apple owning “the stadium, the ball, and the league” and that Apple “can change the rules when it wants.”
Click to expand...

guest · Jan 18, 2020

PopSockets:
PopSockets CEO says Amazon uses ‘bullying with a smile’ to press for lower prices
January 17, 2020
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/pop...g-with-a-smile-to-press-for-lower-prices.html

Popular phone accessory maker PopSockets accused Amazon of “strong-arming” it and failing to remove fake products.
David Barnett, CEO of PopSockets, testified during a House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee hearing on competition in the digital economy in Colorado on Friday.

“One of the strangest relationships I’ve had with a retailer is with Amazon,” Barnett said. “The agreement appears to be negotiated in good faith, but what happens is there are phone calls where we get bullying with a smile.”
Barnett said Amazon uses a variety of tactics to “bully” businesses, such as threatening to send excess inventory back at a cost to the company. He also disputed Amazon’s argument that there are other online marketplaces for businesses to sell their goods.

In 2018, PopSockets attempted to stop selling directly with Amazon, citing the aggressive pricing atmosphere and other controlling tactics, such as not allowing PopSockets to sell its products through a distributor.
During the hearing, Barnett said there were “enormous amounts of fake products” on Amazon, enough that PopSockets was finding 1,000 counterfeits each day.

“It really harmed our brand,” Barnett said.
Click to expand...

guest · Jan 18, 2020

Apple, Google and Facebook used market dominance to cripple competition says smaller firms
"Big Tech is bent on expanding until it does absolutely everything"
January 18, 2020
https://www.windowscentral.com/appl...inance-cripple-competition-says-smaller-firms

Sonos, Tile, Basecamp, and PopSockets have all testified to a House antitrust committee, stating that big tech firms like Amazon, Apple and Google used their market dominance and bullying business tactics to crush the competition.
As reported by Business Insider: [...]

Basecamp also raised concerns that Google allowed competitors to buy ads that would run whenever someone searched for its trademarked name, claiming that Basecamp had to pay $70,000 a year in ads to counteract the problem.
[...]
Both reports can be read in full, but if there's a foundation to the accusations being made by these smaller tech firms, they will serve as a damning report to congress about the way larger tech companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google conduct themselves
Click to expand...

Rasheed187 · Jan 18, 2020

mood said: ↑

Apple, Google and Facebook used market dominance to cripple competition says smaller firms
"Big Tech is bent on expanding until it does absolutely everything"
January 18, 2020
https://www.windowscentral.com/appl...inance-cripple-competition-says-smaller-firms
Click to expand...

I completely agree, it's time to put a stop to this. Smaller companies should be protected.

guest · Jan 19, 2020

Apple:
Here’s how Apple uses its monopoly tactics to crush small developers and startups
January 19, 2020
https://mspoweruser.com/heres-how-a...ctics-to-crush-small-developers-and-startups/

The only way to download 3rd party apps on the iPhone is through the Apple App Store. So, Apple has a monopoly over the App Store through which a billion iOS users download apps and games on their iPhone and iPad. Third-party developers who want to have their apps in the Apple App Store must adhere to certain guidelines. Since the guidelines are set by Apple, Apple may change it anytime to its benefit.

Recently, a group of small companies including Tile and Basecamp complained about Apple’s monopoly tactics to the Congressional antitrust subcommittee. Apple’s monopoly tactics stifle innovation.
Here are some of the ways Apple abuses its monopoly position:
1) Huge 30% cut in sales:
Whenever someone buys an app or a game from the Apple App Store, Apple will take a huge 30% cut. [...] Since there are no alternative stores for iOS users, developers should pay this huge cut to Apple.
Click to expand...

2) Draconian App Store rules:
There are some ridiculous rules set by Apple. For example, you can’t tell users to go to a website for making a payment.
[...] Even though customers can save $3 per month when signing up for Spotify through the website, Spotify can’t tell this information to its users during sign-up. If it does, Apple will remove Spotify from the App Store.
3) Competing with 3rd party apps:
Since Apple has all the App Store data related to which apps and services are gaining users, how much revenue they make and several other crucial data, Apple suddenly enters a market and crushes the competition from 3rd party developers.
4) Restricting key API access to 3rd party apps:
In order to provide better user experience than the 3rd party apps, Apple will restrict 3rd party apps from accessing specific APIs and hardware.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, the US government will soon take a look into Apple’s practices and order necessary actions to enable 3rd party developers to effectively compete with Apple.
Click to expand...

guest · Jan 22, 2020

6 reasons smaller companies want to break up Big Tech
January 22, 2020
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/2...ogle-facebook-house-hearing-congress-break-up

Big Tech has a target on its back. Right now in the US, there are multiple, simultaneous government investigations focused on the business practices of each of the four Big Tech giants — Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook — that could someday lead to the breakup of these companies or major changes in how they operate.

But last week, top executives from four smaller, competing companies — the wireless speaker company Sonos, the cellphone grip maker PopSockets, the gadget startup Tile, and the business software company Basecamp — laid out their complaints at a public hearing before the House of Representatives Antitrust Subcommittee.
These testimonies could provide guideposts for the ongoing investigations into the Big Four as regulators and lawmakers consider whether the tech giants have broken current laws or if the US’s antitrust laws need a modern makeover.
Click to expand...

1) Tech giants use their power in one market to crush competitors in another
2) Tech giants have so much power that fair business negotiations are impossible
3) Big Tech companies infringe on small competitors’ patents today because they’ll control the market by the time they have to pay up tomorrow
4) Big Tech companies prioritize “monopoly rent” over the best interest of business partners and consumers
5) Tech giants are both participants in and owners of their platforms, and so they tilt the playing field in their direction
6) The online dossiers that Facebook and Google have amassed on their users give them too much power

On one hand, it’s worth keeping in mind that all of the above accusations are still just that — accusations — and ones made from business leaders whose businesses might prosper more easily in a world where these giants were less powerful.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 2, 2020

Tile Claims Apple's Anticompetitive Behavior Has 'Gotten Worse, Not Better'
April 1, 2020
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/01/tile-apple-anticompetitive-behavior/

Apple's anticompetitive behaviors have gotten worse over the course of the last few months rather than better, Tile claimed in a congressional panel today, reports Reuters.

Executives from Tile, PopSockets, Sonos, and Basecamp in January testified in front of a congressional hearing in an ongoing antitrust inquiry launched by the U.S. government against tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google.

"Despite Apple's multiple promises to reinstate 'Always Allow' background permissions option for third party apps' geolocation services, Apple has not yet done so," Tile said. Always-on location access is crucial for the Tile app's ability to locate nearby Tile hardware.
There is evidence that Apple is developing small, Bluetooth-enabled tracking tags that will be able to be attached to wallets, keys, and other items to allow them to be located in the ‌Find My‌ app.
AirTags will directly compete with Tile's Bluetooth tracking tags [...]

Apple opted not to comment on what Tile had to say, but pointed Reuters to its previous statement made in January.
Click to expand...

guest · May 29, 2020

Tile Writes to EU Accusing Apple of Abuse of Power
May 29, 2020
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/29/tile-writes-to-eu-accusing-apple-of-abuse-of-power/

Bluetooth accessory maker Tile has written to the European Union accusing Apple of abuse of power and of illegally favoring its own products.

According to a report by Financial Times, in a letter sent on Tuesday to the European Commissioner for Competition, the accessory maker said that Apple is making it harder for users to use Tile products on iPhone because it has its own rival Find My app.

In a letter sent to European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday, California-based tracking app maker Tile argued that Apple was making it more difficult for users to operate its product on their smartphones compared to Apple's own rival application, FindMy, by selectively disabling features that allow for seamless user experience.
The report notes that Apple is also rumored to be launching its own AirTags item tracking tags soon.
Click to expand...

In the letter, Tile goes on to claim that its product is being denied "equal placement" on the App Store and that Apple has terminated its agreement to sell Tile products in its retail stores, perhaps with one eye on the upcoming launch of ‌AirTags‌.
The EU has said it intends to reply to Tile's letter and will launch preliminary investigations following the allegations.
Click to expand...

guest · Jul 25, 2020

Apple scrutinized for 'Find My' restrictions placed on third-party developers
July 24, 2020
https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...restrictions-placed-on-third-party-developers

Apple will soon widen its "Find My" feature to allow third-party devices to be tracked, but not without a concerning number of restrictions, according to some developers.

In iOS 14, Apple will launch new Find My network accessory program, which allows Apple customers to track third-party items, like object trackers such as Tile or any other devices that can be integrated into the platform.
However, it appears that third-party companies will have to adhere to far more stringent rules if they want to take advantage of Find My.

An anonymous developer shared a copy of an Apple document that detailed the rules they were expected to follow with The Washington Post. The document, which totaled 50 pages, details how customers will be able to interact with Find My.
Click to expand...

Developers were also expected to sign a document entitled "Limited License to Find My Network Accessory Spec," which prevented them from going public with Apple's new Find My criteria. An anonymous developer shared the details of the document with The Post, pointing out that the confidentiality agreement was notably more strict than the ones they'd seen in the past.
Click to expand...

9To5Mac: Apple’s Find My app third-party support comes with a catch for developers and users

Based on a response from Apple to the WP, it sounds as if it is discouraging companies like Tile or Chipolo to use the new Find My functionality and is aiming for it to be used by much smaller businesses.
The news will certainly add more scrutiny to Congress and Europe’s investigation into Apple’s possible antitrust practices that include Tile’s claims about the situation.
Click to expand...

guest · Sep 3, 2022

Apple may face a DOJ antitrust complaint over AirTags
The DOJ seems interested in more than just the App Store.
By Amrita Khalid @askhalid - August 26, 2022

Apple may be facing a potential US Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit — but this time focused on AirTags and its other hardware. Sources told Politico that DOJ lawyers are in the nascent stages of drafting an antitrust complaint against the tech giant. While these sources indicated the DOJ has taken an interest in Apple's hardware, there's no guarantee the agency will follow through with a lawsuit at this time.

The new potential suit reportedly may go further and hone in on years of public complaints by tracking device maker Tile over Apple’s AirTags.
Click to expand...

AirTags use ultra-wideband technology and Apple's Find My network to locate devices, often much more precisely than Tile's early-model Bluetooth-enabled trackers. In testimony before Congress, Tile has alleged that Apple purposely disadvantaged Tile on iOS devices by walling off its Find My network.

The tech giant eventually opened its Find My network to third-party devices last year for location tracking, albeit with severe terms and restrictions which would likely result in companies like Tile having to give up their software ecosystems in favor of Apple's. Incidentally, this was a bargain Tile opted not to take.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Break up big tech's 'monopoly', smaller rivals tell Congress hearing

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Rasheed187 Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Break up big tech's 'monopoly', smaller rivals tell Congress hearing

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Rasheed187 Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Useful Searches