Apple: Is Its Closed System a Monopoly?

This time, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in a lawsuit that has nothing to do with patent infringement. The plaintiffs allege Apple has a monopoly on iPhone apps, but Apple disagrees.

The alleged monopoly seems to come from the pipeline from app developers through the app market and to consumers. The suit was filed because that pipeline is more or less a single stream with no other options for consumers.

The argument is that an iPhone user has no alternatives for purchasing the apps. The price of an app in Apple’s app store is the only choice for the consumer, and with nowhere to turn for competitive prices, it could seem a bit like a monopoly.

But, Apple’s attorney, Dan Wall, argued that it doesn’t set the prices and that there’s nothing in violation of antitrust laws about charging a price for distribution of a product on its own platform. To U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Wall said, “there’s nothing illegal about creating a system that is closed in a sense.”