Apr 22, 2024
On her latest quest to break up big tech, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is targeting Apple.
In a video posted on X, Warren highlighted how the iPhone maker's use of green text messages is “ruining relationships.”
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“Green texts on iPhones, they're ruining relationships. That's right, non-iPhone users everywhere are being excluded from group texts from sports teams chats to birthday chats to vacation plan chats. They're getting cut out, missing out on plans and conversations. And who's to blame here? Apple,” she said.
Warren is referring to the fact that when iPhone users send texts to each other, they use Apple's iMessage system, which shows messages in blue bubbles. However, texts from non-iPhone instead appear in green bubbles.
She stated that this practice is merely one of the “dirty tactics” employed by the Cupertino-based tech company to “keep a stranglehold on the smartphone market.”
Monopoly on smartphones?
Warren's criticism of Apple extends beyond the issue of green text bubbles. She also highlighted the company's role in the smartphone industry.
“Apple has used its monopoly on smartphones to lock Americans into services and amass billions of dollars in profits,” she asserted.
Apple indeed holds a significant position in the U.S. smartphone market — but perhaps not quite a monopoly. According to CounterPoint Research, Apple captured 62% of the U.S. smartphone shipment market share in Q4 of 2023.
Globally, Apple's market dominance is less substantial. CounterPoint Research reports that in that same quarter, Apple secured a 23% share of the global smartphone market.
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Nonetheless, Apple runs a lucrative business. In the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 30, 2023, the company reported a net income of $33.9 billion.
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‘Time to break up’
Warren's critique of Apple continued as she stated, “Apple even takes a cut every time you use tap to pay and has blocked a new app that would have let Android users finally use iMessage and get those blue texts.”
The app Warren referenced, Beeper, enabled Android users to send messages to iPhone users via iMessage, until Apple apparently shut it down.
In light of these concerns, Warren emphasized the need for action, stating, “It's time to break up Apple's monopoly now.”
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple for its “broad-based exclusionary conduct.”
“Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone, promote interoperability, and lower costs for consumers and developers. Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
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Jing is an investment reporter for MoneyWise. He is an avid advocate of investing for passive income. Despite the ups and downs he’s been through with the markets, Jing believes that you can generate a steadily increasing income stream by investing in high quality companies.
