Apple and Competition Laws

Apple, struggling with competition laws in Europe, is forced to end one by one the ‘monopolistic’ practices it has imposed on Apple customers to avoid withdrawing from the European market.

Imagine you bought a phone for 300, 500 dollars and had to change the screen of your phone due to an accident three, five months, or 1-2 years later. While at the repair service, when you ask for the cheaper alternative of $15 from a repairman who tells you that you can choose between a $100 Apple screen or $15 screens of alternative brands, is it acceptable for your phone to intentionally block some features and say, ‘You used spare parts from another brand, so I won’t let you use some of my features anymore?’

Or, when you install a third-party battery instead of an Apple-branded one, is it fair for your phone to say, ‘I will no longer measure how full or empty your battery is, I may show some ratios as I wish but I have no responsibility, I am not responsible for the health of the battery because the battery you used is not Apple branded?’

Of course, it cannot be expected for Apple to vouch for a battery produced by another brand, but other batteries or spare parts sold in the market are also products manufactured in compliance with industry standards set globally and proven to comply with safety rules determined by the Ministry of Industry, public authorities when they are put on sale in a country.

Forcing people to use their products through psychological pressure by making them feel ‘If you don’t use Apple-branded products, you will see the consequences,’ how ethical is this behavior?

A Law Passed, Apple Must Change All Monopolistic Policies

Although Apple fans may not want to see these, Apple has been clearly violating ethical competition rules and people’s rights to freely dispose of their own property for years by applying these pressures to people. However, these practices taking advantage of legal loopholes are now cornering Apple due to the new competition law of the European Union.

Apple has announced that it will abandon practices such as causing trouble in displaying battery percentages or disabling the ‘True Tone‘ feature that adjusts the white balance on the screen when the screen is changed. According to Apple’s statements, the company will make new adjustments in the operating system to provide broader support for spare parts of other brands.

So, will users who have been victims of Apple products for the past 15 years due to such ‘monopolistic’ pressures file compensation lawsuits against Apple? Only time will tell.