Business Buzz Blog

Recent activities of Apple have attracted the attention of antitrust enforcers who are planning to go ahead and see if the business tactics adopted by Apple are restrictive or not. It is the licensing agreement Apple has made with its application developers that is the centre of attraction, and there is a clause which forbids the developers from using software tools of their own. Instead they are being asked to develop apps by using the software being supplied by Apple.

Adobe Systems Inc. is one of the software companies whose software cannot be used by the developers, and it has raised the issue with Apple. Apple’s smart phone has become a very powerful tool in mobile devices for computing and after PC’s; it is fast becoming the second choice of the masses.

Another activity, which has brought Apple under scanner, is its policy of forbidding apps from transmitting analytical data. This implies that ad networks would be prevented from placing ads, and this puts Apple’s new iAD mobile advertising service in an advantageous position.

Apple’s popularity is on the up, and the sale of iPAD has increased many times in the recent times. More than 85 million iPhones have been sold by Apple so far, and its spokesman said that Apple has sold more than a million iPads, the multimedia tablet PC’s, which were launched last month by the company.

Some critics, who are observing the situation closely, are of the view that Apple is engaging in those very practices which it once criticized when they were adopted by Microsoft in the 1990’s.

Justice department, and the antitrust enforcers are talking to each other on how to proceed and which agency should initiate the proceedings. The grounds of investigation are still unclear. May be the agencies and the regulators are busy documenting evidence against the company. Recently an executive of a wireless company confirmed that he was approached by an official of FTC who wished to be apprised of the procedures in the mobile ad industry and how it works. All this merely indicates that the investigators are preparing the ground for the action to be initiated against Apple.

Insiders say that Apple could try to circumvent the antitrust enforcers by changing the terms of agreement with the app developers. Some app developers say that it will be difficult for Apple to enforce the provisions about not transmitting iPhone data.