DOJ, 16 states sue Apple for monopolizing smartphone market

The Justice Department sued Apple on Thursday, alleging the company illegally maintained a monopoly over smartphones in a wide-ranging lawsuit. 

The DOJ was joined by 16 bipartisan state attorneys general in the lawsuit filed in New Jersey , which alleges that Apple limits competition and hurts consumers, developers and small businesses through its operation of the company’s App Store, limiting the functions of third-party smart watches and hurting the quality of cross-platform messaging. 

“For years, Apple responded to competitive threats by imposing a series of ‘Whac-A-Mole’ contractual rules and restrictions that have allowed Apple to extract higher prices from consumers, impose higher fees on developers and creators, and to throttle competitive alternatives from rival technologies,” Jonathan Kanter, DOJ assistant attorney general of the antitrust division, said in a statement.