Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Congressman Leading Tech Antitrust Investigation Says July Hearing Confirms 'Deeply Disturbing Behavior'

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The antitrust hearing that Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos participated in back in July confirmed that all of the companies are engaging in "behavior which is deeply disturbing and requires Congress to take action," according to Representative David Cicilline, the chairman of the House antitrust panel leading the inquiry.


Cicilline made the remarks in an interview with Bloomberg, where he said that the investigation has confirmed that Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are all abusing their market power to the detriment of consumers.
"The kind of common theme is the abuse of their market power to maintain their market dominance, to crush competitors, to exclude folks from their platform and to earn monopoly rents."
Cicilline said that he is prepared to deliver recommendations as soon as next month, and that Congress must act urgently to protect consumers. Cicilline did not go into detail about the recommendations the panel would deliver, but he says he's working with Republicans to find common ground on "biggest, boldest ideas."

According to Bloomberg, Cicilline did mention the possibility of a Glass-Steagall law for technology platforms, which would prevent tech companies from both running a platform and competing on it at the same time.
"That's a big idea," he said about separating the two functions. "It would be one way to try to separate out what is a relationship fraught with conflicts that I think is promoting tremendous market dominance and bullying behavior by Amazon, as an example."
The antitrust committee's report will address four areas: changes to current antitrust laws, reforms aimed at the tech sector, strengthening private antitrust litigation by plaintiffs, and ensuring the DoJ and FTC have the resources to do their jobs.

The U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee has been investigating Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook since July 2019, culminating in a hearing with the CEOs of all of the companies.

For Apple, the subcommittee has focused on the company's App Store policies and fees, specifically instances where it has rejected apps and changed App Store rules to its apparent benefit, such as when it began rejecting some parental control apps for using Mobile Device Management after the release of the Screen Time feature.

As the antitrust investigation has unfolded, Apple has been involved in some public battles over ‌App Store‌ policies and fees, first with the "Hey" email app and currently with Epic Games.
This article, "Congressman Leading Tech Antitrust Investigation Says July Hearing Confirms 'Deeply Disturbing Behavior'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple Registers Unreleased Apple Watches and iPads in Eurasian Database

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Apple has registered eight Apple Watches and seven iPads in Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) filings discovered by Consomac.



The Apple Watch filings follow previous model identifiers, with the A2375, A2376, A2355, and A2356 likely being cellular models, and the A2291, A2292, A2351, and A2352 being GPS-only models. These likely encompass the upcoming ‌Apple Watch‌ Series 6. ‌Apple Watch‌ Series 6 parts were spotted in database filings earlier this month, and the new models are expected to feature blood oxygen monitoring.

The unannounced iPads use the previously unknown model identifiers A2270, A2316, A2072, A2324, A2325, A2428, and A2429. As the iPad model identifiers are split between two separate filings with different numbers of identifiers in each, two different iPads may be soon to release.

It is unlikely that the split is the result of filing the same ‌iPad‌'s cellular and WiFi-only models separately, as is the case with the ‌Apple Watch‌ filings. The two iPads may be updated iPad Pro models and redesigned iPad Air models, both of which have been rumored to arrive next month.



Similar EEC filings have preceded the launch of new Apple products on numerous occasions, including multiple ‌‌iPad‌‌, ‌iPad Pro‌, ‌iPhone‌, Mac, ‌Apple Watch‌, and AirPods models. The filings are legally required for any encrypted devices sold in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

Earlier this month leaker Jon Prosser suggested that new ‌Apple Watch‌ and ‌iPad‌ models will launch in September, with the iPhone 12 event set to take place later in October. The filings effectively confirm that the release of new ‌iPad‌ and ‌Apple Watch‌ models is imminent.
Tag: EEC

This article, "Apple Registers Unreleased Apple Watches and iPads in Eurasian Database" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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