United States v. Apple
25th March 2024
This, we know, is the beginning of a long journey: there will be months or years of filings and discovery and preliminary rulings; eventually we will have a trial, and months after that a decision. Then there are the appeals, first with three judges, then perhaps en banc, and maybe even the Supreme Court. At some point, should the government win, there will be a hearing about remedies, themselves subject to the same grinding schedule. Only then can a proper determination be made about the validity of the legal questions in this case.
Still, I think the initial moment matters: antitrust is inherently political, and tech companies are generally popular; this makes it hard to build and maintain the momentum necessary to endure the grind. One would certainly have expected that to be an advantage for Apple: the company gains power in market after market precisely by making consumers happy.
Ben Thompson at Stratechery is one of the most respected technology analysts alive.