Facebook believes Apple abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to follow App Store rules that Apple itself doesn’t follow for Apple mobile applications, according to sources speaking to TheInformation.com.
In its report on the story, the New York Times wrote: “Tensions between Apple and Facebook have been growing for months, rooted in how the companies are diametrically opposed on how they make money. Apple, which has made privacy a key tenet, prefers that consumers pay for their internet experience, leaving less need for advertisers. In contrast, Facebook relies on data about its users to fuel its digital advertising business.”
Facebook has yet to file an actual lawsuit and has reasons to wait.
Apple is already facing a set of private monopolization cases for how it operates the AppStore and it is not clear whether Facebook’s claims would be sufficiently unique to warrant separate litigation.
Facebook itself is a defendant in cases brought by the Federal Trade Commission and most state attorneys general for monopolizing the personal social networking market.
As irksome as Apple’s AppStore policies may seem to Facebook, the company may decide the better course is to focus on its own monopolization issues and let Apple and its antagonists focus on theirs.
