No surprises here. The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Federal Trade Commission is investigating Apple's business practices over software used on its mobile devices.
This was expected. Apple has banned Adobe's Flash video technology and Google can't sell ads on iPhone and iPad applications. All this is inevitable as Apple morphs from a company selling niche computers into a giant with big stakes in the telecommunications, music and high tech industries.
This probe is unlikely to have any impact on the iPhone buying public. More to the point, former Clinton honcho Robert Reich points out that the FTC should target Wall Street's banks, not Apple. The banks are the ones who have done the damage and nearly destroyed the global economy. The banks are too big and hold trillions of dollars in assets.
So why is the FTC leaving the banks alone? There's a simple explanation. The US Federal Trade Commission Act allows the agency to stop "unfair methods of competition" almost anywhere in the economy except in the financial sector. Banks are excluded. In the US, banks are a protected species.
Just another reason why we need real financial reform. The FTC's battle with Apple is just a sideshow.
Hear! Hear!
Adobe and Google are parasites. They externalize almost all their costs and complain bitterly when asked to leave. I say the FTC should investigate Google’s and Adobe’s corrosive influence on the desktop, not the one space where they have yet to extend themselves to.