FTC to investigate Apple

Is Apple becoming the evil technology company, a la Microsoft? Recently Apple announced iAds, a developer program to make advertisements on mobile devices such as iPhone's and iPad's, however, Apple's newest policies on mobile ads has professionals irked.

In a previous article, there was an analysis that Google and Apple would be at the forefront of the mobile ad battle, with their iAds and AdMob developer kits respectively. Both of these programs were announced at around the same time, though Google had the upper hand by launching a beta version of their software developer kit. However, Apple has now decided to change their policies: they will ban all apps that were developed with AdMob and also apps that can be used on multiple--and competing--platforms. This tidbit of knowledge left many questioning the business practices of Apple and their plans of dominating the mobile ad market, perhaps even to become a monopoly and the FTC will now launch a full investigation of Apple. Google's AdMob is not the only reasoning for the probe. The on-going battle between Apple and Adobe is starting to borderline on scandelous, since last month Apple also banned the use of Adobe Flash on any apps that are targeted to iPhone and iPad, severely cutting down the competition for other applications for their ever-growing market of mobile devices. Not to mention Steve Jobs warm welcoming of HTML5 for all platforms and continuous harsh comments at the Adobe company. All of these events have also caused quite the split in consumer opinions. With the HTC Android Incredible drawing lots of feedback, mostly positive, it has proven to be significant competition for the iPhone and lots of mixed feelings between Apple users and non-Apple users. Apple is already facing charges from HTC by infringing on five different patents, which the ITC (International Trade Commission) already allowed to be moved forward. Ideally, HTC would halt all sales of the iPhone in the United States because of the infringement. Apple's hostility toward competing platforms can be understood in business theory. Their market has drastically opened with the release and success of their phone and now mobile device (iPad), as well as entering the mobile ad arena and trying to compete with Google. They aren't just competing with Microsoft anymore, but rather it seems the entire technology world.