InformationWeek reports that another anti-trust suit requesting class action status has been filed against Apple. To promote interoperability, part of the suit demands that Apple open its platforms to other DRM standards and media formats. But in all these cases the first order of business is to assert that the company in fact has one or more monopolies:
The complaint against Apple claims that the company controls 75% of the online video market, 83% of the online music market, more than 90% of the hard-drive based music player market, and 70% of the Flash-based music player market.
This market share information doesn't look right to me, but one has to make such an allegation to make the case that Apple is / has a monopoly.
The suit demands that Apple support the Microsoft WMA format as a way of breaking the monopoly and supporting interoperability among DRM systems and media players. Since Apple only supports its own FairPlay DRM, the EU and others have complained that Apple uses monopoly power to tie its music service to its own portable player hardware. If Apple is vulnerable, it may be on the charge of tying, which is contrary to anti-trust law.
