iPhone News Updated

Report: Apple Facing Antitrust Inquiry Over iPhone Software

Report: Apple Facing Antitrust Inquiry Over iPhone Software

Apple may be the subject of either a Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission inquiry focusing on its iPad/iPhone development restrictions, according to a report on Monday.

The New York Post reported that the two agencies are “locked in negotiations” over whether or not Apple barred competition by forcing its developers to use only Apple’s programming tools, and presumably, avoid using Adobe’s Flash technology.
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It’s the latest chapter in the ongoing saga, which began with Apple’s iPhone OS 4 launch. Accompanying language in the software development kit said that developers “must not call any private APIs,” an oblique reference to Flash. Apple also noted that developers had to write their code directly in C, C++, or Objective-C. Weeks later, Adobe said it was halting Flash development for the iPhone OS platform, and an Adobe evangelist added an inflammatory memo.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs then fired back, calling Flash a “closed system” in an open letter to Adobe and to the software industry at large. Jobs identified a number of objections to Flash including its reliability, security, and performance, and its ability to access what Jobs referred to as the “Open Web”.

But the real reason, Jobs wrote, was simply that Flash represented a bottleneck to third-party apps. Apple, Jobs wrote, “cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.” Adobe has no interest in writing the best possible iPhone, iPod, and iPad apps, Jobs argued.

“It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms,” Jobs wrote.

Adobe then responded again, pushing forward on Flash development on the Android platform and hoping for reconciliation.

The FTC had not responded to a request for comment at press time. Apple was also unavailable before West Coast business hours.

[Thanks: http://www.pcmag.com]