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U.S. Sues Apple, Alleges Tech Giant Exploits Illegal Monopoly The U.S. accused Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market in a landmark antitrust lawsuit that threatens to disrupt the tech giant’s business model and how millions of consumers use their iPhones. 6park.com 6park.com美国司法部、15个州和哥伦比亚特区周四起诉苹果公司，称这家科技巨头让竞争对手难以与iPhone融合，最终导致消费者支付的价格提高。这起向一家新泽西州联邦法院提起的反垄断诉讼称，苹果公司试图阻止用户改用基于外部操作系统的设备，比如Android智能手机。 6park.comThe Justice Department, 15 states and the District of Columbia sued Apple on Thursday, alleging the tech giant makes it difficult for competitors to integrate with the iPhone, ultimately raising prices for consumers. The antitrust suit, filed in a federal court in New Jersey, says that Apple tries to keep users from switching to devices on outside operating systems, such as Android smartphones. 6park.com 6park.com美国司法部长梅里克·加兰德(Merrick Garland)在一次新闻发布会上说，苹果公司之所以能够维持影响力，不是因为其优势，而是因为该公司的非法排他性行为。 6park.comApple “has maintained its power, not because of its superiority, but because of its unlawful exclusionary behavior,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press event. 6park.com 6park.comGarland说，这家科技公司控制着美国智能手机市场65%以上的份额。 6park.comThe tech company controls over 65% of the U.S. smartphone market, Garland said. 6park.com
美国政府在一项具有里程碑意义的反垄断诉讼中指控苹果公司(Apple)垄断智能手机市场，该诉讼有可能颠覆这家科技巨头的商业模式和数以百万计消费者使用iPhone的方式。 6park.com
苹果公司表示，计划对这起诉讼进行积极抗辩。 6park.comApple said it plans to vigorously defend against the lawsuit. 6park.com 6park.com“这起诉讼威胁到我们是谁，也威胁到了让苹果产品在竞争激烈的市场中脱颖而出的原则，”苹果的一位发言人在一份声明中说。“原告如果胜诉，将阻碍我们创造人们所期待的苹果技术的能力，也就是融合了硬件、软件和服务的技术。” 6park.com“This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” an Apple spokesman said in a statement. “If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple—where hardware, software, and services intersect.”
iPhone 15 Pro Apple’s shares fell more than 4% on Thursday. 6park.com
苹果公司股价周四下跌超过4%。 6park.com
这起针对苹果公司的诉讼是针对美国反垄断官员重点关注的四大科技巨头的最新一桩诉讼。美国官员还对亚马逊(Amazon)、谷歌(Google)和 Meta Platforms(Meta Platforms)提起了反垄断诉讼。 6park.comThe case against Apple is the latest shoe to drop on the four tech giants that U.S. antitrust officials have been focused on. U.S. officials have also filed antimonopoly lawsuits against Amazon, Google and Meta Platforms. 6park.com
在11月总统大选之前，这些案件可能几乎都不会有结果。美国联邦执法官员很少会放弃前一届政府期间开始的案件。 6park.comFew of the cases are likely to reach a conclusion before the November presidential election. Federal law-enforcement officials rarely drop cases that began during a prior administration. 6park.com 6park.com美国政府称，苹果公司采取了锁定该公司用户并阻止他们使用某些软件的措施，这些软件包括基于云的手机游戏，因为这些软件可能会说服他们改用更便宜的手机。 6park.comThe government said Apple took measures to lock in its users and prevent them from having access to software, such as cloud-based mobile games, that might convince them to switch to cheaper phones. 6park.com
美国司法部在诉状中称，苹果公司认为云游戏是一种威胁，因为云游戏可在不需要苹果公司高价设备的情况下玩。 6park.comApple views cloud-based games as a threat, the Justice Department said in its complaint, because cloud-based games could be played without needing Apple’s premium-priced devices. 6park.com
诉讼援引苹果公司管理人士的话说，该公司担心的是这样一个世界：“最重要的是谁拥有最便宜的硬件”，人们可能使用“在旧货市场上花25美元就能买到的Android设备，并拥有一个可靠的云计算设备”。 6park.comThe company was worried about a world in which “all that matters is who has the cheapest hardware” and people could use an “Android for 25 bux at a garage sale and have a solid cloud computing device,” the lawsuit quotes Apple officials as saying. 6park.com
美国政府称，出于类似的原因，苹果公司拒绝将标准短信与自己的iMessage应用程序融合。 6park.comFor similar reasons, Apple declined to integrate standard text messaging with its own iMessage app, the government said. 6park.com
美国政府说，非苹果手机发送的信息不具备iMessage提供的所有功能，而且通信也不加密。美国司法部指控，苹果公司担心让iMessage与使用短信服务的设备更好地配合使用会导致人们购买价格较低的非苹果手机。 6park.comMessages sent from non-Apple phones don’t have all of the features that iMessage offers and the communication isn’t encrypted, it said. Apple worried that making iMessage work better with devices that use SMS text messaging would lead people to buy less expensive, non-Apple phones, the Justice Department alleged. 6park.com 6park.com美国司法部提到了苹果公司首席执行官库克(Tim Cook)曾在2022年的一次活动中对一位提问者发表的评论，这位提问者抱怨说，由于苹果公司设备向Android手机发信息时会出现一些奇怪的问题，他无法向他母亲发送视频。库克当时调侃道：“给你妈买一部iPhone吧。” 6park.comThe department noted Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s 2022 comment at an event to a questioner who complained that he couldn’t send his mother videos because of Apple’s messaging quirks to Android phones. Cook quipped: “Buy your mom an iPhone.” 6park.com
美国司法部还指出，苹果公司封杀所谓的“超级应用”是将iPhone用户锁定在其生态系统中的关键。超级应用将多个迷你应用整合到一个应用中，如腾讯(Tencent)的WeChat，集短信发送、数字支付和社交网络于一体。该部援引一位不愿透露姓名的苹果公司经理的话说，如果允许超级应用成为“人们玩游戏、订车、支付等的主要入口”，将“把野蛮人从大门放进来”。 6park.comThe Justice Department also pointed to Apple’s blocking of so-called “super apps” as crucial to keeping iPhone users locked into its ecosystem. Super apps incorporate multiple mini apps into a single app, such as Tencent’s WeChat that offers messaging, digital payment and a social network in one. The department quotes an unnamed Apple manager, saying that permitting super apps to become “‘the main gateway where people play games, book a car, make payments, etc.” would “let the barbarians in at the gate.” 6park.com
纽约大学法学院教授Daniel Francis说，苹果公司有义务与作为其竞争对手的软件和硬件供应商打交道，使这些产品能与iPhone更好地无缝协作，这是这起政府提起的诉讼的核心主张。 6park.comAt the core of the government’s case is the idea that Apple had a duty to deal with rival software and hardware providers to make those products work more seamlessly with the iPhone, said Daniel Francis, a professor at NYU School of Law. 6park.com
他说，过去20年来，法院一直对为公平竞争起见，垄断者必须与竞争对手打交道的主张持怀疑态度。法院历来不愿意监督或微管理复杂的商业关系。 6park.comCourts have for the past 20 years looked skeptically at claims that monopolists must deal with rivals for the sake of fair competition, he said. Courts have historically not wanted to supervise or micromanage complex business relationships. 6park.com
Francis说，该案试图“改变现代反垄断法的轨迹，重新审视拒绝交易的行为很少违法甚至不违法的观点”。 6park.comThe lawsuit seeks “to change the trajectory of modern monopolization law and to reconsider the idea that a refusal to deal is rarely, if ever, illegal,” Francis said. 6park.com
该案与上一次Epic Games诉苹果公司的重大反垄断诉讼案不同。那起诉讼案对苹果公司要求所有应用程序必须通过苹果公司App Store进行销售提出了质疑。苹果公司从应用程序交易中抽成30%。 6park.comThe government’s case differs from the last major antitrust case that Apple had to defend against Epic Games. That lawsuit challenged Apple’s requirement that all apps be sold through its own App Store. Apple takes a 30% commission on app transactions. 6park.com
苹果公司为其通过App Store控制下载的政策进行了辩护，称这是保持iPhone相对来说免受病毒和欺诈侵扰所必需的。 6park.comApple has defended its policy of controlling downloads via the App Store, saying it is necessary for keeping the iPhone relatively free from viruses and fraud.
近年来，苹果公司一直依赖于其App Store和相关服务的增长。 Thursday’s lawsuit doesn’t focus on the App Store’s tie to Apple’s payment technology. 6park.com
周四的诉讼案没有把重点放在App Store与苹果公司支付技术的联系上。 6park.com
司法部负责反垄断事务的助理司法部长Jonathan Kanter说：“这与其他地方提起的诉讼不同，其他地方的案件主要针对小范围的产品和服务。” 6park.com“It is distinct from cases that have been brought elsewhere, which focus on narrow products and services,” said Jonathan Kanter, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for antitrust. 6park.com 6park.com苹果公司已经面临着世界各地要求其开放严格控制的iPhone软件生态系统的呼声。欧洲法律迫使苹果公司遵守针对搜索引擎、应用程序商店和网购平台的严格的新竞争规则。 6park.comApple has already faced calls around the world to open up its tightly-controlled iPhone software ecosystem. European law forced Apple to comply with tough, new competition rules for search engines, app stores and online marketplaces. 6park.com
该案已酝酿多年。2019年开始调查，但在2021年Kanter获任后势头加快。 6park.comThe lawsuit against Apple has been in the works for years. An investigation began in 2019 but picked up momentum following the appointment of Kanter in 2021. 6park.com
苹果公司表示，美国司法部过去四年里已至少六度调整对付该公司的法律理论。苹果公司管理人员还表示，政府重塑了曾就Epic案提出的观点，之前相关策略未能在联邦法院奏效。 6park.comApple said the Justice Department has changed its legal theories against the company at least six times over the past four years. Apple officials also said the government recast arguments made in the Epic case after the approach wasn’t successful in federal court. 6park.com
这份诉状还称，苹果公司阻止银行和信用社提供会与iPhone的数字钱包竞争的产品。政府表示，放行其他“点击支付”(tap to pay)技术将为iPhone用户带来更好的选项。 6park.comThe complaint also alleges that Apple prevents banks and credit unions from offering products that would compete with the iPhone’s digital wallet. Permitting other “tap to pay” technologies would lead to better options for iPhone users, the government said. 6park.com
2022年，一个信用社群体在旧金山联邦地区法院挑战了同样的一些限制。去年，一名联邦地区法官拒绝了苹果公司关于在初期驳回该案的请求，称这些信用社关于苹果公司向发卡机构随意收取过高费用的主张貌似可信。 6park.comA group of credit unions challenged the same restrictions in San Francisco federal court in 2022. A U.S. district judge last year declined Apple’s request to dismiss the case early, saying the credit unions had a plausible claim that Apple charges “arbitrary and inflated fees” to card issuers. 6park.com 6park.com除非案件尘埃落定，否则将很难估量拜登政府在削弱大科技公司影响力方面成果如何，但从过往经验看，执法者的干预行动谈不上成果斐然。 6park.comThe Biden administration’s success in diminishing the power of “big tech” will be difficult to gauge until cases are decided, but enforcers don’t have a perfect record in their interventions. 6park.com
去年，一家联邦法院拒绝了美国联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission, 简称FTC)关于阻止Meta收购一家虚拟现实初创公司的请求。FTC起诉微软(Microsoft)、阻止其以750亿美元收购游戏发行商动视暴雪(Activision Blizzard)的行动也失败了；此次收购于去年10月完成。FTC仍然正在另一起诉讼中挑战Meta收购WhatsApp和Instagram的交易。 6park.comA federal court last year declined the Federal Trade Commission’s request to block Meta’s acquisition of a virtual-reality startup. The FTC also lost a court challenge of Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of videogame publisher Activision Blizzard, which closed in October. The FTC is still challenging Meta’s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram in a separate lawsuit. 6park.com
美国司法部的诉讼可能要耗上数年才有眉目。不过分析师称，该诉讼会分散苹果公司管理层的注意力，还可能增大苹果公司发展订阅服务业务的难度。 6park.comThe government’s case could take years to play out. Still, the litigation is distracting to Apple’s management and could make it harder for Apple to grow its subscription services business, analysts say. 6park.com
虽然苹果公司股价今年以来累计下跌超过11%，但目前仍然是以市值计的全球第二大公司，而且每个季度都能创造数百亿美元的利润。 6park.comWhile Apple’s stock has fallen more than 11% so far this year, it remains the second-largest company in the world by market capitalization and produces tens of billions of dollars in profit each quarter. 6park.com
近年来，苹果公司一直依赖于其App Store和相关服务（视频和音频流媒体、云存储、新闻服务）的增长，iPhone硬件收入的增长步伐则已放缓。 6park.comIn recent years, Apple has relied on growth from its App Store and associated services—video and audio streaming, cloud storage and news—while the pace of iPhone hardware revenue increases has slowed. 6park.com
奥本海默(Oppenheimer)分析师Martin Yang估计，App Store的利润率高达80%。 6park.comOppenheimer analyst Martin Yang estimated that the App Store has margins as high as 80%.
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