A lawsuit has been launched against Apple in a northern California court, alleging that the tech giant has used its influence to tip the scales in favor of its own iCloud storage solution for its devices, reports Bloomberg Law. The class-action suit claims that Apple has slyly manipulated technical barriers on the kinds of files that other cloud providers can keep, ensuring that only iCloud can offer comprehensive storage to Apple device owners. The lawsuit further alleges that this setup gives Apple the capacity to demand higher fees without concern for any significant competition to iCloud’s dominance.
The envisaged class, which is represented by Hagens Berman, is expected to include millions of customers in the US, as indicated by Bloomberg Law. Even though iPhone and iPad users have some extent of choice in storing specific categories of files with non-Apple cloud storage providers, there are certain areas, including app data and device configurations, that exclusively iCloud has the rights to host. This puts customers in a tricky position where they either have to compromise with the inconvenience of managing multiple cloud storage platforms to meet their backup requirements, or go for the convenience of iCloud’s comprehensive service. According to the lawsuit, these restrictions imposed by Apple are unnecessary and are primarily designed to curb competition.
The lawsuit states Apple does not command the market simply “because it built an enhanced cloud-storage product,” noting that, with regard to security and functionality, iCloud is on par or even somewhat less strong than other cloud storage platforms. It adds, “Instead, Apple has attained market leadership by unfairly manipulating the competitive landscape so that only iCloud can emerge victorious.” This case has only recently been filed and has yet to receive class-action status. However, potential claimants can complete a form on the Hagens Berman site to check if they qualify to participate in the action and to obtain any further relevant information.
