Apple asks U.S. court to dismiss ‘implausible’ lawsuit alleging iCloud monopoly

Apple is asking a federal judge on Friday to dismiss a proposed consumer class-action lawsuit claiming the company overcharges customers by monopolizing cloud storage for users of its devices.

Mike Scarcella for Reuters:

The tech giant asked a San Jose, California federal judge on Friday to dismiss the two-month-old case, which alleges Apple violated antitrust law by coercing customers to use the company’s iCloud service to back up core data and device setting files.

The lawsuit also said Apple was improperly “tying” the sale of two separate products, its iPhones and iCloud storage service, which is free up to a certain amount of data before it becomes a subscription plan.

Apple in its filing said its customers are not required to use iCloud, arguing that there is robust competition for cloud storage.

It said its storage policy — allowing third-party storage for photos and videos but not for users’ restricted data files needed to “restore” an Apple device — is designed to guarantee high levels of security.

The company also said the claim that it foisted higher prices on consumers was “implausible” based on publicly available information showing Apple’s pricing is competitive, and was “based entirely on dubious allegations regarding margins.”

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MacDailyNews Take: As with Macs, iPhones and iPads work with third-party online storage services such as Box, Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive etc. Apple’s Files file management app for iPhones and iPads allows users to browse local files stored within apps, including files stored in third-party cloud storage services including Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.

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