Recent antitrust legislation introduced by the US house could pose a threat to Apple. If the bill is enacted into law, Apple could no longer offer iPhones with preinstalled apps like Pages, Music, and Maps.

Apple and other major tech giants are facing heat for wielding unprecedented power. The company has already been accused of using its dominance to promote its apps on App Store. Earlier this month, the US house introduced multiple antitrust bills. One of the bills aims at stopping Apple from preinstalling its apps on the iPhone. This is to ensure that other competing apps on the App Store have a level playing ground.

Democratic Representative David Cicilline said,

It would be equally easy to download the other five apps as the Apple one, so they’re not using their market dominance to favor their own products and services.

If the bill is enacted, users will choose from Apple Apps or any other third-party alternative from the App Store. In other words, Apple will no longer be able to push notifications or prompts asking users to set up FaceTime or other Apple services. Or it has to allow other apps like WhatsApp and Skype to do the same.

The Ending Platform Monopolies Act prevents technology companies from being involved in business, giving rise to a conflict of interest. Currently, the US House Judiciary Committee is expected to review the bills in late June.

Our Take

The antitrust bills were formulated after a lengthy investigation that was concluded last year. The investing committee found that tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Google hold monopolies. Therefore, it called for revising antitrust law to reflect the current scenario better. How do you feel about iPhone with no preinstalled apps? Let us know in the comments.