Apple

Apple’s Jack and Incumbent Vertical Market Power

  Apple’s controversial decision to remove the universal 3.5mm audio jack from its just-released iPhone 7 has several economic dimensions. All of them are a consequence of Apple’s proprietary architecture (colloquially known as “Steve’s walled garden”) and the extent to which Apple is trying to/able to exercise incumbent vertical market power. How much market power …

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Apple’s New Itunes Pricing and Drm-free Songs: the Results of Competition

Lynne Kiesling Yesterday Apple announced two changes to its iTunes policies: they are introducing price discrimination, and they are removing DRM copy protection from the songs sold through iTunes. Resulting from extensive negotiations between Apple and record companies, these are two long-anticipated and welcome changes, and they are the consequence of competition in two different …

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