Here’s a question: How much would Apple suffer if it opened up iMessage to Android? The widespread assumption—including within Apple itself—is that by removing a major impediment to people using Android, such a move would boost sales of the devices based on the Google operating system, at the expense of the iPhone. But that may not be as true as it was in the past. Consumers’ attachment to their iPhones is now so strong, and the array of devices of a similar quality is so limited, that the long-term impact on sales may prove to be much less than people think.
This may become more than just a thought experiment, given the growing signs that Apple’s iMessage lockdown could be the focus of a government antitrust lawsuit. On Friday The New York Times reported that the Justice Department is nearing the conclusion of a long-running antitrust investigation into Apple. Among the issues under scrutiny, The Times reported, is how Apple uses iMessage to keep competitors at bay. This has been a hot issue lately: Apple’s recent actions to block an app by the startup Beeper, which offered Android users an iMessage workaround, sparked calls for antitrust action from lawmakers last month.
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