[halo]

I'm not sure how you can be so confident that the regulators will conclude that Apple doesn't have a monopoly if investigated by regulators.

This can be far from obvious. In the Microsoft case, it was decided that the operating system market is distinct from the web browser market. This conclusion is decidedly non-intuitive, since what does and does not make up a modern operating system is largely arbitrary, as anyone who has used a modular system knows.

What's to stop the EC deciding that the iTunes Store is distinct from the phone and MP3 player market? To me, it seems that the distinction between hardware and retail being different markets is much more clear than the line between where an OS ends and where software starts.

[tptacek]

The terminal point of this logic suggests that the EU is also going to rule that we can develop arbitrary applications for our cable set-top boxes, for Cisco switches, and for automotive engine computers.

[MWinther]

Isn't it intuitive that browsers, which for the most part are available for several different operating systems, is a separate market from the operating system itself? Seem like two different markets to me. Of course, on the iPhone there is so far no browser market, but that would be the exception, no?

[halo]

X.Org is available on several different operating systems too, but I assume you don't think that Microsoft should have been prevented from shipping a GUI with their OS.