Former Apple insider says the company is in a ‘battle for its soul’

• According to WSJ, a former Apple employee said the company is facing a “battle for its soul.”
• His idea comes as Apple faces a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit and about $2 billion in EU fines.
• He worked for former Apple executive Phil Schiller, a key champion of Apple’s business strategy.

A former Apple employee said the iPhone maker’s battle with the Justice Department over antitrust charges threatens the company’s core identity.

“This is a battle for the soul of Apple,” Michael Gartenberg, former senior director of Apple’s worldwide product marketing team, told the Wall Street Journal. “Governments around the world are trying to dismantle Apple’s DNA, one strand at a time.”

Gartenberg’s comments came after the U.S. Department of Justice charged Apple with anticompetitive conduct to lock it out of the smartphone market.

From junky messaging between iPhone and Android, the Department of Justice Third-party smartwatch compatibility is limited The iPhone was used as evidence of the company’s alleged fraud.IThis is the latest addition to Apple’s woes after it was fined nearly $2 billion by the European Union over its App Store policies and declining iPhone sales in China.

In a statement to Business Insider, Gartenberg said that while Apple has always tried to show itself as a company that puts its customers first, the Department of Justice considers the company to be putting its shareholders first. .

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment before publication.

According to the Journal, Gartenberg worked for Phil Schiller before leaving the company. Phil Schiller is a former senior vice president of the Worldwide Marketing team who appears to have played a key role in defending what he saw as Apple’s anti-competitive tactics.

In 2016, Schiller forwarded an email to CEO Tim Cook saying, “Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than it will help us.” The Justice Department cited the exchange in its lawsuit as evidence of illegal activity.

Since leaving his executive role in 2020, Schiller, who is now an “Apple Fellow” overseeing the App Store, appears to continue to defend Apple’s business practices.

In 2021, Schiller was a key witness in Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The gaming company sued the iPhone maker, accusing it of anticompetitive conduct and illegally maintaining a monopoly through its App Store practices. For example, Apple has banned games like Fortnite from being sold on third-party app marketplaces. Schiller argued in court that making the app unavailable from outside marketplaces was primarily a security concern.

But in late January, the company was forced to allow iPhone access to competing app stores in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act, known as the DMA.

In response, Schiller said in February that he still believes Apple needs to do everything possible to keep its products safe.

“We have no hesitation in saying that our goal has always been to make the App Store the safest and best place for users to get apps,” Schiller told Fast Company in February.

“I think our users and the entire developer ecosystem have benefited from the work we’ve done in collaboration with our users,” he added. “And we’re going to continue to do that.”