Senator Warren doesn't have a plan to break up Apple, but still wants to pretty badly

Senator Warren

Following her siding with Beeper as it broke iMessage security and used Apple's servers without payment, Senator Warren has now attacked the iPhone's existence. Claiming that Apple uses "dirty tricks" in not providing iPhone features to people without iPhones, Senator Warren also explicitly blames the company for ruining relationships.

"That's right, non-iPhone users everywhere are being excluded from group texts, from sports teams chats to birthday chats to vacation plan chats," she says. "And who's to blame here? Apple."

Senator Warren has a background in commercial law, and her father was a salesman. So her indignation that "Apple even takes a cut every time you use Tap to Pay," seems disingenuous.

Tap to Pay is an Apple-developed system for iPhone users to be able to make contactless payments. It began in Apple Stores, but has now rolled out to other vendors, such as PayPal.

She doesn't seem that concerned that PayPal and the credit cards take a part of each sale.

Then the Senator's stated belief that Apple is ruining relationships because not everyone can use iMessage is inflating the importance of the iPhone's default messaging service. It's also ignoring that the blame is on the use of old text messaging technology, and that Apple has committed to supporting RCS in order to improve messaging with Android users.

"It's time to break up Apple's monopoly now," she concludes, despite Apple not really having one beyond the fact that people who own iPhones have Apple devices.

Inflammatory rhetoric and no policies

As before her statement does not yet lead to any specific plans. It's just more hot air from a politician that doesn't know enough about technology to regulate it effectively, and yet, still thinks that they do.

The Senator does say that she backs the Department of Justice's case against Apple — "that's the right thing to do." Separately, she has also criticized Big Tech firms and asked the Biden administration to work to prevent Americans' data ending up in the hands of foreign adversaries.

Yet for all the rhetoric in her social media posts, there is no specific call to action, and no detailed proposals for reasonable solutions. In fact, there's nothing of any substance at all.

Even regarding breaking up Apple's non-existent monopoly, it's not clear how Senator Warren believes Apple and its iPhone could be separated, and it still be good for the consumer. In all likelihood, she thinks this is an attention-grabber, and might help her eventual re-election campaign. The statement has the substance and quality of shredded paper blowing in the wind.

Apple has not commented on her post, nor should they.