hutcheson - 1:03 am on Dec 17, 2009 (gmt 0)

>how come apple is allowed to do this on the iphone?

The difference is that Microsoft has a monopoly on PC Operating System and Office software (not my opinion, that's what courts in several dozen jurisdictions on three continents have ruled). And Apple doesn't have a monopoly of anything (as, coincidentally, courts in two states have just ruled).

The rules are different for monopolies--and again, this is a principle generally recognized across the civilized world. Having a monopoly in one market is legal; using it to suppress activity in another market is most decidedly not.