Apple’s Subscription Plan Could Run Afoul of Regulators: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced a new plan earlier this week that would allow content creators like publishers, music companies, and game makers to offer and receive payment for subscriptions to digital content. The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that "a person with direct knowledge of the matter" has said that Apple's plan is now getting attention from U.S. government antitrust regulators in the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The interest "not preliminary and might develop into a formal investigation." in Apple's new plan is “preliminary and might not develop into a formal investigation.”
It probably should not, and even if a formal investigation is launched, there is little reason for Apple to be forced to modify its plan. After all, Apple has plenty of competition in the market for smartphones, and competition is getting stronger every day from markets apps for Android-based smartphones from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry phones, and even late-bloomers like Nokia Corp.. (NYSE: NOK) Which plans to use Windows from Microsoft Corp. iPhone 7. (NASDAQ: MSFT) as the operating system for its smartphone platform.