Critique On Apple Becoming an Monopoly?

The blog I chose to critique is Laden’s blog on whether Apple has become a monopoly. I think it is interesting the way that Laden questioned the idea of Apple monopolizing the music and computer industry I had never really thought of Apple that way. But, after taking a closer look and reading through Laden’s blog, I agree with this idea because a monopoly is defined as singular seller with complete control over the industry. Even though, I do not think that Apple monopolizes the computer industry because there are still competitors such as Dell, HP and Microsoft that still make and sell computers along with other competitors. The idea the market for computers is an oligopoly is a fair claim as well because the definition of an oligopoly is a market with a few competitors. There are only a few firms in this industry such as Apple, Hp, and Dell. So, Apple has its fair share of competitors in that area of the market. But, Apple does have a large amount of market power in the industry. This is a type of Market that is very difficult to enter as well due to all the money it requires upfront to make computers. This type of market requires a lot of technology knowledge and highly educated employees, which is difficult to fund. The computer market is hard to enter because there are strong competitors with good reputations making it difficult to enter such a competitive market. Although, Laden’s claim on Apple monopolizing the music industry seems to be valid. According the article written by James R. Stoup Apple has no real competitors in the music industry. Other competitors cannot seem to keep up with Apple’s great products. I agree with Laden’s idea that Apple has a monopoly over the downloading music industry because they have no real competitors giving them the ability to dominate the market. Another reason this market should be considered a monopoly because it is very difficult for other competitors to enter the market. This is a market that requires a lot of money up front to be able to make it in this particular industry. Since Apple is continuing to flourish it is unlikely that another firm would attempt to compete with such a strong company such as Apple. As Laden said, this is a legal monopoly because Apple is not forcing competitors out by putting them down or partaking in negative advertising. Apple is just working hard to keep consumers wanting more of their products.

http://www.applematters.com/article/has_apple_finally_become_a_monopoly_like_microsoft/